Discovery BoxGenesis 29:24-26 
Context29:24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) 1
29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! 2 So Jacob 3 said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! 4 Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked 5 me?” 29:26 “It is not our custom here,” 6 Laban replied, “to give the younger daughter in marriage 7 before the firstborn.
1 tn Heb “and Laban gave to her Zilpah his female servant, to Leah his daughter [for] a servant.” This clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.
2 tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
3 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”
5 sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.
6 tn Heb “and Laban said, ‘It is not done so in our place.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “to give the younger.” The words “daughter” and “in marriage” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
