31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, 4 “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich 5 at our father’s expense!” 6
37:33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! 9 Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
1 tn Heb “and also he has heard my voice.” The expression means that God responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.
2 tn Or “therefore.”
3 sn The name Dan means “he vindicated” or “he judged.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. The verb translated “vindicated” is from דִּין (din, “to judge, to vindicate”), the same verbal root from which the name is derived. Rachel sensed that God was righting the wrong.
4 tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”
5 sn The Hebrew word translated “gotten rich” (כָּבוֹד, cavod) has the basic idea of “weight.” If one is heavy with possessions, then that one is wealthy (13:2). Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph all became wealthy when they left the promised land. Jacob’s wealth foreshadows what will happen to Israel when they leave the land of Egypt (Exod 12:35-38).
6 tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”
7 tn Heb “I see the face of your father, that he is not toward me as formerly.”
8 tn This rare verb means “to make a fool of” someone. It involves deceiving someone so that their public reputation suffers (see Exod 8:25).
9 sn A wild animal has eaten him. Jacob draws this conclusion on his own without his sons actually having to lie with their words (see v. 20). Dipping the tunic in the goat’s blood was the only deception needed.