Genesis 30:26

30:26 Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. ¹  Then I’ll depart, ²  because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.” ³ 

Hosea 12:12

Jacob in Aram, Israel in Egypt, and Ephraim in Trouble

12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram,

then Israel worked ⁴  to acquire a wife;

he tended sheep to pay for her.

¹ tn Heb “give my wives and my children, for whom I have served you.” In one sense Laban had already “given” Jacob his two daughters as wives (Gen 29:21, 28). Here Jacob was asking for permission to take his own family along with him on the journey back to Canaan.

² tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

³ tn Heb “for you, you know my service [with] which I have served you.”

⁴ tn Heb “served” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “earned a wife.”