Genesis 31:8 - Exposition

If he ( i . e . Laban) said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; —by the original contract Jacob had been promised all the parti-colored animals ( Genesis 30:32 );" here it seems as if Laban, struck with the remarkable increase of these, took the earliest opportunity of so modifying the original stipulation as to limit Jacob's portion to one sort only, viz. the speckled. Yet this dishonorable breach of faith on the part of Laban was of no avail; for, when the next lambing season came— then (it was discovered that) all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus (changing the sort of animals assigned to his son-in-law), The ringstraked shall be thy hire (the result was as before); then bare all the cattle ringstraked.