But Jacob ¹  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ²  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ³  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

Laban replied ¹  to Jacob, “These women ²  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ³  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ⁴  or the children to whom they have given birth?

He issued a proclamation and said, ¹  “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water.