Bible Strands
Genesis 30:24
She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Rachel speaks after conceiving and giving birth to a son, immediately following her declaration that God has taken away her shame. This naming occurs before Jacob approaches Laban to request permission to return to his homeland.
The words — The verb יֹסֵף (yosef) means "may he add," directly echoing the name יוֹסֵף (Yosef) she just assigned to the child. This wordplay links the child's identity to Rachel's prayer for future increase.
The thread — Genesis 35:24 lists Joseph alongside Benjamin as Rachel's sons, while Genesis 49:22 later describes Joseph's future prosperity using vine imagery. Genesis 37:2 records Joseph at seventeen, tending the flock with his brothers.
Why it lands — The text records a mother's naming convention that functions as a prayer for future increase rather than a guarantee of outcome. It requires the reader to observe how personal hope is embedded in the very identity given to a child.
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 she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son.
Cross-references
- Genesis 35:24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
- Genesis 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.
- Genesis 37:2 This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
- Revelation 7:8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, and from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
- Genesis 35:17 During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”
- Genesis 39:1 Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
- Genesis 42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
- Deuteronomy 33:13 Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,
- Hebrews 11:21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
- Genesis 37:4 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.