Bible Strands
Genesis 30:11
Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Leah speaks after her servant Zilpah bears Jacob a son, announcing the birth to those present in Jacob's household.
The words — The text highlights בָּ֣א//גָ֑ד (be./gad), meaning "it has come" or "good fortune," which directly supplies both Leah's exclamation and the name she assigns to the child.
The thread — This event is recorded again in Genesis 35:26 and Genesis 46:16 as part of the genealogical list of Jacob's sons, and later appears in Genesis 49:19 where the tribe faces raiders but counterattacks.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader to note how a spontaneous declaration of fortune becomes a fixed tribal name that structures subsequent biblical narrative.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
Cross-references
- Genesis 49:19 Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.
- Genesis 35:26 And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
- Genesis 46:16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
- Deuteronomy 33:20 Concerning Gad he said: “Blessed is he who enlarges the domain of Gad! He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or a head.
- Isaiah 65:11 But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,