Verses 17-21 tell about Jacob’s escape from Laban.

So Jacob arose: So, which is used by both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, marks verse 17 as a consequence of the discussions Jacob held with his wives in the previous verses. Arose is a literal rendering of the Hebrew, which means here to get ready or prepare for departure. See Good News Translation.

Set his sons and his wives on camels means he put them on the backs of camels to ride. Camels kneel on the ground to enable the rider to mount them. We may translate “and put his wives and children on the camels,” “had his wives and children mount the camels,” or “told his wives and children to get on the camels.”

And he drove away all his cattle: drove away translates a word meaning to drive animals as in a herd or flock. The animals are driven or herded from behind. However, drove away, as used in Revised Standard Version, is ambiguous, since it can also mean “to get rid of” as in “chase away.” Revised Standard Version intends to express the thought of driving the animals secretly so that Laban does not know. For similar usage see 1 Sam 23.5. Good News Translation is better with “drove … ahead of him.” Cattle is as in Gen 31.9. See there for comments. Good News Translation translates “flocks” here, New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible “livestock.”

The second clause, all his livestock which he had gained, expands the first clause to include not only all his animals but his other camp baggage as well, which included such things as tents, clothing, utensils, instruments, and tools. This is better expressed by a general term such as “possessions” (Speiser, New Jerusalem Bible), or “goods” (New International Version).

The cattle in his possession repeats essentially the same information given in the first clause, all his cattle. Note that Good News Translation and others do not repeat a term referring to the animals but rather summarize as “everything.”

Which he had acquired in Paddan-aram: for Paddan-aram see 25.20.

To go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac: go to may be more naturally rendered “go back” (Good News Translation) or “return” in some languages. It may also not be clear from the verb drove earlier in the verse that Jacob and his family were actually beginning their journey away from Haran. If this is the case it may be necessary to make that clear at this point by saying, for example, “and he [or, they] set out to go back….”

This last clause is more naturally linked to the events in verse 17. Note that Good News Translation has combined verses 17 and 18 in order to shift this clause to verse 17. Translators may find this more natural in their languages. However, see also the comments about the sequence of events in verses 17-21 under verse 19 below.

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 .