הכבוד, the weight and power of the money. We have already encountered the word כבד as an adjective describing the wealth in Genesis 13,2.

ואלוקי אבי היה עמדי, even though Lavan’s attitude to me was hostile. I did not steal anything from him, but G’d was with me and He gave it to me.

מונים, as if the Torah had written מנינים, ten times.

עשרת, the number is not to be taken literally, just as in Leviticus 26,26 the line עשר נשים לחמכם, ואפוdoes not literally mean that ten women would bake their bread in a single oven; rather, seeing that they have so little flour it is a symbol for “many.” The same word “ten” is used as an exaggeration in Job 19,3.

וילדו כל הצאן, this percentage could certainly not all be attributed to exposing the sheep to the peeled sticks.

ויצל, He separated. Any word in the Hebrew language denoting salvation, involves setting someone apart from others who share doom.

אשר משחת, in order to sanctify it; so far you have not offered a sacrifice on it that would discharge your vow.

כספינו, which he had earned in payment for marrying us off. He even ate up the money you earned with your hard labour which was meant to support us.

ותגנוב רחל את התרפים, in order that Lavan should not be able to locate the whereabouts of Yaakov and his family. We know from Hoseah 3,4 that Teraphim were credited with supplying such information to people believing in their power. Zecharyah 10,2 also refers to them as speaking, though deceptively. At any rate, they were widely consulted to provide information about the future, information of a supernatural dimension.

דרך שבעת ימים. Yaakov was forced to travel very slowly on account of his herds and flocks, so that although he traveled away from Lavan who had been three days’; journey away from him at the start, he could catch up with him within one week. Clearly, Lavan rode after Yaakov at full speed.

ואלקי אביכם, for I respect Him.

כי יראתי...עם אשר תמצא, Yaakov answered Lavan’s first accusation first, and the second one afterwards.

לא יחיה, meaning that Yaakov himself will avenge such a crime from its perpetrator.

ויבא לבן באהל יעקב ואחר כך באהל לאה ואחר כך באהל רחל. He entered all the various tents of the wives separately. The reason Lavan did not find the Teraphim in Rachel‘s tent was that as soon as he left Leah’s tent Rachel put the Teraphim beneath the saddle of the camel that she sat upon.

ויצא מאהל לאה ויבא באהל רחל, even though according to what has been written earlier he went to the tent of Leah and the tent of the two maidservants, this was not quite the sequence in which Lavan searched. He had entered Rachel’s tent upon leaving Leah’s tent, before having searched the tents of the servant maids. The Torah abbreviated the narrative somewhat as it was tediously long.

בכר, a kind of cushion one places on the back of a camel to sit upon.

לא שכלו, neither because of any lack of adequate grazing nor due to careless supervision

ואילי צאנך, it is customary that the shepherds eat the meat of male sheep they tend.

אחטפנה, the meaning is that Yaakov would have to pay for the loss from his own pocket. A similar construction occurs in Kings I 1,21. where the line אני ובני שלמה חטאים does not mean “I and my son Shlomoh will be guilty,” but I and my son Shlomoh will have to bear the cost.

גנבתי יום, the letter י appears to be superfluous; Yaakov states that he had to make good both for animals stolen by day and any stolen by night. The construction is similar to Lamentations 1,1 רבתי עם שרתי במדינות. The word גנובתי with the vowel kametz under the letter ב would mean “the stolen one would be considered as if it had been mine.”

שלחתני, and not with joy and songs.

מה אעשה, how can I possibly harm them?

והמצפה, this lookout is referred to in Judges 11,29.

יצף, from that location. Compare Ezekiel 3,17 where the word צופה is a noun, “sentinel.” The relative construction between יצף and צופה is parallel to Genesis 1,22 ירב בארץ and פרה ורבה in Genesis 35,11.

יריתי, “I erected.” Yaakov erected it at the suggestion of Lavan. The verb ירה occurs in a similar meaning in Exodus 15,4 ירה בים. [a very unusual translation. Ed.]