Genesis 29:15
וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן לְיַעֲקֹב הֲכִי־אָחִי אַתָּה וַעֲבַדְתַּנִי חִנָּם הַגִּידָה לִּי מַה־מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּֽךָ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָבָן֙ לְיַעֲקֹ֔ב הֲכִי־אָחִ֣י אַ֔תָּה וַעֲבַדְתַּ֖נִי חִנָּ֑ם הַגִּ֥ידָה לִּ֖י מַה־מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּֽךָ׃
εἶπεν δὲ Λαβὰν τῷ Ἰακώβ ὅτι γὰρ ἀδελφός μου εἶ, οὐ δουλεύσεις μοι δωρεάν· ἀπάγγειλόν μοι τίς ὁ μισθός σού ἐστιν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
dixit ei: Num quia frater meus es, gratis servies mihi? dic quid mercedis accipias.
Entonces Labán le dijo a Jacob: “No vas a trabajar para mí de balde sólo porque eres mi pariente. Dime, ¿cuánto quieres ganar?”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Entonces dijo Labán á Jacob: ¿ Por ser tú mi hermano, me has de servir de balde? declárame qué será tu salario.
Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Laban addresses Jacob with a rhetorical question, asking whether Jacob's kinship status (being called "my brother") means he should serve without payment. He then commands Jacob to state what wages he wants.
Key words
- 'aChi ("my brother", H0251H) — construct noun + suffix; a kinship term used broadly, here for Jacob who is actually Laban's nephew.
- ha...khi (H9008 + H3588A) — the interrogative particle ha combined with khi forms a rhetorical question, roughly "is it because...?"
- 'avadTani ("you will serve me", H5647G) — qal sequential perfect with 1st-person suffix; continues the question begun by ha...khi, projecting future service.
- chiNam ("for nothing", H2600) — adverb specifying the manner of service being questioned: unpaid.
- haGida ("tell!", H5046) — hiphil imperative with paragogic he (H9012), an emphatic causative command: "make [it] known to me."
What the text says
The verse opens with the narrative marker va (H9001) plus yomer (H0559), the standard "and he said" formula introducing direct speech. The core of Laban's statement is built on the interrogative construction ha...khi (H9008 + H3588A), which frames the entire clause "'aChi 'atah" ("you are my brother") as the premise of a question rather than a flat assertion. The nominal sentence 'aChi 'atah has no verb "to be" — Hebrew simply juxtaposes "brother-of-me" and "you," a construction glosses cannot fully preserve without adding "are."
The sequential perfect va'avadTani continues the interrogative force begun by ha...khi, so the whole first half functions as one rhetorical question: "Is it because you are my brother that you should serve me for nothing?" The adverb chiNam ("for nothing", H2600) supplies the specific condition being questioned — unpaid labor.
The second half shifts to direct command: haGida (hiphil imperative, H5046) with the paragogic he adds emphasis to the request. The final clause mah-masskurTekha ("what is your wage?") uses the interrogative mah (H4100) with the construct noun masskurtekha ("your wage/hire", H4909) plus suffix, asking Jacob to name a figure.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew and Vulgate preserve the question form: Hebrew ha...khi and Vulgate "Num quia...?" both mark this as an interrogative sentence. The LXX instead renders it as a negative statement, "ὅτι γὰρ ἀδελφός μου εἶ, οὐ δουλεύσεις μοι δωρεάν" ("since you are my brother, you shall not serve me for nothing"), removing the interrogative structure and replacing it with a negated future indicative, which changes the rhetorical question into an assertion.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.