What Does Genesis 30:6 Mean in the King James?
And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Dan compresses Rachel’s reading of the moment into a name: God has judged her, heard her, and answered with a son.
THE MEANING
You meet judgment here as God taking up Rachel’s case: she is heard, and a son is given. Dan’s name keeps that answer present, carrying the story of her voice being heard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that God’s judgment can only mean condemnation: Rachel names it alongside being heard and receiving a son, as the answering of her case.
THE ROOT
דָּנַנִּי
dananni
GROWS FROM
דין
din
To judge, contend, or take up a case.
“judged” in this verse is dananni. Rachel’s word comes from דין (din, to judge or plead a case), and Dan is its compressed echo. Judgment sits beside being heard and receiving a son, so the name preserves her experience of a case answered.
ALSO GROWS
Dan: Dan, Rachel’s son’s name.
דָּן
His name echoes Rachel’s statement that God judged her.
yadin: He will judge.
יָדִין
This form appears in Jacob’s words about Dan, making the judgment carried in the name explicit.
שָׁמַע
shama
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
To hear, listen, and respond.
“heard” in this verse is shama. The same root can carry hearing into response. Here Rachel places God’s hearing of her voice beside the giving of a son, so hearing is bound to an answer.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This form makes audible the responsive sense of hearing that Rachel sees in God’s answer.
shemuah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The branch shows how what is heard can become a recognized account, like Rachel’s stated account of what God has done.
וַיִּתֶּן
vayitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
To give, set, or place.
“given” in this verse is vayitten. נתן (natan, to give, set, or place) leaves the son as something received. The verse links that giving to Rachel’s voice being heard and her case being judged.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, or place.
נָתַן
The root’s range lets the gift be heard as something placed into Rachel’s life.
mattanah: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This related form makes clear the giving at the center of Rachel’s account.
THE PATTERN
A name can preserve the defining action through which a life is received or understood.
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.THE THREAD
Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.The name Rachel gives echoes דין (din, to judge), the same root behind “shall judge” here. Jacob’s words make explicit the judgment carried within Dan’s name.
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