I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire.
Ver. 32. And of such shall be my hire.] As white and black sheep were most set by in Mesopotamia, so were the variously coloured in Palestine, Jacob's country; whence the shepherds there are called Nochudim, Amo 1:1 that is, keepers of spotted cattle. This might be a reason why Jacob desires to be paid in such; and, perhaps, had learned that skill there which he used in the following verses.