Genesis 31:41

Summary

Jacob summarizes to Laban the total time and terms of his labor: twenty years in Laban's household, fourteen years of service for his two daughters, and six years for the flocks, closing with the statement that Laban changed his wages ten times.

Key words

• 'avadeti ("I served", H5647) — qal perfect, first person: a completed action, presented as a finished fact of twenty years' labor.
• sheTei venoteikha ("two of your daughters", H8147/H1323) — construct chain (dual + plural construct + suffix "your"), specifying the exact object of the fourteen years' service.
• betzoNekha ("for your flock", H6629) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, marking the six years associated with Laban's livestock.
• vattachaLef ("and you changed", H2498) — hiphil verb with narrative vav, causative form: Laban is the causing agent who altered the wages, not merely someone who experienced a change.
• maskurTi ("my wages", H4909) — construct noun with first-person suffix, the direct object marked by 'et (H0853), naming what was repeatedly altered.

What the text says

The verse opens with zeh-li 'esrim shanah beveitekha ("this to-me twenty year in-your-house"), a nominal-type construction without a finite verb of being, simply juxtaposing the demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088) with the time span and location — a summary statement rather than a narrated event. The main narrated actions follow: 'avadetikha ("I served you") governs two time phrases marked by the preposition bi- ("for", H9003): "fourteen years for/in exchange for your two daughters" and "six years for your flock," each construct phrase (shetei venoteikha, betzonekha) specifying the compensation structure of the service rather than merely duration.

The final clause shifts from Jacob's completed action ('avadeti, perfect) to Laban's action, introduced by the narrative vav on vattachalef ("and then you changed," hiphil narrative form of H2498). The hiphil stem marks this as a causative act — Laban is depicted as the one making the change happen to the wages (maskurti, "my wages," H4909), which are marked as the direct object by 'et (H0853). The phrase 'asheret monim ("ten times," H6235/H4489) quantifies the repetition of this change without specifying its direction (increase or decrease) in the Hebrew wording itself.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening clause as "ταῦτα μοι εἴκοσι ἔτη ἐγώ εἰμι ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου" ("these to me twenty years, I am in your house"), supplying an explicit "I am" (ἐγώ εἰμι) where the Hebrew has no verb of being, only the demonstrative zeh and prepositional phrase. The LXX also renders the final phrase as "δέκα ἀμνάσιν" ("ten lambs/ewe-lambs") rather than "ten times," differing from the Hebrew 'asheret monim ("ten times," H6235/H4489), which refers to repetition rather than an animal quantity. The Vulgate's "decem vicibus" ("ten times/occasions") follows the Hebrew sense of repetition rather than the LXX's rendering involving lambs.