Genesis 30:28

Summary

In Genesis 30:28, Laban tells Jacob to state the wages owed to him, using a construction that places the payment obligation explicitly "upon" Laban himself, followed by his commitment to give it.

Key words

• va-yomar ("and he said", H0559) — qal narrative form marking the transition into direct speech.
• naqvah ("designate", H5344A) — qal imperative, masculine singular, carrying a paragogic he (item 4) that adds emphasis to the command, roughly "designate/specify!"
• sekharekha ("your wage[s]", H7939) — masculine singular noun in construct with the pronominal suffix "your", forming "wage-of-you".
• 'alai ("on me", H5921A) — preposition with 1st-person suffix, literally placing the wage "upon" Laban, i.e., as his obligation.
• 'etenah ("let me give", H5414N) — form of the root natan ("to give"), glossed here as infinitive but carrying a final -ah ending, associated with purpose or intended result ("so that I may give").

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative verb va-yomar ("and he said", H0559), introducing Laban's speech without naming him again — the subject is understood from the preceding narrative. The command itself is built on naqvah ("designate", H5344A), a qal imperative reinforced by a paragogic he, which Hebrew grammar uses to intensify or make solemn an imperative form. This is followed by sekharekha ("your wage", H7939), a construct noun meaning "the wage belonging to you," and then 'alai ("on me", H5921A), which literally places that wage "upon" the speaker — Laban is marking the payment as a debt resting on himself, rather than simply asking Jacob to state a price in the abstract.

The final element, 'etenah ("let me give [it]", H5414N), closes the sentence with a form of natan ("to give") carrying a suffixed -ah, a feature the provided grammar labels as an infinitival "to do/in doing" function, linking to the preceding clause as a stated outcome — "so that I may give [it]."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders naqvah ("designate", H5344A) with διάστειλον ("distinguish, set apart"), a semantic shift from the Hebrew's more general "designate/specify." For the final verb, the LXX gives δώσω σοι ("I will give to you"), a first-person future active form, while the Hebrew's 'etenah is glossed in the data as an infinitive with a purpose-like ending. The Vulgate's constitue mercedem tuam quam dem tibi ("establish your wage, which I may give you") uses the subjunctive dem, framing the giving as contingent on the wage being set — a nuance distinct from the LXX's direct future assertion.