When Jacob came home from the field in the evening: for field see verse 14. Evening refers to the late afternoon, sundown, the time when the workers returned from the fields.

You must come in to me: this repeats the expression for having sexual relations. See comments on 29.21. Reflecting the local situation where a man has more than one wife, one translation says “You must come and stay in my house. I have paid Rachel for you to sleep with me.”

For I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes: hired translates the verb sachar, which is related in sound to the name Issachar. This is the first time the sound association of the verb and the name occurs before the child is conceived or born. In translation it is sufficient to say “I have hired you” or “I have paid for you.”

So he lay with her: see 29.21.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .