Genesis 30:2
And Jacob being angry with her, answered: Am I as God, who hath deprived thee of the fruit of thy womb?
Open Genesis 30:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cui iratus respondit Jacob : Num pro Deo ego sum, qui privavit te fructu ventris tui ?
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐθυμώθη δὲ Ἰακὼβ τῇ Ῥαχὴλ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ Μὴ ἀντὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐγώ εἰμι, ὃς ἐστέρησέν σε καρπὸν κοιλίας;
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּֽחַר אַ֥ף יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּרָחֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֲתַ֤חַת אֱלֹהִים֙ אָנֹ֔כִי אֲשֶׁר מָנַ֥ע מִמֵּ֖ךְ פְּרִי בָֽטֶן
Haydock's commentary
Angry at the rash and apparently blasphemous demand of Rachel. (Menochius)
As God, pro Deo. Am I to work a miracle in opposition to God, who has made thee barren? To him thou oughtest to address thyself. The Hebrews justly observe, that God has reserved to himself the four keys of nature: 1. Of generation; 2. Of sustenance, Psalm cxliv. 16; 3. Of rain, Deuteronomy xxviii. 12; And, 4. Of the grave or resurrection, Ezechiel xxxvii. 12. (Tirinus)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XLIX on Acts xxiii. 6-8
Shall we look at other instances of evil designing, how they turn out to our good, not only by having their reward, but also by their working at the very time precisely what is for our good? This (Joseph’s) uncle (Esau) had ill designs against his father (Jacob), and drove him out of his native land: what then? ( Gen. xxvii. 41 .) He too set him (thereby) aloof from the danger; for he too got (thereby) to be in safety. He made him a wiser and a better man ( φιλοσοφώτερον ); he was the means of his having that dream ( Gen. xxviii. 12 .) But, you will say, he was a slave in a foreign land? Yes, but he arrives among his own kindred, and receives a bride, and appears worthy to his father-in-law. ( ib. xxix. 23 .) But he too cheated him? Yes, but this also turned out to his good, that he might be the father of many children. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
21. The old law had a different ideal of blessedness, for therein it is said: “Blessed is he who hath seed in Zion and a family in Jerusalem:” and “Cursed is the barren who beareth not:” and “Thy children shall be like olive-plants round about thy table.” Riches too are promised to the faithful and we are told that “there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” But now even to eunuchs it is said, “Say not, behold I am a dry tree,” for instead of sons and daughters you have a place forever in heaven. Now the poor are blessed, now Lazarus is set before Dives in his purple. Now he who is weak is counted strong. But in those days the world was still unpeopled: accordingly, to pass over instances of childlessness meant only to serve as types, those only were considered happy who could boast of children. …
St Jerome Against Jovinianus, Book I
5. First of all, he says, God declares that“therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” And lest we should say that this is a quotation from the Old Testament, he asserts that it has been confirmed by the Lord in the Gospel, “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder”: and he immediately adds, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” He next repeats the names of Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, and tells us that they all had wives and in accordance with the will of God begot sons, as though there could be any table of descent or any history of mankind without wives and children. “There,” says he, “is Enoch, who walked with God and was carried up to heaven. …