Genesis 30

ἐθυμώθη, "was enraged" (Matt 2:16), where the Masoretic version reads "the nose of Jacob flared": the Greek keeps the anger and loses the nose, and the lack is marked (39 keeps the body word where the source has it). ἐστέρησεν, "has deprived," where the Masoretic version reads "has hindered" (מָנַע); κοιλία, "belly," where it reads "body" (בֶּטֶן). The article before θεοῦ is Swete's text, from Alexandrinus.

The seeded plus εἶπεν δὲ Ῥαχὴλ τῷ Ἰακώβ, "Rachel … to Jacob," where the Masoretic version reads "she said," is set in two marks because English puts the verb between the name and its object. ἵνα τεκνοποιήσωμαι κἀγὼ ἐξ αὐτῆς, "so that I too may make children from her," is Swete's text from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs reads differently, and the Masoretic version reads "I too shall be built from her" (אִבָּנֶה), which hears "son" (בֵּן) in "build" (בָּנָה). The Greek gives the sense and loses the sound, as at 16:2. It has τέξεται, "she shall bear," where the Masoretic version reads "let her bear."

Ἔκρινέν μοι ὁ θεός, "God has judged for me," where the Masoretic version reads "Elohim has held court for me" (דָּנַנִּי): the Hebrew explains Dan (דָּן) by the verb, and the Greek gives it as κρίνω, the verb of judgment, so that the explanation keeps its sense and loses its sound. The Greek has no word for "also" (גַּם). The names of the sons of Gen 30 and their explanations are set out in the table.

Συνεβάλετό μοι ὁ θεός, καὶ συνανεστράφην τῇ ἀδελφῇ μου, "God has engaged with me, and I have turned about with my sister," where the Masoretic version reads "Twistings of elohim I have twisted with my sister" (129n). The Hebrew explains Naphtali (נַפְתָּלִי) by "twist" (פָּתַל); the Greek makes God Rachel's partner in the contest, συμβάλλομαι, "engage, join" (Luke 14:31, kings who engage in war; Acts 18:27), and her struggle a turning about with her sister, with no sound of the name. ὁ θεός with the article and a singular verb is "God," where the Masoretic version keeps lowercase "elohim" (129n). Συνεβάλετο and the spelling Νεφθαλεί are Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs reads differently. The Greek has no word for "also" (גַּם).

The Greek tells that Jacob went in to Zilpah and that she conceived, where the Masoretic version says only that she bore (as it told of Bilhah, 30:4–5). The seeded plus is one stretch of Greek; it is set in two marks because the English puts Zilpah's name between its clause and its verb.

Ἐν τύχῃ, "With fortune," reads the written consonants of the Masoretic text, בגד, as one word, "with fortune" (the ketiv), where the Masoretic version translates the read text, בָּא גָד, "Fortune has come!" (the qere, 19). Gad (גָּד) is "fortune" in both, and the Greek explains the name by τύχη, its word for the god Gad at Isa 65:11. The verb is ἐπωνόμασεν, "named," where the other namings of the chapter have ἐκάλεσεν, "called" (as 4:25–26).

The Greek tells that Zilpah conceived again and bore again; the Masoretic version says only that she bore. The alignment sets καὶ συνέλαβεν, "and conceived," and the second ἔτι, "further"; Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, also has ἔτι after "conceived," where Rahlfs reads differently, and it is marked with them.

Μακαρία ἐγώ, "Happy am I," where the Masoretic version reads "In my happiness!" (בְּאָשְׁרִי), and αἱ γυναῖκες, "the women," for "daughters": Asher (אָשֵׁר) is explained by "happy" in both, and the Greek has the verb of Mary's song, "all generations shall call me happy" (Luke 1:48, μακαριοῦσίν με). Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, has πᾶσαι, "all," where Rahlfs reads differently; it is marked as a plus.

μῆλα μανδραγόρου, "apples of mandrake," the round fruit of the mandrake, where the Masoretic version reads "mandrakes" (דּוּדָאִים, heard with דּוֹד, "beloved"); the fruit was held to bring love and conception (Song 7:14), and so Rachel asks for it. μῆλον is any round tree fruit, "apple" in the old English sense. The harvest is of πυρός, "wheat" (149d).

εἶπεν δὲ Λεία, "Now Leah said," where the Masoretic version reads "And she said to her": the Greek names the speaker, and has no word for "to her" (לָהּ). The alignment links Λεία to לָהּ; the name is set as a plus and the lack of "to her" is marked.

Οὐχ οὕτως, "Not thus," where the Masoretic version reads "Thus" (לָכֵן, "so then"): in the Greek Rachel turns aside Leah's complaint before she makes her offer, and the negation is printed. Leah's first question is Οὐχ ἱκανόν σοι, "Is it not sufficient for you," where the Masoretic version reads "Is it little"; the sense is one, the polarity the Greek's. The bed is κοιμηθήτω, "let him fall asleep," the core verb of sleep (and of death, 1 Thess 4:13–15), for the Masoretic version's "lie" (שָׁכַב); likewise 30:16.

ὅ ἐστιν Μισθός, "which is Wage": the Greek glosses the name in the text, as Mark glosses Boanerges, ὅ ἐστιν υἱοὶ βροντῆς (Mark 3:17). Issachar (יִשָּׂשכָר) is heard as יֵשׁ שָׂכָר, "there is a wage," and Leah has just said "God has given me my wage" (μισθός, שָׂכָר).

Δεδώρηταί μοι ὁ θεὸς δῶρον καλόν, "God has gifted me a beautiful gift," keeps the doubled word of the Masoretic version's "Elohim has endowed me … with a good endowment" (זְבָדַנִי … זֵבֶד). The second clause explains Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן) in the Hebrew by "my man will exalt me" (יִזְבְּלֵנִי); the Greek has αἱρετιεῖ με, "will prefer me," choose me before her sister (Matt 12:18, Isa 42:1), with no sound of the name. τέτοκα, "I have borne," and μοι are Swete's text, from Alexandrinus.

καὶ ἔστη τοῦ τίκτειν, "And she stood still from bearing," is Swete's text from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs reads differently: the Greek closes Leah's bearing with the words that closed it at 29:35, and the Masoretic version lacks them here. Dinah (דִּינָה) has no explanation in either version; Swete spells her Δεινά.

Ἀφεῖλεν ὁ θεός μου τὸ ὄνειδος, "God has taken away my reproach," the words of Elizabeth at Luke 1:25 (ἀφελεῖν ὄνειδός μου), where the Masoretic version reads "Elohim has gathered my reproach" (אָסַף), the first of the two verbs heard in Joseph (יוֹסֵף). The Greek's verb has no sound of the name, which is explained again by "add" in 30:24.

Προσθέτω ὁ θεός, "May God add," where the Masoretic version reads "May ADONAI add" (יֹסֵף יְהוָה): the Greek keeps the verb that explains Joseph, προστίθημι, "add," and has God for the divine name. υἱὸν ἕτερον, "a different son," as σπέρμα ἕτερον at 4:25 (146c).

Εἰ εὗρον χάριν ἐναντίον σου, οἰωνισάμην ἄν, "If I have found grace before you, I would have taken omens": the Greek makes Laban's broken sentence a condition, where the Masoretic version reads "If, please, I have found favor in your eyes—I have divined." οἰωνίζομαι is to read birds of omen (οἰωνός), the Greek's verb for the divining cup at 44:5, 15. The Greek has "God" for "ADONAI," γάρ, "for," for "and," and τῇ σῇ εἰσόδῳ, "at your entrance," your coming in among us (1 Thess 1:9), for "on account of you."

The Greek has no "And he said" (וַיֹּאמַר) here, so Laban's words run on from 30:27 as one speech; the lack is marked. διάστειλον, "draw apart," set off as a portion, where the Masoretic version reads "Mark out" (נָקְבָה); σοι, "to you," is Swete's text from Alexandrinus.

The Greek names Laban as the speaker and has αὐτῷ, "to him," twice, where the Masoretic version reads "And he said" and "And Jacob said"; the first seeded plus is set in two marks because English puts the verb between the name and "to him." πάλιν, "again," stands for the Masoretic version's "I will return" (אָשׁוּבָה), the Hebrew idiom of doing a thing again.

παρελθάτω τὰ πρόβατά σου, "let your sheep pass by," where the Masoretic version reads "I will pass over among all your flock": in the Greek the flock passes before Jacob and Laban is told to part the marked beasts (διαχώρισον), where in the Masoretic version Jacob goes through the flock and removes them himself. The Greek has no word for "all," and lacks "speckled and patched … and every sheep" (seeded). It names the goats διάραντον καὶ λευκόν, "sprinkled through and white," Swete's text from Alexandrinus where Rahlfs reads differently, for "the patched and speckled." The colours are held as a set (44) through 30:32–42 and 31:8–12, and are set out in the table.

ὅτι ἐστὶν ὁ μισθός μου ἐνώπιόν σου, "because my wage is before you," where the Masoretic version reads "when you come over my wage before your face": the Greek sets the wage before Laban's eyes and has no verb of coming. ἐπακούσεταί μοι ἡ δικαιοσύνη μου, "my justice shall listen to me," gives עָנָה the Greek's sense "hearken, answer" (ἐπακούω). The stolen beast is future, κεκλεμμένον ἔσται, "shall be stolen," where the Masoretic version reads "stolen it is."

The Greek names the colours with one pair for he-goats and she-goats alike, ῥαντοὺς καὶ διαλεύκους, "sprinkled and white-flecked," where the Masoretic version has "striped and patched" for the bucks and "speckled and patched" for the goats; and πᾶν ὃ ἦν λευκὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς, "every one that was white among them," the white beasts, where it reads "every one that had white in it." διέστειλεν, "drew apart," as at 30:40, for "removed"; διὰ χειρός, "through the hand," for "into the hand."

ῥάβδον στυρακίνην χλωρὰν καὶ καρυίνην καὶ πλατάνου, "a rod of storax, green, and of walnut and of plane": the Greek names the storax (στύραξ) for the Masoretic version's "poplar" (לִבְנֶה, the "white" tree, with the sound of Laban), and the nut tree (κάρυον; the Greek's κάρυα are almonds at Num 17:23) for "almond" (לוּז); the plane (πλάτανος) is the plane of both. Where the Masoretic version has "a stripping of the white which was on the sticks," the Greek has περισύρων τὸ χλωρόν, "stripping around the green," the bark, and says that the white he peeled "appeared" on the rods, "many-colored" (seeded).

The alignment, made against Rahlfs, marks "and they were in heat" (וַיֵּחַמְנָה) as lacking after "before the rods"; Swete's text, from Alexandrinus, has ἐνκισσήσωσιν, "might be in heat," at the end of this verse, so nothing is lacking here. The Greek has "before the rods" (seeded) where the Masoretic version reads "over against the flock," and ἐν ταῖς ληνοῖς τῶν ποτιστηρίων, "in the vats of the drinking troughs," for "in the runnels, in the troughs."

The Greek has no words for the Masoretic version's "And the flock were in heat at the sticks": in Swete's text the heat at the rods is told once, at the end of 30:38, where the Masoretic version tells it twice, and the lack is marked here. For "striped, speckled and patched" the Greek has four words, διάλευκα καὶ ποικίλα καὶ σποδοειδῆ ῥαντά, "white-flecked and many-colored and ash-gray sprinkled," held as a set (44); see the table.

The Greek has Jacob "make stand before the sheep a white-flecked ram and every many-colored one among the lambs," where the Masoretic version reads "he gave the face of the flock toward the striped and every dark one in the flock of Laban": in the Greek Jacob sets marked beasts in the sheep's sight, as he set the rods. The Greek has no word for "Laban" there (seeded). It has διεχώρισεν, "parted," for "set," and οὐκ ἔμιξεν, "did not mix," for "did not set them by."

ἐν γαστρὶ λαμβάνοντα, "taking in the womb," conceiving, where the Masoretic version reads "the knit ones" (הַמְקֻשָּׁרוֹת, the sturdy beasts): the Greek makes the season of heat the season of conception. It has ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ᾧ, "in the kairos in which," for "whenever," and ἐναντίον τῶν προβάτων, "before the sheep," for "before the eyes of the flock."

ἡνίκα γὰρ ἔτεκον τὰ πρόβατα, "for at the time when the sheep bore," where the Masoretic version reads "But when the flock were feeble" (בְּהַעֲטִיף); and τὰ ἄσημα … τὰ ἐπίσημα, "the unmarked … the marked," the beasts without a mark (σῆμα) and with one, for "the feeble ones … the knit ones." In the Greek the trick works by the marks the rods leave, and Laban keeps the plain beasts. γάρ is Swete's text from Alexandrinus.