Genesis 30:34

Summary

Laban responds to Jacob's proposal with a short exclamation of agreement, expressed through two interjections and a jussive verb, followed by "according to your word." The sentence structure emphasizes emphatic assent rather than a flat statement of fact.

Key words

• hen ("there!", H2005) — an interjection marking emphasis or attention, often translated "behold" or "look"; it signals that Laban is affirming or highlighting what follows.
• lu ("if", H3863) — a conjunction that introduces a wish or hypothetical, commonly rendered "would that" or "if only," here reinforcing the desiderative tone.
• yehi ("let it be", H1961) — jussive form of the verb "to be," expressing a wish or command that something come to pass; grammatically it is the verb form used for third-person indirect commands ("let X be").
• dvar ("word", H1697H) — construct form of the noun, meaning "word of," here linked to the following suffix to form "your word."
• -kha ("your", H9021) — second-person masculine singular pronominal suffix attached to dvar, producing khidvarekha, "according to your word."

What the text says

The Hebrew clause after va-yomer Laban ("and Laban said") is built from two short interjective/particle elements — hen and lu — followed by the jussive yehi and the prepositional phrase khidvarekha. Neither hen nor lu carries independent semantic content that can be rendered as a full word in English; together they function to intensify the following wish, producing something like "There! If only let it be according to your word." The jussive yehi (from the root H1961, "to be") is the grammatical form used for third-person wishes or permissions, distinct from a simple declarative "it is." The final phrase khidvarekha combines the preposition ki ("according to," H9004), the construct noun davar ("word," H1697H), and the suffix -kha ("your," H9021), literally "according to the word of you." The doubling of hen and lu in sequence is a feature that intensifies the expression of agreement beyond what a single interjection would convey, though this layering is difficult to preserve in translation.

Differences between versions

The LXX (εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ Λαβόν κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου, "Laban said to him, according to your word") omits both hen and lu entirely, rendering only the final phrase khidvarekha and dropping the jussive yehi as a separate element. The Vulgate ("Dixitque Laban: Gratum habeo quod petis," "And Laban said: I am pleased with what you ask") departs further, replacing the interjections and jussive construction with a paraphrase expressing satisfaction, without a formal equivalent to hen, lu, or khidvarekha. Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) tend to render the sense of agreement ("Agreed," "ojalá," "De acuerdo") while variously preserving or dropping the "as you have said" clause corresponding to khidvarekha.