Genesis 30:31-33

30:31 So Laban asked, ¹  “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” ²  Jacob replied, ³  “but if you agree to this one condition, ⁴  I will continue to care for ⁵  your flocks and protect them: 30:32 Let me walk among ⁶  all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, ⁷  and the spotted or speckled goats. ⁸  These animals will be my wages. ⁹  30:33 My integrity will testify for me ¹⁰  later on. ¹¹  When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, ¹²  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.” ¹³ 

[30:31]  ¹ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:31]  ² tn The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.

[30:31]  ³ tn The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “If you do for me this thing.”

[30:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will return, I will tend,” an idiom meaning “I will continue tending.”

[30:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “pass through.”

[30:32]  ⁷ tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”

[30:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”

[30:32]  ⁹ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”

[30:33]  ¹² tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”

[30:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”

[30:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”