Genesis 30:29

Summary

The verse reports Jacob's reply to Laban, opening with a direct address: "you know" what Jacob has done. Two parallel clauses follow, both introduced by the relative particle asher ("how/that"), covering first Jacob's service and then the state of Laban's livestock during that time.

Key words

• ya.Da'.ta ("you know", H3045) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; the perfect aspect marks this as a completed, established fact of knowledge Laban already possesses, not new information being introduced.
• 'a.vad.Ti ("I have served", H5647G) — qal perfect, 1st person singular, with the pronominal suffix -kha ("you") attached, forming a single verbal unit meaning "I have served you."
• 'a.Sher ("how/that", H0834A) — relative particle used twice (words 8 and 13), structuring the sentence into two parallel object clauses, both governed by yada'ta.
• mik.ne-kha ("your livestock", H4735) — masculine singular noun in construct state with the suffix -kha ("your"), literally "livestock-of-you," forming a single compound expression.
• 'et (H0853) — the direct object marker, appearing twice (words 7 and 12) with no independent meaning, syntactically flagging what follows as the object of yada'ta.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around a single main verb, yada'ta ("you know"), followed by two coordinated object clauses, each introduced by 'et... asher ("the [thing] that..."). The first clause, 'et asher 'avadti-kha ("that which I have served you"), uses the perfect verb 'avadti with the object suffix -kha fused onto it, compressing "I served" and "you" into one word. The second clause, 'et asher hayah miqne-kha itti ("that which your livestock has been with me"), uses the perfect verb hayah ("it has been") and places the construct noun miqnekha ("your livestock") as its subject, closing with itti ("with me", built from the preposition 'et plus the first-person suffix).

This two-part structure — service rendered ('avadti) and livestock outcome (hayah miqnekha itti) — sets up a comparison Jacob will develop in later verses: what he did versus what resulted for Laban's property. The construct chain miqne-kha ("livestock of you") ties possession directly to Laban, while itti ("with me") locates that possession under Jacob's care during the period referenced by the perfect tense.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint inserts the proper name Ἰακώβ ("Jacob") as the explicit subject of the reply, information not present in the Hebrew text, which uses only the verb i.Yo.mer ("he said") without naming the speaker. The Vulgate renders the second clause with quanta ("how much/how great"), shifting the sense toward quantity of possession, whereas the Hebrew asher simply marks a relative clause without specifying quantity or manner.