Discovery BoxGenesis 30:27-34 
Context30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, 1 for I have learned by divination 2 that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.” 30:28 He added, “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.” 3
30:29 “You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, 4 “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. 5 30:30 Indeed, 6 you had little before I arrived, 7 but now your possessions have increased many times over. 8 The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. 9 But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” 10
30:31 So Laban asked, 11 “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” 12 Jacob replied, 13 “but if you agree to this one condition, 14 I will continue to care for 15 your flocks and protect them: 30:32 Let me walk among 16 all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, 17 and the spotted or speckled goats. 18 These animals will be my wages. 19 30:33 My integrity will testify for me 20 later on. 21 When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, 22 if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” 23 30:34 “Agreed!” said Laban, “It will be as you say.” 24
1 tn The words “please stay here” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Or perhaps “I have grown rich and the
3 tn Heb “set your wage for me so I may give [it].”
4 tn Heb “and he said to him, ‘You know how I have served you.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons, and the referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “and how your cattle were with me.”
6 tn Or “for.”
7 tn Heb “before me.”
8 tn Heb “and it has broken out with respect to abundance.”
9 tn Heb “at my foot.”
10 tn Heb “How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?”
11 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.
13 tn The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “If you do for me this thing.”
15 tn Heb “I will return, I will tend,” an idiom meaning “I will continue tending.”
16 tn Heb “pass through.”
17 tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”
18 tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”
19 tn Heb “and it will be my wage.” The referent collective singular pronoun (“it) has been specified as “these animals” in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”
21 tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”
22 tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”
sn Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.
23 tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”
24 tn Heb “and Laban said, ‘Good, let it be according to your word.’” On the asseverative use of the particle לוּ (lu) here, see HALOT 521 s.v. לוּ.
