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 .