Thematic Bible: Bilhah


Thematic Bible



When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I will die! And Jacob became very angry with Rachel and he said, Am I in God's stead, Who has denied you children? And she said, See here, take my maid Bilhah and have intercourse with her; and [when the baby comes] she shall deliver it upon my knees, that I by her may also have children. read more.
And she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [secondary] wife, and Jacob had intercourse with her. And Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son; so she named him Dan [judged]. And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed; so she named him [this second son Bilhah bore] Naphtali [struggled].

and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;

The son of Dan: Hushim. The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. These are the sons of Bilhah, [the maid] whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. And she bore these to Jacob -- "seven persons in all.


Laban also gave Bilhah his maid to his daughter Rachel as a maid.

And she said, See here, take my maid Bilhah and have intercourse with her; and [when the baby comes] she shall deliver it upon my knees, that I by her may also have children. And she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [secondary] wife, and Jacob had intercourse with her.

These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers [Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher]; the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s [secondary] wives; and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.


While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Now Jacob had twelve sons—


“But unstable and reckless and boiling over like water [in sinful lust], you shall not excel or have the preeminence [of the firstborn],
Because you went up to your father’s bed [with Bilhah];
You defiled it—he went up to my couch.


Baalah and Iim and Ezem,


and Hazar-shual and Balah and Ezem,


Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,