Genesis 31:10 - Exposition

And it came to pus at the time that the cattle conceived (this obviously goes back to the commencement of the six years' service), that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams — עַתֻּדים , he-goats, from an unused root, to be ready, perhaps because ready and prompt for fighting (Gesenius, sub voce ) — which leaped (literally, going up ) upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled . The grisled ( beruddim , from barad , to scatter hail) were spotted animals, as if they had been sprinkled with hail, not a fifth sort in addition to the four already mentioned (Rosenmüller), but the same as the teluim of Genesis 30:35 (Kalisch). Wordsworth observes that the English term grisled, from the French word grele , hail, is a literal translation of the Hebrew. Gesenius connects with the Hebrew root the words πάρδος, pardus , leopard (so called from its spots), and the French broder , to embroider. The LXX . understand the עַתֻּדים to include both sheep and goats, and translate οἱ τράγοι καὶ οἱ κριοὶ ἀναβαίντες ἐπὶ τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰς αἰγας.