And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
The one put out his hand, х wayiten (H5414) yaad (H3027)] - there appeared a hand (the verb being used impersonally), 'a circumstance which occasionally happens when the children lie in an abnormal position, and always impedes the delivery, and which was regarded in this instance as so significant, that the names of the children were founded upon the fact' (Delitzsch; see further Geddes' 'Critical Remarks').
The midwife ... bound upon his hand a scarlet thread - to mark the first-born of the twins, to whom the rights and honours of primogeniture would belong.