Genesis 30:29-30

30:29 “You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, ¹  “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. ²  30:30 Indeed, ³  you had little before I arrived, ⁴  but now your possessions have increased many times over. ⁵  The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. ⁶  But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” ⁷ 

Genesis 31:6

31:6 You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could, ⁸ 

Genesis 31:38-40

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. 31:39 Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself. ⁹  You always made me pay for every missing animal, ¹⁰  whether it was taken by day or at night. 31:40 I was consumed by scorching heat ¹¹  during the day and by piercing cold ¹²  at night, and I went without sleep. ¹³ 

[30:29]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and how your cattle were with me.”

[30:30]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[30:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “before me.”

[30:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it has broken out with respect to abundance.”

[30:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “at my foot.”

[30:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?”

[31:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “with all my strength.”

[31:39]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates that this was a customary or typical action.

[31:39]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from my hand you exacted it.” The imperfect verbal form again indicates that this was a customary or typical action. The words “for every missing animal” are supplied in the translation for clarity; the following clause in Hebrew, “stolen by day or stolen by night,” probably means “stolen by wild beasts” and refers to the same animals “torn by wild beasts” in the previous clause, although it may refer to animals stolen by people. The translation used here, “missing,” is ambiguous enough to cover either eventuality.

[31:40]  ¹¹ tn Or “by drought.”

[31:40]  ¹² 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.

[31:40]  ¹³ tn Heb “and my sleep fled from my eyes.”