Kejadian 29:20-25

29:20 So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. ¹  But they seemed like only a few days to him ²  because his love for her was so great. ³ 

29:21 Finally Jacob said ⁴  to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time of service is up. ⁵  I want to have marital relations with her.” ⁶  29:22 So Laban invited all the people ⁷  of that place and prepared a feast. 29:23 In the evening he brought his daughter Leah ⁸  to Jacob, ⁹  and Jacob ¹⁰  had marital relations with her. ¹¹  29:24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) ¹² 

29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! ¹³  So Jacob ¹⁴  said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! ¹⁵  Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked ¹⁶  me?”

Kejadian 31:7

31:7 but your father has humiliated ¹⁷  me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not permitted him to do me any harm.

[29:20]  ¹ tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”

[29:20]  ² sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.

[29:20]  ³ tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[29:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Jacob said.”

[29:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “my days are fulfilled.”

[29:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I will go in to her.” The verb is a cohortative; it may be subordinated to the preceding request, “that I may go in,” or it may be an independent clause expressing his desire. The verb “go in” in this context refers to sexual intercourse (i.e., the consummation of the marriage).

[29:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “men.”

[29:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it happened in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her.”

[29:23]  sn His daughter Leah. Laban’s deception of Jacob by giving him the older daughter instead of the younger was God’s way of disciplining the deceiver who tricked his older brother. D. Kidner says this account is “the very embodiment of anti-climax, and this moment a miniature of man’s disillusion, experienced from Eden onwards” (Genesis [TOTC], 160). G. von Rad notes, “That Laban secretly gave the unloved Leah to the man in love was, to be sure, a monstrous blow, a masterpiece of shameless treachery…It was certainly a move by which he won for himself far and wide the coarsest laughter” (Genesis [OTL], 291).

[29:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “to him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went in to her.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.

[29:24]  ¹² tn Heb “and Laban gave to her Zilpah his female servant, to Leah his daughter [for] a servant.” This clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[29:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.

[29:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”

[29:25]  ¹⁶ sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.

[31:7]  ¹⁷ tn This rare verb means “to make a fool of” someone. It involves deceiving someone so that their public reputation suffers (see Exod 8:25).