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.
I will pass through ... - [Septuagint, parelthetoo panta ta probata sou-let thy flocks pass by.] Eastern sheep being generally white, the goats brown х chuwm (H2345)], black, or burnt up, and spotted or speckled ones comparatively few and rare, Jacob proposed to remove all existing ones of that description from the flock, and to be content with what might appear at the next lambing-time. The proposal seemed so much in favour of Laban that he at once agreed to it. But Jacob has been accused of taking advantage of his uncle, and though it is difficult to exculpate him from practicing some degree of dissimulation, he was only availing himself of the results of his great skill and experience in the breeding of cattle. His plans were crowned with remarkable success.