Discovery BoxGenesis 30:19-43
Context30:19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time. 1 30:20 Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 2
30:21 After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
30:22 Then God took note of 3 Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. 4 30:23 She became pregnant 5 and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” 6 30:24 She named him Joseph, 7 saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”
30:25 After Rachel had given birth 8 to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send 9 me on my way so that I can go 10 home to my own country. 11 30:26 Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. 12 Then I’ll depart, 13 because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.” 14
30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, 15 for I have learned by divination 16 that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.” 30:28 He added, “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.” 17
30:29 “You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, 18 “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. 19 30:30 Indeed, 20 you had little before I arrived, 21 but now your possessions have increased many times over. 22 The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. 23 But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” 24
30:31 So Laban asked, 25 “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” 26 Jacob replied, 27 “but if you agree to this one condition, 28 I will continue to care for 29 your flocks and protect them: 30:32 Let me walk among 30 all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, 31 and the spotted or speckled goats. 32 These animals will be my wages. 33 30:33 My integrity will testify for me 34 later on. 35 When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, 36 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.” 37 30:34 “Agreed!” said Laban, “It will be as you say.” 38
30:35 So that day Laban 39 removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care 40 of his sons. 30:36 Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, 41 while 42 Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.
30:37 But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible. 30:38 Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink. 43 30:39 When the sheep mated 44 in front of the branches, they 45 gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 30:40 Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face 46 the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks. 30:41 When the stronger females were in heat, 47 Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches. 30:42 But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. 48 So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban 49 and the stronger animals to Jacob. 30:43 In this way Jacob 50 became extremely prosperous. He owned 51 large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.
[30:19] 1 tn Heb “and she bore a sixth son for Jacob,” i.e., this was the sixth son that Leah had given Jacob.
[30:20] 2 sn The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means “honor.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew verb translated “will honor” and the name Zebulun derive from the same root.
[30:22] 3 tn Heb “remembered.”
[30:22] 4 tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons
[30:23] 6 tn Heb “my reproach.” A “reproach” is a cutting taunt or painful ridicule, but here it probably refers by metonymy to Rachel’s barren condition, which was considered shameful in this culture and was the reason why she was the object of taunting and ridicule.
[30:24] 7 sn The name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yoseph) means “may he add.” The name expresses Rachel’s desire to have an additional son. In Hebrew the name sounds like the verb (אָסַף,’asasf) translated “taken away” in the earlier statement made in v. 23. So the name, while reflecting Rachel’s hope, was also a reminder that God had removed her shame.
[30:25] 8 tn The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.
[30:25] 9 tn The imperatival form here expresses a request.
[30:25] 10 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
[30:25] 11 tn Heb “to my place and to my land.”
[30:26] 12 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.
[30:26] 13 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
[30:26] 14 tn Heb “for you, you know my service [with] which I have served you.”
[30:27] 15 tn The words “please stay here” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
[30:27] 16 tn Or perhaps “I have grown rich and the
[30:28] 17 tn Heb “set your wage for me so I may give [it].”
[30:29] 18 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.
[30:29] 19 tn Heb “and how your cattle were with me.”
[30:30] 21 tn Heb “before me.”
[30:30] 22 tn Heb “and it has broken out with respect to abundance.”
[30:30] 23 tn Heb “at my foot.”
[30:30] 24 tn Heb “How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?”
[30:31] 25 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[30:31] 26 tn The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.
[30:31] 27 tn The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[30:31] 28 tn Heb “If you do for me this thing.”
[30:31] 29 tn Heb “I will return, I will tend,” an idiom meaning “I will continue tending.”
[30:32] 30 tn Heb “pass through.”
[30:32] 31 tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”
[30:32] 32 tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”
[30:32] 33 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.
[30:33] 34 tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”
[30:33] 35 tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”
[30:33] 36 tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”
[30:33] 37 tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”
[30:34] 38 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.
[30:35] 39 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[30:35] 40 tn Heb “and he gave [them] into the hand.”
[30:36] 41 tn Heb “and he put a journey of three days between himself and Jacob.”
[30:36] 42 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the vav with subject) is circumstantial/temporal; Laban removed the animals while Jacob was taking care of the rest.
[30:38] 43 sn He put the branches in front of the flocks…when they came to drink. It was generally believed that placing such “visual aids” before the animals as they were mating, it was possible to influence the appearance of their offspring. E. A. Speiser notes that “Jacob finds a way to outwit his father-in-law, through prenatal conditioning of the flock by visual aids – in conformance with universal folk beliefs” (Genesis [AB], 238). Nevertheless, in spite of Jacob’s efforts at animal husbandry, he still attributes the resulting success to God (see 31:5).
[30:39] 44 tn The Hebrew verb used here can mean “to be in heat” (see v. 38) or “to mate; to conceive; to become pregnant.” The latter nuance makes better sense in this verse, for the next clause describes them giving birth.
[30:39] 45 tn Heb “the sheep.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[30:40] 46 tn Heb “and he set the faces of.”
[30:41] 47 tn Heb “and at every breeding-heat of the flock.”
[30:42] 48 tn Heb “he did not put [them] in.” The referent of the [understood] direct object, “them,” has been specified as “the branches” in the translation for clarity.
[30:42] 49 tn Heb “were for Laban.”
[30:43] 50 tn Heb “the man”; Jacob’s name has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
