Genesis 31:8

8 si quando dixit variae erunt mercedes tuae pariebant omnes oves varios fetus quando vero e contrario ait alba quaeque accipies pro mercede omnes greges alba pepererunt

Genesis 31:8 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 31:8

If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages
Sometimes Laban would say to Jacob, only the speckled lambs which the ewes shall bring forth shall be thine hire, and not the spotted; or the ringstraked, or the brown, which according to the bargain should have been his, the one and the other: then all the cattle bare speckled;
that season, God ordering it so in his providence, that Laban might be disappointed, and Jacob might have his full hire; that is, the greatest part of the cattle bore such, as Ben Melech observes: and if he said thus, the ringstraked shall be thine hire;
observing the cattle to bring forth only speckled, or the greatest part such, then he changed his hire, and would have it be not the speckled, nor the brown, only the ringstraked, there being none or few of that colour the last yeaning time: then bare all the cattle ringstraked;
or the greatest part of them were such; so that let Laban fix on what colour he would as Jacob's wages, there were sure to be the greatest part of that colour; which shows the hand of God in it, as is next observed by Jacob.

Genesis 31:8 In-Context

6 et ipsae nostis quod totis viribus meis servierim patri vestro

7 sed pater vester circumvenit me et mutavit mercedem meam decem vicibus et tamen non dimisit eum Deus ut noceret mihi

8 si quando dixit variae erunt mercedes tuae pariebant omnes oves varios fetus quando vero e contrario ait alba quaeque accipies pro mercede omnes greges alba pepererunt

9 tulitque Deus substantiam patris vestri et dedit mihi

10 postquam enim conceptus ovium tempus advenerat levavi oculos meos et vidi in somnis ascendentes mares super feminas varios et maculosos et diversorum colorum