Genesis 29:31

Summary

The verse states that Yehovah (Yehovah, H3068G) perceived the condition of Leah as "hated" and, in response, opened her womb, while Rachel remained barren. The sentence establishes a direct causal link between Leah's status and the divine action that follows.

Key words

• va-yar' ("and he saw", H7200G) — qal narrative form; the narrative vav plus verb marks this as the next event in the story sequence, introducing Yehovah's perception as the trigger for what follows.
• seNU'ah ("[was] hated", H8130) — qal passive participle, feminine singular; describes Leah's state as a passive condition (something done to her / how she is regarded) rather than an active verb.
• va-yiftach ("and he opened", H6605A) — qal narrative form; parallel construction to va-yar', showing the second link in the chain of narrated action (seeing → opening).
• rachmah ("womb", H7358) — masculine singular noun in construct with the suffix -ah ("her", H9024), forming "her womb"; the object marker 'et (H0853) preceding it flags this noun as the direct object of va-yiftach.
• 'aqarah ("[was] barren", H6135) — adjective, feminine singular, used without a verb, stating Rachel's condition as a nominal clause.

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative-vav chains (va-yar' ... va-yiftach), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative sequence one reported action after another: "and he saw ... and he opened." The subordinating particle ki (H3588A) introduces the content of what Yehovah saw — namely, the state expressed by the passive participle senu'ah, "hated," applied to Leah. Because senu'ah is a passive participle rather than a finite active verb, the Hebrew presents Leah's condition as something she experiences or is subjected to, without naming an agent within this clause.

The second clause, va-yiftach 'et-rachmah, uses the direct object marker 'et to mark "her womb" (rachmah) explicitly as the object of "he opened," reinforcing that the opening is a discrete, deliberate act attributed to the subject of the sentence (Yehovah). The final clause, ve-Rachel 'aqarah, breaks from the narrative-vav chain and instead uses a simple conjunctive ve- with a noun-adjective pair (no verb), producing a nominal/stative clause: "and Rachel [was] barren." This grammatical shift — from narrative verbs to a static nominal clause — sets Rachel's ongoing condition apart from the sequential actions concerning Leah.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders senu'ah ("hated," H8130) with the Greek passive miseitai ("is hated"), matching the Hebrew's passive sense. The Vulgate instead uses despiceret ("that he despised" or "looked down on"), which shifts the sense toward disdain/contempt rather than the more general "hated" of the Hebrew participle. The Vulgate also adds sorore sterili permanente ("her sister remaining sterile"), inserting "sister" (sorore) as an explanatory gloss not present in the Hebrew text's simple ve-Rachel 'aqarah.