What Does Genesis 30:7 Mean in the King James?
And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
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
“Conceived again” and “a second son” frame this birth as life continuing through repetition.
THE MEANING
Bilhah conceives once more and bears Jacob another son. The verse presents this birth as a continuation of what has already begun.
THE ROOT
שֵׁנִי
sheni
GROWS FROM
שׁנה
Repeat, do again.
The word rendered “second” belongs to a family built around repetition. Beside “conceived again,” it makes continuation the verse’s central movement: another birth follows the first.
ALSO GROWS
shenit: A second time; again.
שְׁנִית
This form makes the link between being second and happening again explicit.
shenayim: Two.
שְׁנַיִם
The related number word shows the count behind “second,” while the verse’s context gives that count the feel of recurrence.
THE PATTERN
One birth follows another, carrying a family forward through successive generations.
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.THE THREAD
And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son.The same phrase, “a second son,” appears again when Zilpah bears. The repeated wording brings the root’s sense of recurrence into view across two successive births.
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