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Genesis 31:8

in Genesis 31

If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy wages; then bare all the flock ringstreaked.

KJV

If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.

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This verse in Genesis 31

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Hebrew Questions on Genesis · Written before 420.

(Chapter XXXI, verses 7 and 8) And your father deceived me and changed my wages ten times, and God did not allow him to harm me. If he said, 'Your wages will be the spotted flock,' then every flock was born spotted. And if he said, 'Your wages will be the solid-colored flock,' then every flock was born solid-colored. Because of this, he changed my wages ten times. The Seventy Interpreters have stated, driven by some unknown opinion, that 'moni' in the Hebrew language means 'number' rather than 'lambs.'

This site's exposition

he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times

on Genesis 31:7-9

Jacob says his wages were changed ten times, and he says it again at verse 41. Jerome reads the switching as a bet against the flock, the terms moving each time to whatever the ewes were not bearing. Each time the flock bore what Jacob was promised.

This site's exposition

The speckled will be your wages

The first bargain, at 30:32, took in speckled and spotted animals and dark lambs together. Laban later cut the wage down to a single marking and moved it each time the lambs came out with it. God's hand followed each new term.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages,....

The words behind it

20 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • כֹּ֣הthus

    kohH3541 →577 times

  • יֹאמַ֗רhe said

    yomarH559 →5305 times

  • נְקֻדִּים֙speckled [ones]

    nekudimH5348 →9 times

  • יִהְיֶ֣הit will be

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • שְׂכָרֶ֔ךָwage[s] your

    sekharekhaH7939 →28 times

  • וְיָלְד֥וּand they bore

    veyalduH3205 →496 times

  • כָל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַצֹּ֖אןthe flock

    hatzonH6629 →274 times

  • נְקֻדִּ֑יםspeckled [ones]

    nekudimH5348 →9 times

  • וְאִם־and if

    veim-H518 →1069 times

  • כֹּ֣הthus

    kohH3541 →577 times

  • יֹאמַ֗רhe said

    yomarH559 →5305 times

  • עֲקֻדִּים֙striped [ones]

    ʾakudimH6124 →7 times

  • יִהְיֶ֣הit will be

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • שְׂכָרֶ֔ךָwage[s] your

    sekharekhaH7939 →28 times

  • וְיָלְד֥וּand they bore

    veyalduH3205 →496 times

  • כָל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַצֹּ֖אןthe flock

    hatzonH6629 →274 times

  • עֲקֻדִּֽים׃striped [ones]

    ʾakudimH6124 →7 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

1 in all, six open

The walk

2 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 30:32

    Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 31:10

      When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.

    • Genesis 30:35

      That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under…

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 31 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 31 →