And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
And it cometh to pass in the time of her bearing, that lo, twins are in her womb;
And it came to pass at the time of her delivery, that behold, twins were in her womb.
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices2
What is one to say of Tamar, who brought to birth the twins Zerah and Perez? Their separation at the moment of birth was like a wall that divides the two peoples, and the hand tied with the scarlet ribbon already then speckled the conscience of the Jews with the passion of Christ.
Jerome· LETTER 123.12, 420patristic
And it came to pass in the time of her travail,.... When her time to bring forth was come, and her pains were on her, and her midwife with her: that, behold, twins were in her womb; which the midwife could discover before the birth of either.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
The verses this one reaches1
When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.
