Genesis 30:33
וְעָֽנְתָה־בִּי צִדְקָתִי בְּיוֹם מָחָר כִּֽי־תָבוֹא עַל־שְׂכָרִי לְפָנֶיךָ כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־אֵינֶנּוּ נָקֹד וְטָלוּא בָּֽעִזִּים וְחוּם בַּכְּשָׂבִים גָּנוּב הוּא אִתִּֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְעָֽנְתָה־בִּ֤י צִדְקָתִי֙ בְּי֣וֹם מָחָ֔ר כִּֽי־תָב֥וֹא עַל־שְׂכָרִ֖י לְפָנֶ֑יךָ כֹּ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־אֵינֶנּוּ֩ נָקֹ֨ד וְטָל֜וּא בָּֽעִזִּ֗ים וְחוּם֙ בַּכְּשָׂבִ֔ים גָּנ֥וּב ה֖וּא אִתִּֽי׃
καὶ ἐπακούσεταί μοι ἡ δικαιοσύνη μου ἐν τῆ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ αὔριον, ὅτι ἐστὶν ὁ μισθός μου ἐνώπιόν σου· πᾶν ὃ ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ῥαντὸν καὶ διάλευκον ἐν ταῖς αἰξὶν καὶ φαιὸν ἐν τοῖς ἄρνασιν, κεκλεμμένον ἔσται παρ’ ἐμοί.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Respondebitque mihi cras justitia mea, quando placiti tempus advenerit coram te: et omnia quæ non fuerint varia, et maculosa, et furva, tam in ovibus quam in capris, furti me arguent.
El día de mañana, mi honradez responderá por mí. Cuando vengas a revisar mi salario, todo cabrito que no esté manchado ni moteado, y toda oveja que no sea negra y que esté conmigo, será considerado un robo”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Así responderá por mí mi justicia mañana, cuando me viniere mi salario delante de ti: toda la que no fuere pintada ni manchada en las cabras y de color oscuro en las ovejas mías, se me ha de tener por de hurto.
So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Jacob states that in the future, when Laban comes to check on his wages, Jacob's own honesty (tzedakah) will serve as a witness. The verse defines the terms of the arrangement: any animal among the goats or lambs that lacks the agreed markings (speckled, spotted, dark) and is found with Jacob will count as stolen.
Key words
- 'anetah ("it will testify", H6030B) — qal sequential perfect, 3rd feminine singular; continues the narrative sequence and refers to tzidkati ("my righteousness") as the subject that will "answer" or "testify" on a future day.
- tzidkati ("my righteousness", H6666) — feminine singular noun in construct with the 1st person suffix -i ("my"); the abstract quality itself is personified as testifying.
- machar ("in future time", H4279) — masculine singular noun paired with yom ("a day", H3117G) to form the phrase "on a day, [in the] future," i.e., a later, unspecified day.
- na.Kod ("speckled", H5348) and ta.Lu' ("spotted", H2921, qal passive participle) — describe markings on the goats; the passive participle form marks the coloring as a state imposed/observed on the animal.
- ga.Nuv ("[is] stolen", H1589) — qal passive participle, masculine singular, paired with the pronoun hu' ("he/it", H1931) to state the resulting legal status of any nonconforming animal.
What the text says
The clause opens with a narrative vav attached to 'anetah, producing a sequential perfect that projects into the future ("and it will testify"), with the grammatical subject tzidkati ("my righteousness") following the verb — a verb-subject order typical of this construction. The conditional element is introduced by ki (H3588A, "for/if"), governing tavo' ("you will come", H0935G, qal imperfect), which frames the entire testimony as contingent on Laban's future inspection "concerning my wages" (al-sekhari) "before you" (le-fanekha).
The second half is built on a relative clause: kol 'asher-'einennu naqod ve-talu' ("all that is not speckled and spotted"), where 'einennu (H0369, a negating construct noun with suffix) negates the following adjective/participle pair. This clause covers goats (ba-'izzim) and lambs (ba-kesavim) separately, each with its own defining color terms (speckled/spotted for goats, chum "dark" H2345 for lambs). The final predicate ganuv hu' 'itti ("stolen it [is] with me") closes the sentence with a passive participle plus pronoun construction, stating the legal consequence rather than describing an action.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders 'anetah ("it will testify") with epakousetai ("will listen to/answer"), a different verbal nuance than "testify." The Vulgate's furva ("dark grey/black") corresponds to Hebrew chum ("dark") for lambs, while the LXX uses phaion ("grey"). The Vulgate also reverses the animal order found in the Hebrew and LXX, listing sheep before goats (tam in ovibus quam in capris) rather than goats before lambs.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.