Genesis 30:26

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

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 to acquire a wife;

he tended sheep to pay for her.


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.

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

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

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