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Genesis 31:8

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 31:8 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “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.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

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.
Genesis 31:8 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 31

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
5and said unto them, I see your father`s countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me.
6And ye know that will all my power I have served your father.
7And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
8If 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.
9Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
10And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled.
11And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here am I.
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages, etc.] Sometimes Laban would say to Jacob, only the speckled lambs which the ewes shall bring forth shall be thine hire, and not the spotted; or the ringstraked, or the brown, which according to the bargain should have been his, the one and the other: then all the cattle bare speckled; that season, God ordering it so in his providence, that Laban might be disappointed, and Jacob might have his full hire; that is, the greatest part of the cattle bore such, as Ben Melech observes: and if he said thus, the ringstraked shall be thine hire; observing the cattle to bring forth only speckled, or the greatest part such, then he changed his hire, and…”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification