Genesis 30:2

Summary

Jacob's anger burns against Rachel because of her request (implied from the preceding context), and he responds with a rhetorical question denying that he holds the place of God, who is the one who has withheld children from her.

Key words

• yichar ("it burned", H2734) — qal narrative verb describing anger as something that "burns"; the subject is 'af ("anger of"), producing the idiomatic construction "the anger of Jacob burned."
• 'af ("anger of", H0639G) — masculine singular construct noun, grammatically the subject of the burning; construct form links it to Ya'aqov ("Jacob").
• ha ("¿", H9008) — interrogative particle prefixed to tachat, marking the entire clause as a rhetorical question rather than a statement.
• tachat ("in place of", H8478H) — construct noun meaning "under" or "instead of," here forming the phrase "in place of God" (tachat 'Elohim).
• mana' ("he has withheld", H4513) — qal perfect verb, denoting a completed action; the subject is 'Elohim ("God"), identified via the relative particle 'asher ("who", H0834A) as the one who withheld the "fruit of the womb" (peri-vaten).

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative construction va-yichar 'af Ya'aqov be-Rachel — literally "and it burned, the anger of Jacob, against Rachel." The verb yichar (H2734) takes 'af (H0639G) as its grammatical subject in a construct chain with Ya'aqov, a standard Hebrew idiom for expressing anger. The preposition be (H9003) before Rachel marks the target of that anger.

The second clause, introduced by another narrative va-yomer ("and he said," H0559), contains Jacob's speech. The interrogative particle ha (H9008) attached to tachat (H8478H) frames the utterance as a question: "Am I in place of God?" The noun tachat is in construct with 'Elohim (H0430G), a plural noun used here (as commonly in Biblical Hebrew) with singular grammatical reference to God. The personal pronoun 'anokhi ("I", H0595) follows, placed after the predicate phrase, which is typical of Hebrew question-and-answer syntax emphasizing the pronoun.

The relative clause 'asher mana' mimmekh peri-vaten identifies the antecedent — God — as the one who "withheld" (mana', H4513, qal perfect, indicating a completed and ongoing state) "from you" (mimmekh, H4480A + suffix H9032) the "fruit of the womb" (peri-vaten, a construct chain of H6529 and H0990H). The perfect aspect of mana' presents the withholding as an established fact rather than an ongoing process.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the phrase using Μῆ ἀντὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐγώ εἰμι ("Am I not in place of God"), which functions similarly to the Hebrew interrogative but adds the negative particle Μῆ, common in Greek rhetorical questions expecting a negative answer. The Vulgate's Num pro Deo ego sum mirrors the Hebrew structure closely with Num serving as the interrogative marker. The Hebrew 'Elohim (grammatically plural, H0430G) is rendered as singular θεοῦ / Deo in both LXX and Vulgate, consistent with the singular referent throughout the passage.