That which was torn by wild beasts: Speiser cites a paragraph from the code of Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.): “If there occurs in the fold an act of god, or a lion takes a life, the shepherd shall clear himself before the deity. The owner of the fold must then accept the loss incurred.” Exo 22.13 says “If it [an animal] is torn by beasts, let him [the shepherd] bring it as evidence; he shall not make restitution for what has been torn.” Jacob claims that in such cases he did not bring the remains of the animal to Laban but rather replaced the killed animal from one of his own. Torn by wild beasts may be rendered, for example, “killed by a wild animal.”

I did not bring it to you may need to be filled out to say, for example, “I did not bring the body of the dead animal for you to see,” “I did not tell you and put the blame on that wild animal,” “I did not bring the remains so you could see how it was killed,” or “… that a wild animal had killed it.”

I bore the loss means “I replaced the dead animal with a live one of my own.”

Of my hand you required it: Laban did not live up to the requirements of the law (the current Code of Hammurabi or the later Mosaic law). Instead he imposed his own rules upon his son-in-law. For translation see Good News Translation. Or it can be “you made me replace it” or “… pay for it.”

Whether stolen by day or stolen by night: according to Exo 22.10 if the animal disappeared and there is no witness, as would likely be the case of an animal stolen at night, the shepherd could take an oath that he had not stolen the animal. In that case the owner had to accept the loss. We may translate, for example, “Whenever an animal was stolen in broad daylight or even at night, you made me replace it” or “… made me pay for it.”

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 .