Genesis 35:17 · Bible study
Genesis 35:17 Commentary: Rachel’s Hard Labor
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the tension between the midwife's 'Fear not' and Rachel's death. A study of promise, suffering, and hope beyond tragedy.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The midwife’s words echo Rachel’s prayer for another son, reminding her that God is fulfilling his promise even in the midst of fatal labor.
- Key words: קָשָׁה (qashah) in Hiphil/Piel denotes severe, anguish-filled labor; גַם (gam) “also” ties to Joseph (Gen 30:24).
- Main debate: Whether the midwife’s “fear not” is an appropriate but limited comfort or a testimony that God’s word stands independent of outcome.
- Theological theme: Promise and suffering coexist; God’s faithfulness is not conditional on our deliverance from pain.
- Best use: Pastoral care for those who face hard outcomes despite clear promises; preaching hope in lament.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”
KJV King James Version 1769
And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
and it cometh to pass, in her being sharply pained in her bearing, that the midwife saith to her, `Fear not, for this also is a son for thee.'
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And it came to pass when it went hard with her in her childbearing, that the midwife said to her, Fear not; for this also is a son for thee.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
By reason of her hard labour, she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y aconteció, que como había trabajo en su parir, díjole la partera: No temas, que también tendrás este hijo.
E aconteceu, que quando havia trabalho em seu parto, disse-lhe a parteira: Não temas, que também terás este filho.
et pendant les douleurs de l’ enfantement, la sage-femme lui dit: Ne crains point, car tu as encore un fils!
Und es kam sie hart an über der Geburt. Da aber die Geburt so schwer ward, sprach die Wehmutter zu ihr: Fürchte dich nicht, denn diesen Sohn wirst du auch haben.
En het geschiedde, als zij het hard had in haar baren, zo zeide de vroedvrouw tot haar: Vrees niet; want deze zoon zult gij ook hebben!
e mentre penava a partorire, la levatrice le disse: “Non temere, perché eccoti un altro figliuolo”.
A gdy ciężko pracowała przy rodzeniu, rzekła baba do niej: Nie bój się; bo i tego syna będziesz miała.
Когда же она страдала в родах, повивальная бабка сказала ей: не бойся, ибо и это тебе сын.
正在 艱難的時候，收生婆 對她 說：「不要 怕， 你 又要 得一個 兒子了。」
And when her pain was very great, the woman who was helping her said, Have no fear; for now you will have another son.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Genesis 35:17
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators largely agree that the midwife’s words point back to Rachel’s own wish at Joseph’s birth: “May Yahweh add another son to me” (Gen 30:24). Gill notes that the midwife likely remembered this wish and used it to comfort Rachel. Wesley echoes the same connection, observing that the midwife told her “her words were made good.” Yet the comfort fails to prevent Rachel’s death. Matthew Henry observes that “unless God command away fear, no one else can,” and Calvin adds that Rachel remained so “oppressed with pain” that she did not accept the consolation. The midwife’s assurance was truthful, Rachel does have another son, but temporal deliverance is not guaranteed. The consensus, then, is that this verse occupies a tension between God’s faithfulness to his promise (the son arrives) and the reality of suffering that is not removed. Hope is anchored not in a safe outcome, but in the God who keeps his word beyond the grave.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Promise-keeping even in death: The midwife’s words are a direct echo of Gen 30:24; the birth fulfills Rachel’s prayer, showing God’s faithfulness despite the tragic outcome (Gill, Wesley).
- Limitation of human comfort: Matthew Henry and Calvin note that Rachel did not accept the consolation; human words cannot override God’s sovereign timing or remove suffering.
What is clear: The midwife’s statement is factually true—Rachel gives birth to another son (Benjamin)—even though she dies in the process, and this outcome highlights the tension between promised blessing and present pain.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the midwife’s words | Christians agree that the midwife intended comfort and pointed to Rachel’s earlier request for another son. | Some readers (e.g., Matthew Henry) stress that human comfort is powerless unless God gives peace; others emphasize that the midwife rightly proclaimed God’s faithfulness even in crisis. |
| Connection to Genesis 30:24 | All major commentators link the midwife’s phrase 'this also' to Rachel’s prayer at Joseph’s birth. | No significant debate; the connection is near-universally accepted. |
| Theological significance of Rachel’s death | Rachel’s death after the birth shows that God’s promises do not guarantee a pain-free life; the child is a gift but the mother dies. | Some traditions focus on the hope of resurrection (Calvin links burial rites to future resurrection); others see the event as a type of the suffering that precedes glory. |
| The naming from Benoni to Benjamin | Both names are accepted: Rachel’s dying name (Benoni) and Jacob’s renaming (Benjamin) carry symbolic weight. | The meaning of Benjamin: 'son of the right hand' or 'son of good fortune' (Keil & Delitzsch). A minority see 'son of days' (old age). The exact nuance is debated. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The verse sits within Jacob’s journey from Bethel, where God had just reaffirmed the covenant (Gen 35:9, 15). The destination is Ephrath, later called Bethlehem. Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, had been barren for years and had pleaded with God for another son after Joseph (Gen 30:24). By this point, Keil and Delitzsch estimate Rachel’s age at about fifty, making the pregnancy itself remarkable. The Hebrew verb קָשָׁה appears in both Piel and Hiphil stems in the passage, denoting not merely hard labor but the very “birth-throes and anguish” (Lange). The midwife is likely a trusted servant who had assisted at previous births (Gill). To travel with a midwife shows the family’s care; yet near Bethlehem, Rachel cannot reach shelter. The location carries later significance, her tomb becomes a landmark (1 Sam 10:2), and the name Bethlehem (house of bread) points forward to David and ultimately to Christ. In the ancient Near East, a son especially a male heir brought honor and security; Rachel’s dying moments thus carry intense emotional weight. The midwife’s phrase “this also is a son for you” directly fulfills Rachel’s earlier prayer. But fulfillment does not mean a trouble-free life; it comes mixed with the sharpest pain.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Genesis 35:17. The Hebrew verb קָשָׁה appears in both Piel (v. 16) and Hiphil (v. 17) stems, but both denote difficult labor. Translations differ slightly: WEB and KJV read “hard labour”; BSB uses “severe labor”; YLT “sharply pained.” These reflect the same underlying Hebrew. The phrase גַם זֶה (gam-zeh, “this also”) is uniformly rendered, with some translators inserting “shall have” for clarity.
Reception History
Early Jewish interpretation in the Talmud (Berakhot 60b) sees the midwife’s words as an example of a permissible lie told to comfort a dying person. Christian tradition, following the Geneva Bible and Calvin, has read the verse as a lesson on the limits of temporal consolation and the need for eternal hope. Matthew Henry’s commentary (1710) uses it to caution against relying on earthly deliverance. Later preachers have drawn parallels to Rachel’s weeping in Jeremiah 31:15, linking her death to the hope of restoration. The scene also prefigures the New Testament pattern of new life emerging through death, most fully in the resurrection. Across traditions, Rachel’s death at childbirth has been a poignant image of faithful suffering under promise.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- A promise remembered: The midwife recalls Rachel’s own prayer from Gen 30:24. God keeps his promises even when the path to fulfillment cuts through suffering.
- Comfort that fails: As Matthew Henry notes, earthly encouragement cannot dispel death’s terror unless God himself speaks peace. The midwife’s words are true but insufficient, pointing us to a comforter who does not disappoint.
- A son named through loss: Rachel calls him Benoni (son of my sorrow); Jacob renames him Benjamin (son of the right hand). Out of death comes the promise of honor, a pattern that echoes through Scripture.
Five-point outline
- Setting: Bethel to Bethlehem, obedience in motion (vv. 14, 16)
- Hard labor: the intersection of long-awaited fulfillment and acute pain (v. 16)
- The midwife’s word: human comfort tethered to a divine promise (v. 17)
- Rachel’s death: when hope is not a happy ending (v. 18a)
- Naming the future: from Benoni to Benjamin, a father’s redemptive perspective (v. 18b)
Illustration hooks
- A friend speaks a promise from Scripture to someone in the hospital, but the patient still dies, the promise remains true for eternity, yet the moment is raw.
- A congregation prays for a safe delivery; the baby lives but the mother does not. The faith community must hold both grief and gratitude.
- When a family names a child after a tragedy as a testimony of hope (like Benjamin instead of Benoni) they choose to see God’s hand beyond their loss.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why did God let Rachel die when the very son she prayed for was being born?
- Is it wrong to offer comfort when someone is suffering if we cannot guarantee the outcome?
- What does this story tell us about God’s presence in the middle of unanswered prayer?
Leading a Discussion
This verse lands in the middle of one of the Bible’s most heart-wrenching scenes. A promise given, a life taken, a child born. Gather with honesty, God is not afraid of your hard questions.
Discussion questions
- Read Genesis 30:24. How does Rachel’s earlier wish echo through the midwife’s words in 35:17? What does this tell you about the midwife?
- Why does the narrator highlight that Rachel had “hard labor”? What emotional effect does this detail create?
- The midwife says “Fear not” (the same command God often gives). In what ways can human words both reflect and fall short of God’s comfort?
- What do you make of Calvin’s observation that Rachel was too “oppressed with pain” to accept the consolation? Have you ever been in a place where good news could not penetrate your grief?
- Compare this scene with 1 Samuel 4:19, 21, where Phinehas’ wife also dies after childbirth. What does the pattern of birth and death in the Old Testament suggest about the fragility of life?
- Jacob renames Benjamin from “son of my sorrow” to “son of the right hand.” How does this act show faith in God’s future even when present circumstances are devastating?
- How can this passage shape the way your group offers comfort to someone in crisis, especially when you cannot promise them that everything will be okay?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 30:24 | She named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son to me.” |
| I Samuel 4:19 | His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that God’s ark was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her. |
| I Samuel 4:21 | She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because God’s ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin faults Rachel's overwhelming sorrow in childbirth as ingratitude that blinds her to God's kindness, and he sees Jacob's renaming of the child from Benoni to Benjamin as a deliberate correction of that error. He then treats the burial of the patriarchs as a conscious act of resurrection hope, not mere ceremony.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge commentary cautions against reading Rachel's death too strictly as a tribal allegory, while still accepting that personal events in the narrative can carry symbolic meaning. They observe that Rachel's death marks the end of Jacob's own story, separate from the following Joseph narrative.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The midwife’s encouragement to Rachel highlights the intense fear she felt during childbirth, contrasting her anxiety with the promise that she would bear another son. This moment underscores the emotional weight of her labor and the specific reassurance given to sustain her through the pain. The note focuses on the human reality of her distress rather than theological symbolism.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill highlights that the midwife comforted Rachel by recalling her earlier words at Joseph's birth — that the Lord would add another son. The midwife uses Rachel's own expression of faith to give her hope that this painful labor would indeed bring the promised son.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch observes that Jacob changed the name Rachel gave her dying child, Ben-oni or son of my pain, to Benjamin. Drawing on Arabic, they interpret Benjamin as son of good fortune, meaning Jacob saw the birth as compensation for losing his beloved wife. They also note the command to dwell at Bethel did not require a permanent stay there.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange reads Rachel's death as a sacrificial triumph: she names her son Benoni, son of my pain, but the emphasis falls on "son" as the gain won through her dying. Jacob renames him Benjamin, son of the right hand, marking the rest and strength Rachel's sacrifice secured for him. The soul's departure confirms its conscious existence beyond death.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry draws attention to the midwife's hollow encouragement and the deeper truth that only God speaks with authority to calm fear. He observes that Rachel's hard labor brought life to her son but cost her own life, a reminder that human comforts often fail when eternal hope is needed.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that the midwife tried to comfort Rachel with the fulfillment of her wish for another son, yet Rachel died anyway. He warns that we often rest our hope on temporary earthly deliverances that can fail, when our true, unfailing comfort should be anchored in the hope of eternal life.