“And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:”
What shall I give you? he asked. Don't give me anything, Jacob replied. But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them. The opening gambit — don't give me anything — is the same pattern as Abraham's refusal of Sodom's wealth and Abimelech's gift. The nothing that precedes the actual request clears the table for a specific proposal. The application: sometimes the opening of a negotiation is best served by declining the general offer before making the specific request.
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