Genesis 30:33

30:33 My integrity will testify for me ¹  later on. ²  When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, ³  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.” ⁴ 

Genesis 31:37

31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ⁵  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ⁶  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ⁷ 

Genesis 31:1

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ⁸  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ⁹  at our father’s expense!” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 12:3-4

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, ¹¹ 

but the one who treats you lightly ¹²  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another ¹³  by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, ¹⁴  just as the Lord had told him to do, ¹⁵  and Lot went with him. (Now ¹⁶  Abram was 75 years old ¹⁷  when he departed from Haran.)

¹ tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”

² tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”

³ tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”

⁴ tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”

⁵ tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”

⁶ tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”

⁸ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

⁹ 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).

¹⁰ tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

¹¹ tn The Piel cohortative has as its object a Piel participle, masculine plural. Since the Lord binds himself to Abram by covenant, those who enrich Abram in any way share in the blessings.

¹² tn In this part of God’s statement there are two significant changes that often go unnoticed. First, the parallel and contrasting participle מְקַלֶּלְךָ (mÿqallelkha) is now singular and not plural. All the versions and a few Masoretic mss read the plural. But if it had been plural, there would be no reason to change it to the singular and alter the parallelism. On the other hand, if it was indeed singular, it is easy to see why the versions would change it to match the first participle. The MT preserves the original reading: “the one who treats you lightly.” The point would be a contrast with the lavish way that God desires to bless many. The second change is in the vocabulary. The English usually says, “I will curse those who curse you.” But there are two different words for curse here. The first is קָלַל (qalal), which means “to be light” in the Qal, and in the Piel “to treat lightly, to treat with contempt, to curse.” The second verb is אָרַר (’arar), which means “to banish, to remove from the blessing.” The point is simple: Whoever treats Abram and the covenant with contempt as worthless God will banish from the blessing. It is important also to note that the verb is not a cohortative, but a simple imperfect. Since God is binding himself to Abram, this would then be an obligatory imperfect: “but the one who treats you with contempt I must curse.”

¹³ tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings on”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

¹⁴ sn So Abram left. This is the report of Abram’s obedience to God’s command (see v. 1).

¹⁵ tn Heb “just as the Lord said to him.”

¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + implied “to be” verb) is parenthetical, telling the age of Abram when he left Haran.

¹⁷ tn Heb “was the son of five years and seventy year[s].”