Genesis 31:9-12

31:9 In this way God has snatched away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

31:10 “Once ¹  during breeding season I saw ²  in a dream that the male goats mating with ³  the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 31:11 In the dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here I am!’ I replied. 31:12 Then he said, ‘Observe ⁴  that all the male goats mating with ⁵  the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you.

Genesis 31:38

31:38 “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.

Genesis 31:40

31:40 I was consumed by scorching heat ⁶  during the day and by piercing cold ⁷  at night, and I went without sleep. ⁸ 

Genesis 31:42

31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ⁹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ¹⁰  and he rebuked you last night.”

Exodus 12:35-36

12:35 Now the Israelites had done ¹¹  as Moses told them – they had requested from the Egyptians ¹²  silver and gold items and clothing. 12:36 The Lord ¹³  gave the people favor ¹⁴  in the sight of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted, ¹⁵  and so they plundered Egypt. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator, “and it happened at the time of.”

² tn Heb “in the time of the breeding of the flock I lifted up my eyes and I saw.”

³ tn Heb “going up on,” that is, mounting for intercourse.

⁴ tn Heb “lift up (now) your eyes and see.”

⁵ tn Heb “going up on,” that is, mounting for intercourse.

⁶ tn Or “by drought.”

⁷ tn Heb “frost, ice,” though when contrasted with the חֹרֶב (khorev, “drought, parching heat”) of the day, “piercing cold” is more appropriate as a contrast.

⁸ tn Heb “and my sleep fled from my eyes.”

⁹ tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.

¹⁰ tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”

¹¹ tn The verbs “had done” and then “had asked” were accomplished prior to the present narrative (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 99). The verse begins with disjunctive word order to introduce the reminder of earlier background information.

¹² tn Heb “from Egypt.” Here the Hebrew text uses the name of the country to represent the inhabitants (a figure known as metonymy).

¹³ tn The holy name (“Yahweh,” represented as “the Lord” in the translation) has the vav disjunctive with it. It may have the force: “Now it was Yahweh who gave the people favor….”

¹⁴ sn God was destroying the tyrant and his nobles and the land’s economy because of their stubborn refusal. But God established friendly, peaceful relations between his people and the Egyptians. The phrase is used outside Exod only in Gen 39:21, referring to Joseph.

¹⁵ tn The verb וַיַּשְׁאִלוּם (vayyash’ilum) is a Hiphil form that has the root שָׁאַל (sha’al), used earlier in Qal with the meaning “requested” (12:35). The verb here is frequently translated “and they lent them,” but lending does not fit the point. What they gave the Israelites were farewell gifts sought by demanding or asking for them. This may exemplify a “permissive” use of the Hiphil stem, in which “the Hiphil designates an action that is agreeable to the object and allowed by the subject” (B. T. Arnold and J. H. Choi, A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, 52).

¹⁶ sn See B. Jacob, “The Gifts of the Egyptians; A Critical Commentary,” Journal of Reformed Judaism 27 (1980): 59-69.