And she called his name Joseph: see Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation footnotes for the double explanation of the name Joseph.

May the LORD add to me another son!: the word add is related to the name Joseph in Hebrew, but in most languages “give me another” expresses the meaning adequately.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

And Jacob separated the lambs: lambs translates the Hebrew terms used in verses 33 and 35 and rendered lamb in Revised Standard Version and “sheep” in Good News Translation. Others translate “ewe,” meaning adult female sheep. In sheep raising cultures it will be advisable to use the term for “ewe.” We may also say, for example, “the sheep that were in heat” or “the female sheep that were ready to breed.” These female sheep are being bred while facing the colored animals in order that they will produce colored young for Jacob’s flocks. Accordingly in translation it may be necessary to make clear the reason Jacob set the faces of the flocks [these ewes] toward the striped and all black in the flock of Laban. See the note on trick 2 in verse 37.

It is obvious that Jacob cannot make his ewes face Laban’s animals if these are three days journey away (see 30.36). Since the process described takes place over a long period, we may assume that Laban’s animals and Jacob’s animals are again near each other, with Laban’s animals now carrying their owner’s markings. (Another possible explanation is that the colored animals referred to in this verse are the young ones bred by the trick described in verses 37-39, which at this time are still with Laban’s flock, even though they belong to Jacob.)

We may translate verse 40, for example:

• Jacob removed the ewes from the other sheep and goats in Laban’s flock. When these ewes were bred, he made them look toward the striped and black animals of Laban so they would give birth to striped and spotted young. By doing this he increased the number of his own animals and kept them separate from Laban’s herds.

A different possibility for this verse is given by Revised English Bible. It is that Jacob separated the rams (male sheep) of Laban’s flock and let only the colored rams breed with the ewes, thus making sure that the offspring would be black. While this is the way a modern sheep-breeder would think, it must be regarded as only speculation in this text and cannot be recommended to translators.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Verse 25 serves as a transition that links 30.1-24 to the episode that follows. In many languages this transition will be adequately marked by such an introductory sentence as “After the birth of Joseph…” or “Some time after Joseph had been born….”

When Rachel had borne Joseph: while this transition gives an indication of the passing of time following the report of the birth of Jacob’s children, it does not actually state how much time had passed since Jacob began to work for Laban. As we discover later (see 31.41), this was now fourteen years; in fact it was when Jacob had completed his second period of seven years service in payment for his marriage to Rachel (see 29.30). It was the fact that the contract relating to the marriage had been completed, rather than the birth of Joseph, that made negotiating a new contract necessary. If necessary this may be made clear in the translation of verse 26. See, for example, the model translation given for the first part of that verse.

Send me away, that I may go …: Send me is the same request Abraham’s servant made to Laban and Bethuel in 24.54, a request for permission to leave. See there for comments. We may translate “Let me go,” “Allow me to return.” As von Rad points out, the request of Jacob is actually a request to be released from his status as a servant who is dependent on Laban. So in some languages an expression that means to release a person from service or obligation may be used appropriately here; for example, “Release me [literally, untie me] so that I may go back….”

To my own home and country: my own home is literally “my own place,” which refers to his family home that Jacob had left many years earlier. Country or land refers to Beersheba, from which Jacob had left to go to Haran. It is the land where Jacob had been born and raised.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Give me my wives and my children: it may strike translators as strange that Jacob should ask Laban for his own wives and children. This is apparently not just polite language. According to von Rad, Jacob, who is a stranger and without property, is not a free man to go as he wishes. On the contrary he is dependent upon Laban. As Laban will say in 31.43, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children.”

For whom I have served you: technically Jacob worked for Laban only for the wives. It is in this sense that Speiser translates “Give me my wives, for whom I have served you, and my children….” This is followed by several other translations and is a model that is recommended to translators.

As noted at the beginning of verse 25, the verb I have served must be understood in this context as meaning “I have [now] completed my service.” A model translation that expresses this, and which also changes the order of the two clauses, says “I have worked hard to finish paying for my two wives. Please give them to me, with my children, and we will go.”

For you know the service which I have given you: this statement alludes to the fact that Jacob’s work has been outstanding and has increased Laban’s wealth, as Laban admits in verse 27. We may translate, for example, “you know how much good you have got from my work” or “you know how much my work has helped you.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

If you will allow me to say so is literally “If I have found favor in your eyes.” Laban speaks to Jacob as if Jacob were his superior. This polite form of address is part of Laban’s plan to keep Jacob so that Laban’s animals will continue to increase and make him still richer. King James Version actually makes the text say this: “If now I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have divined….”

I have learned by divination: divination translates a verb meaning to see omens. Divination or seeing omens is a method for discovering hidden knowledge. Ezek 21.21 mentions three ways in which the king of Babylon does this: he “shakes arrows,” “consults the terafim [family gods],” and “inspects the liver.” The word translated divination is found in 44.5, 15 in reference to Joseph’s silver cup in Egypt. Divination was forbidden to Israel in Lev 19.26 (“augury”) and Deut 18.10, 14.

It is possible in translation to use a term that expresses this process, or to say more generally “I have found out by use of magic.” Bible en français courant says “My gods have revealed to me”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch associates divination with astrology when it translates “As long as you were there, I stood under a favorable star.” Driver understands the expression to be used in the metaphorical sense of “perceive by careful observation.” Translators who do not have adequate terms for divination may wish to follow that model; for example, “I have discovered” or “I have found out by observing what you do.” Revised English Bible take the Hebrew verb in the sense of having good fortune, and therefore translate “I have become prosperous”; New International Version also notes this possibility in a footnote, “Or possibly ‘have become rich and.’ ”

Some examples of different translations of learned by divination are “I have come to understand that…” (very general), “I have been doing a ritual for finding out…,” “The signs I have been observing show me that….”

The LORD has blessed me because of you: Laban speaks in terms of Yahweh having blessed him. Yahweh is the name of Jacob’s God, which Jacob has learned from Abraham and Isaac. However, the ancient versions have ʾelohim, the general word for God, which we would expect from Laban. Translators should follow the Hebrew text, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Because of you shows that Jacob is the agent of the blessing given to Laban. This sentence may need to be restructured to say, for instance, “The LORD has used you to bless me.” As a passive construction we may say “I have been blessed by the LORD through you” or “I have been blessed by the LORD because of what you have done.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Name your wages is literally “set your wages on me.” We may render this “Tell me how much I should pay you” or “Tell me how much money you want.” For wages see 29.15. At this point some translations also put into words Laban’s desire for Jacob to stay with him; for example, “You must stay on with me. Tell me your price, how much money you want….”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Jacob’s reply begins by repeating the thoughts that have been expressed in verses 26-28.

You yourself know … you: see verse 26.

How your cattle have fared with me: cattle refers to all of Laban’s animals or flocks and not just to his cows and bulls. This statement refers to the increase in Laban’s animals and may often be translated, for example, “how much your animals have increased.” See Good News Translation. With me means in this context “since I have been here,” “under my care,” or “with me taking care of them.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

For you had little before I came is literally “For a little which was to you before me.” Jacob reminds Laban that, compared with the present, Laban had few animals when Jacob arrived in Haran: “Before I came here you had few animals.”

And it has increased abundantly: it refers to the animals or flocks of Laban. We may say, for example, “and your flocks [animals] have become numerous” or “and now see how many animals you have.”

And the LORD has blessed you wherever I turned is literally “the LORD has blessed you according to my foot.” This Hebrew idiom may have the meaning of “wherever I went” or “because I am here.” See Good News Translation footnote. In translation it may be necessary to make this expression more appropriate to the context by saying, for example, “the LORD blessed you wherever I took your flocks” or “the LORD increased your flocks wherever I took them to graze.”

But now when shall I provide for my own household also?: Jacob’s question is rhetorical and may need to be reshaped as a statement: “I need to provide for my own family now” or “I have to start taking care of my own family.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .