If he said: If does not indicate in this context a situation that may or may not have happened. It probably refers to Laban’s having said the words that follow on certain occasions, and especially saying them on repeated occasions. In this case we may translate “Whenever he said,” “When he would say,” or “Every time he would say.” Another approach to the “if … then … if … then” construction is represented by a translation that says “First he said I could have the all the spotted…; and at that time the flocks all bore spotted young. After that he said I could have all the striped…; well, then the flocks bore young that were striped.”

The spotted shall be your wages: this expression may need to be filled out to make it clear; for example, “The spotted animals that are born will be given to you as your wages” or “I will give you the spotted young animals for your pay.”

Then all the flock bore spotted is the consequence of the “if” clause at the opening of this verse. Bore spotted may need to be expanded to say, for example, “bore spotted young” or “gave birth to spotted young animals.” For spotted see 30.32.

The second half of verse 8 follows the same pattern as the first half. For striped see 30.35. For comments on the rendering “goats” in Good News Translation, see 30.39.

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 .