Bible Strands
Genesis 35:25
The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records a genealogical list of Jacob's sons during the family's settlement in Canaan after their return from Paddan-aram.
The words — The text uses שִׁפְחַת (shif-chat), literally "maidservant," to define Bilhah's status, and וּ/בְנֵ֤י (u./ve-nei), meaning "and the sons of," to introduce her offspring.
The thread — Bilhah's placement as a surrogate mother is established when Rachel gives her to Jacob in Genesis 30:4, and her lineage is later noted through the son of Dan, Hushim, in Genesis 46:23.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that the patriarchal roster formally includes children born through a maidservant, completing the count of Jacob's twelve sons alongside those of Leah and Rachel.
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 the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
Cross-references
- Genesis 30:4 So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,
- 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.
- Genesis 46:23 The son of Dan: Hushim.