The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Genesis31:1–21

Jacob Flees from Laban

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Generated by AI. It can be wrong, and it has no authority. Every note here is fallible commentary — never the Word itself. Public-domain sources are quoted and named; machine synthesis is marked and meant to be checked. Weigh all of it against Scripture. “They received the word with all readiness… and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” — Acts 17:11
✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Genesis 31:1–21 — Jacob Flees from Laban. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1“Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken …”+

1Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yiš·ma‘ ’eṯ- lā·ḇān lê·mōr ḇə·nê- diḇ·rê ya·‘ă·qōḇ ’êṯ lā·qaḥ kāl- ’ă·šer lə·’ā·ḇî·nū ‘ā·śāh ’êṯ kāl- haz·zeh hak·kā·ḇōḏ ū·mê·’ă·šer lə·’ā·ḇî·nū

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-heard [Jacob] the words of the sons of Laban, saying, “Jacob has taken all that was to our father; and from that which was to our father he has made all this glory.”

Where the English smooths the original

  • הַכָּבֹ֖ד The BSB’s “wealth” flattens hak-kāḇōḏ (H3519), literally “the glory” — from kâbêd, “to be heavy.” Cambridge notes the root usually rendered “honour” or “glory” here means “wealth,” as in Psalm 49:17; the sneer of Laban’s sons is that Jacob has grown weighty, a man of consequence.
  • עָשָׂ֕ה BSB’s “built” renders ‘āśāh (H6213), the plain verb “to do / make.” The Pulpit Commentary marks it “literally, made, in the sense of acquiring, as in Genesis 12:5” — the brothers charge Jacob with manufacturing a fortune out of what was theirs.
  • לָקַ֣ח “has taken away” is lāqaḥ (H3947), simply “took”; the slander’s venom is in the unspoken how. The Pulpit Commentary supplies it: “by fraud is what they meant” — an accusation the text reports without endorsing.
Word by word19 · parsed+
וַיִּשְׁמַ֗עway·yiš·ma‘Now Jacob heardH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yišma‘ (H8085) — “and he heard”; the chapter opens, like the one before it, on overheard words. Jacob “heard the words of Laban’s sons” either directly or by report; JFB notes it “must have been from rumor… for they were separated at the distance of three days’ journey.”
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
לָבָן֙lā·ḇānthat Laban’sH3837
√ Lâbân — Laban, a MesopotamianNounpropermasculine singular
לֵאמֹ֔רlê·mōr. . .H559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
בְנֵֽי־ḇə·nê-sonsH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
ḇənê- (H1121, construct of bēn) — “sons of” Laban, newly mentioned; Ellicott reckons that if by the same wife, “they would be men about fifty-five or sixty years of age.”
דִּבְרֵ֤יdiḇ·rêwere sayingH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
יַעֲקֹ֔בya·‘ă·qōḇJacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
אֵ֖ת’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
לָקַ֣חlā·qaḥhas taken awayH3947
√ lâqach — to take (in the widest variety of applications)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
lāqaḥ (H3947) — “has taken”; the headline charge. Gill judges the claim “a downright lie” if pressed to mean all Laban’s flock, “for what was become of them that were committed to their care?”
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerthat [belonged to]H834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
לְאָבִ֑ינוּlə·’ā·ḇî·nūour fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common plural
עָשָׂ֕ה‘ā·śāhand builtH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
אֵ֥ת’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַזֶּֽה׃haz·zehthisH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
הַכָּבֹ֖דhak·kā·ḇōḏwealthH3519
√ kâbôwd — properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousnessArticleNounmasculine singular
hak-kāḇōḏ (H3519) — “the glory.” The decisive word of the verse: worldly weight named with the vocabulary of divine splendor. The same noun describes the LORD’s glory at Sinai; here it is a brown flock and some camels, “which the possessors usually glory in” (Benson).
וּמֵאֲשֶׁ֣רū·mê·’ă·šeratH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatConjunctive waw, Preposition-mPronounrelative
לְאָבִ֔ינוּlə·’ā·ḇî·nūour father’s expenseH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common plural
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
The last chapter began with Rachel’s envying Leah; this begins with Laban’s sons envying Jacob.
✦Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599
The children put in words what the father disguised in his heart for the covetous think that whatever they cannot take, is taken from them.
✦Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706
Selfish men consider themselves robbed of all that goes past them, and covetousness will even swallow up natural affection. Men's overvaluing worldly wealth is that error which is the root of covetousness, envy, and all evil.
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Their word “glory” suggests that, enriched by cattle and commerce, Jacob had now become a person of great importance in the eyes of the people of Haran.
2“And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude to…”+

2And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·‘ă·qōḇ ’eṯ- way·yar pə·nê lā·ḇān wə·hin·nêh ‘im·mōw kiṯ·mō·wl šil·šō·wm ’ê·nen·nū

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-saw [Jacob] the face of Laban, and behold, it was not with him as yesterday and the day-before.

Where the English smooths the original

  • פְּנֵ֣י “countenance” is pənê (H6440), “the face” — literally the part that turns. Cambridge calls this “the idiomatic use of ‘the countenance’ as expressing feeling,” cross-referencing Cain’s fallen face in Genesis 4:5. Jacob reads Laban’s soul off his face.
  • כִּתְמ֥וֹל שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם The smooth “as before” conceals a fixed Hebrew idiom, kiṯmōl šilšōm (H8543 + H8032) — “as yesterday and the day before.” JFB flags it “literally, ‘was not the same as yesterday, and the day before,’ a common Oriental form of speech” for habitual past time.
  • וְהִנֵּ֥ה The untranslated wəhinnêh (H2009), “and behold,” dramatizes the discovery; the narrator pulls us into Jacob’s line of sight at the instant the change registers. BSB drops the deictic jolt entirely.
Word by word10 · parsed+
יַעֲקֹ֖בya·‘ă·qōḇAnd JacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיַּ֥רְאway·yarsawH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yar (H7200) — “and he saw”; perception, not speech, drives this scene. Where v. 1 was words heard, v. 2 is a face seen — two converging witnesses to Laban’s turning.
פְּנֵ֣יpə·nêfrom the countenanceH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
pənê (H6440) — “face of” Laban; Poole reads the changed face as a changed heart: it “argued a change in his mind, and prosaged some evil intentions in him towards Jacob.”
לָבָ֑ןlā·ḇānof LabanH3837
√ Lâbân — Laban, a MesopotamianNounpropermasculine singular
וְהִנֵּ֥הwə·hin·nêh. . .H2009
√ hinnêh — lo!Conjunctive wawInterjection
עִמּ֖וֹ‘im·mōwthat his attitude towardH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPrepositionthird person masculine singular
כִּתְמ֥וֹלkiṯ·mō·wlhimH8543
√ tᵉmôwl — properly, ago, iPreposition-kAdverb
שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם׃šil·šō·wm. . .H8032
√ shilshôwm — trebly, iAdverb
אֵינֶ֛נּוּ’ê·nen·nūhad changedH369
√ ʼayin — a non-entityAdverbthird person masculine singular
’ênennū (H369) — the particle of non-existence, “it was not”; the favor that was is now simply absent. The Pulpit Commentary glosses “literally, with him,” the warmth withdrawn.
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
It is always one of the vexations attendant on worldly prosperity, that it excites the envy of others
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
this change of his countenance argued a change in his mind, and prosaged some evil intentions in him towards Jacob.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
he put on sour looks, and an envious countenance, sad, and surly, and lowering; so that Jacob saw it foreboded no good to him
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
For this idiomatic use of “the countenance” as expressing feeling, cf. Genesis 4:5 .
3“Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your father…”+

3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·yō·mer ’el- ya·‘ă·qōḇ šūḇ ’el- ’e·reṣ ’ă·ḇō·w·ṯe·ḵā ū·lə·mō·w·laḏ·te·ḵā wə·’eh·yeh ‘im·māḵ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-said the LORD to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your birthplace, and-I-will-be with you.”

Where the English smooths the original

  • וּלְמוֹלַדְתֶּ֑ךָ “kindred” renders ūləmōwlaḏtekā (H4138), literally “your birthplace / nativity,” from yâlad, “to bear.” Ellicott corrects the rendering: “Heb., thy birthplace, as in Genesis 12:1” — the same summons once given to Abraham, now reversed in direction.
  • שׁ֛וּב “Go back” is the imperative šūḇ (H7725), “turn / return” — the keynote verb of repentance and homecoming. It frames the whole speech: the same root closes the divine word in v. 13 (“and return”).
  • וְאֶֽהְיֶ֖ה “I will be” is wə’ehyeh (H1961), the cohortative of hâyâh — the very verb of the divine Name (Exodus 3:14). The promise of presence is voiced in the grammar of God’s self-existence; this is the renewal of the Bethel pledge of Genesis 28:15.
Word by word11 · parsed+
יְהוָה֙Yah·wehThen the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
Yahweh (H3068) — the covenant Name fronts the verse. Ellicott notes the chapter ascribes Jacob’s providence to Elohim in the dream (vv. 11–13) but to Jehovah here, to show that the God who watched over him “was really in His character of Jehovah, the covenant-God, that He thus guarded him.”
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶֽל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
יַעֲקֹ֔בya·‘ă·qōḇJacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
שׁ֛וּבšūḇGo backH7725
√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular
šūḇ (H7725) — “return”; JFB observes Jacob “might not have deemed himself at liberty to quit his present sphere… without being clearly persuaded as to the path of duty” — he waits for the word before he moves.
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
אֶ֥רֶץ’e·reṣthe landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular construct
אֲבוֹתֶ֖יךָ’ă·ḇō·w·ṯe·ḵāof your fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular
וּלְמוֹלַדְתֶּ֑ךָū·lə·mō·w·laḏ·te·ḵāand to your kindredH4138
√ môwledeth — nativity (plural birth-place)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
ūləmōwlaḏtekā (H4138) — “and to your birthplace”; the term is the same one used of Abraham’s call (12:1) and Isaac’s bride-quest (24:4), binding three generations to one land.
וְאֶֽהְיֶ֖הwə·’eh·yehand I will beH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfectfirst person common singular
wə’ehyeh ‘immāḵ (H1961 + H5973) — “and I will be with you”; Cambridge calls it “the renewal of the promise of the Divine Presence made to Jacob in Genesis 28:15.” The whole journey home rests on these three words.
עִמָּֽךְ׃‘im·māḵwith youH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPrepositionsecond person feminine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
So ought we to set the Lord before us, and to acknowledge Him in all our ways, our journeys, our settlements, and plans in life.
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
it was really in His character of Jehovah, the covenant-God, that He thus guarded him.
✦Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706
In all our removals we should have respect to the command and promise of God. If He be with us, we need not fear.
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
though Jacob had met with very hard usage, yet he would not quit his place till God bid him.
4“So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where…”+

4So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·‘ă·qōḇ way·yiš·laḥ way·yiq·rā lə·rā·ḥêl ū·lə·lê·’āh haś·śā·ḏeh ’el- ṣō·nōw

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-sent [Jacob] and-he-called for Rachel and for Leah to the field, to his flock.

Where the English smooths the original

  • לְרָחֵ֣ל וּלְלֵאָ֑ה The order is load-bearing: Rachel (H7354) is named before Leah, though Leah is the elder and first-married. Ellicott: “Rachel is placed first, as the chief wife”; Poole adds she was “by right, his first and only designed wife.” The narrator privileges the beloved.
  • הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה “the field” is haśśāḏeh (H7704); the choice of venue is deliberate. Poole: “In the field they might more freely discourse of their business, and without fear or interruption” — open ground where no one could overhear the plan of flight.
  • צֹאנֽוֹ “his flocks” is ṣōnōw (H6629), “his flock” with the possessive suffix. The Pulpit Commentary reads it pointedly: “the expression ‘his flock’ indicates that Jacob had abandoned Laban’s sheep and taken possession of those which belonged to himself.”
Word by word8 · parsed+
יַעֲקֹ֔בya·‘ă·qōḇSo JacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּשְׁלַ֣חway·yiš·laḥsent wordH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yišlaḥ (H7971) — “and he sent”; Jacob summons his wives rather than going to the house, JFB notes, “because he could not leave his flock.” He consults them, “for husbands that love their wives should consult with them and trust in them (Pr 31:11).”
וַיִּקְרָ֖אway·yiq·rāand calledH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
לְרָחֵ֣לlə·rā·ḥêlRachelH7354
√ Râchêl — Rachel, a wife of JacobPreposition-lNounproperfeminine singular
lərāḥêl (H7354) — “for Rachel”; the precedence flags the affection that has shaped Jacob’s whole sojourn. Barnes simply observes: “Rachel, we observe, is put first.”
וּלְלֵאָ֑הū·lə·lê·’āhand LeahH3812
√ Lêʼâh — Leah, a wife of JacobConjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounproperfeminine singular
הַשָּׂדֶ֖הhaś·śā·ḏehto the fieldH7704
√ sâdeh — a field (as flat)ArticleNounmasculine singular
haśśāḏeh (H7704) — “the field”; the secret conference happens far from Laban’s tents, Gill notes, lest any “listen to overhear what passed between them.”
אֶל־’el-. . .H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
צֹאנֽוֹ׃ṣō·nōwwhere his flocks wereH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Rachel is placed first, as the chief wife. The field was probably the pasture where Laban’s flocks fed
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
In the field they might more freely discourse of their business, and without fear or interruption.
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
Jacob acted the part of a dutiful husband in telling them his plans; for husbands that love their wives should consult with them and trust in them (Pr 31:11).
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
The expression "his flock" indicates that Jacob had abandoned Laban's sheep and taken possession of those which belonged to himself
5“and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that…”+

5and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yō·mer lā·hen ’ā·nō·ḵî ’eṯ- rō·’eh ’ă·ḇî·ḵen pə·nê kî- ’ê·lay ’ê·nen·nū kiṯ·mōl šil·šōm wê·lō·hê ’ā·ḇî hā·yāh ‘im·mā·ḏî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-said to-them, “I am seeing the face of your father, that it is not toward me as yesterday and the day-before; but the God of my father has-been with me.”

Where the English smooths the original

  • אָנֹכִי֙ רֹאֶ֤ה BSB’s “I can see” renders the emphatic pronoun ’ānōḵî (H595) plus the participle rō’eh (H7200) — literally “I am seeing,” a continuous, present perception. Jacob names what his wives have not yet been told he watches: their father’s souring face.
  • וֵֽאלֹהֵ֣י אָבִ֔י “the God of my father” is wê’lōhê ’āḇî (H430 + H1). The Pulpit Commentary argues Jacob uses Elohim deliberately — not from vagueness but “to distinguish the God of his father from the gods of the nations, or the idols which Laban worshipped.” The contrast with Laban’s teraphim (v. 19) is already in view.
  • עִמָּדִֽי “with me” is ‘immāḏî (H5978), the emphatic form of “with me” that closes the sentence and answers v. 3’s promise “I will be with you.” The pledge has become testimony: the God who said it has been it.
Word by word16 · parsed+
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרway·yō·merand he toldH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
לָהֶ֗ןlā·henthem
Prepositionthird person feminine plural
אָנֹכִי֙’ā·nō·ḵîIH595
√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
רֹאֶ֤הrō·’ehcan seeH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
rō’eh (H7200) — participle, “seeing”; the same verb God uses in v. 12 (“I have seen all that Laban…”). Jacob’s seeing and God’s seeing converge on the same man.
אֲבִיכֶ֔ן’ă·ḇî·ḵenfrom your father’sH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructsecond person feminine plural
פְּנֵ֣יpə·nêcountenanceH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
כִּֽי־kî-thatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
אֵלַ֖י’ê·layhis attitude toward meH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionfirst person common singular
אֵינֶ֥נּוּ’ê·nen·nūhas changedH369
√ ʼayin — a non-entityAdverbthird person masculine singular
כִּתְמֹ֣לkiṯ·mōl. . .H8543
√ tᵉmôwl — properly, ago, iPreposition-kAdverb
שִׁלְשֹׁ֑םšil·šōm. . .H8032
√ shilshôwm — trebly, iAdverb
וֵֽאלֹהֵ֣יwê·lō·hêbut the GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseConjunctive wawNounmasculine plural construct
wê’lōhê (H430) — “but the God of”; Geneva glosses simply “The God whom my fathers worshipped” — Jacob anchors his confidence not in his own craft but in the inherited covenant God.
אָבִ֔י’ā·ḇîof my fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
הָיָ֖הhā·yāhhas beenH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
hāyāh ‘immāḏî (H1961 + H5978) — “has been with me”; the Pulpit Commentary insists this is “not the night before simply, but during the past six years.” The presence Jacob claims is a tested history, not a single vision.
עִמָּדִֽי׃‘im·mā·ḏîwith meH5978
√ ʻimmâd — along withPrepositionfirst person common singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599
The God whom my fathers worshipped.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
not only by affording him his gracious presence with him, which supported him under all his troubles; but by his good providence prospering and succeeding him in his outward affairs
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
the term Elohim employed by Jacob not being due to " the vagueness of the religious knowledge" possessed by his wives
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
Hath blessed me; hath stood constantly by me, when your father hath failed and deceived me.
✦Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834
Ye know - Jacob appeals to his wives on this point - "that with all my might I served your father." He means, of course, to the extent of his engagement.
6“You know that I have served your father with all my strength.”+

6You know that I have served your father with all my strength.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’at·tê·nāh yə·ḏa‘·ten kî ‘ā·ḇaḏ·tî ’eṯ- ’ă·ḇî·ḵen bə·ḵāl kō·ḥî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And you [yourselves] know that with all my strength I have served your father.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וְאַתֵּ֖נָה “You” is the emphatic feminine-plural pronoun wə’attênāh (H859), thrown to the front: “and you, yourselves.” Keil notes it is “the original form of the abbreviated ’attēn” — an archaic form Jacob uses to call his wives as eyewitnesses to his integrity.
  • בְּכָל־ כֹּחִ֔י “with all my strength” is bəḵāl kōḥî (H3605 + H3581). The Pulpit Commentary derives kōaḥ “from an unused onomatopoetic root, signifying to pant, and hence to exert one’s strength” — labor spent to breathlessness, the same panting root behind “drove” in v. 18.
  • עָבַ֖דְתִּי “I have served” is ‘āḇaḏtî (H5647), the verb of a bondservant’s labor — the very word the daughters will turn against Laban in v. 15 (“he hath sold us”). Jacob’s service and his wives’ servitude are named with one root.
Word by word8 · parsed+
וְאַתֵּ֖נָהwə·’at·tê·nāhYouH859
√ ʼattâh — thou and thee, or (plural) ye and youConjunctive wawPronounsecond person feminine plural
wə’attênāh (H859) — emphatic “you” (f. pl.); Keil flags the archaic form, “merely copied from the Pentateuch in Exodus 13:11.” Jacob appeals to firsthand knowledge: you were there.
יְדַעְתֶּ֑ןyə·ḏa‘·tenknowH3045
√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalPerfectsecond person feminine plural
כִּ֚יkîthatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
עָבַ֖דְתִּי‘ā·ḇaḏ·tîI have servedH5647
√ ʻâbad — to work (in any sense)VerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
‘āḇaḏtî (H5647) — “I have served”; Gill stacks the adverbs — “with all faithfulness and uprightness; with all diligence and industry… sparing no pains by day or night.”
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
אֲבִיכֶֽן׃’ă·ḇî·ḵenyour fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructsecond person feminine plural
בְּכָל־bə·ḵālwith allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
כֹּחִ֔יkō·ḥîmy strengthH3581
√ kôach — vigor, literally (force, in a good or a bad sense) or figuratively (capacity, means, produce)Nounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
kōḥî (H3581) — “my strength”; the Pulpit Commentary makes Jacob’s honesty the hinge: were the claim false, “it must have required considerable effrontery to appeal to his wives’ knowledge for a confirmation of what they knew to be a deliberate untruth.”
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
With all faithfulness and uprightness; with all diligence and industry; with all wisdom and prudence; with all my might and main
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
The term Jacob here uses for power is derived from an unused onomatopoetic root, signifying to pant, and hence to exert one s strength.
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
With all my power, both of my mind and body, as I would have done for myself, as became a faithful servant to do.
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
the original form of the abbreviated
7“And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, G…”+

7And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wa·’ă·ḇî·ḵen hê·ṯel bî wə·he·ḥĕ·lip̄ ’eṯ- maś·kur·tî ‘ă·śe·reṯ mō·nîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm wə·lō- nə·ṯā·nōw lə·hā·ra‘ ‘im·mā·ḏî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-your-father has-cheated me and-has-changed my wages ten times; but God did not give him to do evil with me.

Where the English smooths the original

  • הֵ֣תֶל “has cheated” is hêṯel (H2048), Hiphil of tālal. The Pulpit Commentary parses it sharply: it “means to rob or plunder (Fürst), or to cause to fall… whence to deceive (Gesenius)” — mockery that ruins.
  • עֲשֶׂ֣רֶת מֹנִ֑ים “ten times” is ‘ăśereṯ mōnîm (H6235 + H4489). Keil reads it “as often as possible, the ten as a round number expressing the idea of completeness”; Ellicott bluntly, “a good many times.” Cambridge records that the Septuagint, “not understanding the Hebrew word rendered ‘times’ (mônîm),” mistook it for “lambs.”
  • נְתָנ֣וֹ BSB’s “has not allowed him” is literally “did not give him” (nəṯānōw, H5414) to do evil; the Pulpit Commentary glosses the verb “to do evil to me.” God did not hand Jacob over into Laban’s harming reach — restraint, not mere permission.
Word by word13 · parsed+
וַאֲבִיכֶן֙wa·’ă·ḇî·ḵenAnd although heH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular constructsecond person feminine plural
הֵ֣תֶלhê·ṯelhas cheatedH2048
√ hâthal — to derideVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
hêṯel (H2048) — “deceived / mocked”; Gill notes Laban broke the bargain made “after the fourteen years’ servitude were ended.”
בִּ֔יbîme
Prepositionfirst person common singular
וְהֶחֱלִ֥ףwə·he·ḥĕ·lip̄and changedH2498
√ châlaph — properly, to slide by, iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular
wəheḥĕlip̄ (H2498) — “and changed”; this rare verb (27 verses) recurs at 31:41, where Jacob repeats the charge “to Laban’s face.”
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
מַשְׂכֻּרְתִּ֖יmaś·kur·tîmy wagesH4909
√ maskôreth — wages or a rewardNounfeminine singular constructfirst person common singular
עֲשֶׂ֣רֶת‘ă·śe·reṯtenH6235
√ ʻeser — ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits)Numbermasculine singular construct
מֹנִ֑יםmō·nîmtimesH4489
√ môneh — properly, something weighed out, iNounmasculine plural
mōnîm (H4489) — “times”; an exceedingly rare noun (2 verses, both in this chapter), the lexical key to the verbal link with v. 41.
אֱלֹהִ֔ים’ĕ·lō·hîmGodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
וְלֹֽא־wə·lō-has notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle
נְתָנ֣וֹnə·ṯā·nōwallowed himH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular
nəṯānōw (H5414) — “gave him”; the divine restraint. Barnes: Jacob “left his hire to the providence of God… but they were evidently of no avail without the divine blessing.”
לְהָרַ֖עlə·hā·ra‘to harm meH7489
√ râʻaʻ — properly, to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)Preposition-lVerbHifilInfinitive construct
עִמָּדִֽי׃‘im·mā·ḏî. . .H5978
√ ʻimmâd — along withPrepositionfirst person common singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Ten times. —That is, a good many times.
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
It appears that Laban, through envy and covetousness, often broke his agreement made with Jacob, and altered it as he thought fit, and that Jacob patiently yielded to all such changes
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
means to rob or plunder (Furst), or to cause to fall, as in the cognate languages, whence to deceive (Gesenius)
✦Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834
Jacob, we are to remember, left his hire to the providence of God. He thought himself bound at the same time to use all legitimate means for the attainment of the desired end. His expedients may have been perfectly legitimate in the circumstances, but they were evidently of no avail without the divine blessing.
8“If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole fl…”+

8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’im- kōh yō·mar nə·qud·dîm yih·yeh śə·ḵā·re·ḵā ḵāl haṣ·ṣōn wə·yā·lə·ḏū nə·qud·dîm wə·’im- kōh yō·mar ‘ă·qud·dîm yih·yeh śə·ḵā·re·ḵā ḵāl haṣ·ṣōn wə·yā·lə·ḏū ‘ă·qud·dîm

Literal — word-for-word from the original

If thus he-said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then-bore all the flock speckled; and if thus he-said, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then-bore all the flock streaked.

Where the English smooths the original

  • נְקֻדִּים֙ “speckled” is nəquddîm (H5348), “marked with points,” a rare color-term (7 verses). The whole drama of vv. 8–12 turns on a small vocabulary of mottled-coat words; Laban names one color, and the flock obeys the other contract.
  • עֲקֻדִּים֙ “streaked” / “ringstraked” is ‘ăquddîm (H6124), “banded,” rarer still (6 verses). Poole: “Laban through envy and covetousness did break his agreement… and altered it as he thought meet, and that Jacob patiently yielded to all such changes.”
  • וְיָלְד֥וּ “bore” is wəyālḏū (H3205), the perfect-with-waw of habitual result: then they would bear. The Pulpit Commentary marks the irony — “this dishonorable breach of faith on the part of Laban was of no avail.” Whatever Laban chose, the lambs answered to it.
Word by word20 · parsed+
אִם־’im-IfH518
√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction
כֹּ֣הkōh. . .H3541
√ kôh — properly, like this, iAdverb
יֹאמַ֗רyō·marhe saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
נְקֻדִּים֙nə·qud·dîmThe speckledH5348
√ nâqôd — spottedAdjectivemasculine plural
nəquddîm (H5348) — “speckled”; the term shared verbatim with the Verifier’s flock-passages in Genesis 30. Cambridge ties the clause to Jacob’s original proposal in Genesis 30:32.
יִהְיֶ֣הyih·yehwill beH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
שְׂכָרֶ֔ךָśə·ḵā·re·ḵāyour wagesH7939
√ sâkâr — payment of contractNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
כָל־ḵālthen the wholeH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
ḵāl haṣṣōn (H3605 + H6629) — “all the flock”; Poole cautions “all is here… put for the greater or the better part” — not literally every animal, but the decisive majority.
הַצֹּ֖אןhaṣ·ṣōnflockH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)ArticleNouncommon singular
וְיָלְד֥וּwə·yā·lə·ḏūboreH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural
נְקֻדִּ֑יםnə·qud·dîmspeckled offspringH5348
√ nâqôd — spottedAdjectivemasculine plural
וְאִם־wə·’im-IfH518
√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction
כֹּ֣הkōh. . .H3541
√ kôh — properly, like this, iAdverb
יֹאמַ֗רyō·marhe saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
עֲקֻדִּים֙‘ă·qud·dîmThe streakedH6124
√ ʻâqôd — striped (with bands)Adjectivemasculine plural
‘ăquddîm (H6124) — “streaked”; Gill describes Laban changing the named color “according as he observed the prevailing colour was” — and being thwarted each time.
יִהְיֶ֣הyih·yehwill beH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
שְׂכָרֶ֔ךָśə·ḵā·re·ḵāyour wagesH7939
√ sâkâr — payment of contractNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
כָל־ḵālthen the wholeH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַצֹּ֖אןhaṣ·ṣōnflockH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)ArticleNouncommon singular
וְיָלְד֥וּwə·yā·lə·ḏūboreH3205
√ yâlad — to bear youngConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural
עֲקֻדִּֽים׃‘ă·qud·dîmstreaked offspringH6124
√ ʻâqôd — striped (with bands)Adjectivemasculine plural
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
hence it appears that Laban through envy and covetousness did break his agreement made with Jacob, and altered it as he thought meet, and that Jacob patiently yielded to all such changes.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
let Laban fix on what colour he would as Jacob's wages, there were sure to be the greatest part of that colour; which shows the hand of God in it
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
Yet this dishonorable breach of faith on the part of Laban was of no avail
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
Applying to Laban the proposal made by Jacob in Genesis 30:32 .
9“Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them t…”+

9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ- way·yaṣ·ṣêl ’ă·ḇî·ḵem miq·nêh way·yit·ten- lî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-so-delivered [snatched away] God the livestock of your father, and-he-gave them to me.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיַּצֵּ֧ל “has taken away” is way-yaṣṣêl (H5337), Hiphil of nâtsal — properly “to snatch away, rescue, deliver.” It is the same verb later used of God delivering His people; here God strips Laban’s herd as plunder reassigned. The same root recurs in v. 16 on the wives’ lips.
  • אֱלֹהִ֛ים “God” (’ĕlōhîm, H430) is fronted as the sole agent. Geneva drives the point home: this “declares that the thing Jacob did before, was by God’s commandment, and not through deceit.” Jacob, says Gill, “takes no notice of any artifice of his… but wholly ascribes all to the providence of God.”
  • מִקְנֵ֥ה “livestock” is miqnêh (H4735), “possession” from qânâh, “to acquire” — the noun used wherever cattle are a nomad’s wealth. What Laban acquired, God re-acquires for Jacob.
Word by word7 · parsed+
אֱלֹהִ֛ים’ĕ·lō·hîmThus GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
’ĕlōhîm (H430) — “God” as actor; Benson reads the transfer as covenant justice: “the righteous God paid Jacob for his hard service out of Laban’s estate, as he afterward paid the seed of Jacob… with the spoils of [Egypt].”
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיַּצֵּ֧לway·yaṣ·ṣêlhas taken awayH5337
√ nâtsal — to snatch away, whether in a good or a bad senseConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yaṣṣêl (H5337) — “snatched away / delivered”; Keil concedes Jacob “passes over his own stratagem in silence… the fact that Jacob did not tell the whole truth to his wives” — an honest note on a fallible patriarch.
אֲבִיכֶ֖ם’ă·ḇî·ḵemyour father’sH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine plural
מִקְנֵ֥הmiq·nêhlivestockH4735
√ miqneh — something bought, iNounmasculine singular construct
וַיִּתֶּן־way·yit·ten-and givenH5414
√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yitten (H5414) — “and he gave”; the Pulpit Commentary defends the piety of the speech — it discerns “an evidence of his piety, which recognized and gratefully acknowledged… not his own ‘consummate cunning.’”
לִֽי׃lî[them] to me
Prepositionfirst person common singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
Thus the righteous God paid Jacob for his hard service out of Laban’s estate, as he afterward paid the seed of Jacob for the service of the Egyptians with the spoils of that people.
✦Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599
This declares that the thing Jacob did before, was by God's commandment, and not through deceit.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
Jacob takes no notice of any artifice of his, or of any means and methods he made use of, but wholly ascribes all to the providence of God
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
the fact that Jacob did not tell the whole truth to his wives
10“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streake…”+

10When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî bə·‘êṯ haṣ·ṣōn ya·ḥêm wā·’eś·śā ‘ê·nay wā·’ê·re ba·ḥă·lō·wm wə·hin·nêh ‘ă·qud·dîm ū·ḇə·rud·dîm nə·qud·dîm hā·‘at·tu·ḏîm hā·‘ō·lîm ‘al- haṣ·ṣōn

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-it-was at the time the flock was in-heat, and-I-lifted my eyes and-saw in a dream, and behold, the he-goats mounting upon the flock were streaked, spotted, and speckled.

Where the English smooths the original

  • הָֽעַתֻּדִים֙ BSB’s “males” is hā‘attuḏîm (H6260), specifically “he-goats.” Ellicott corrects the smoothing: “Rams. — Heb., he-goats. The Authorised Version has made the alteration” because the flock-word is sheep, “but, like our word flock, it also included goats.”
  • וּבְרֻדִּֽים “spotted” is ūḇəruddîm (H1261), the rare “grisled” (only 4 verses). The Pulpit Commentary: “beruddim, from barad, to scatter hail… spotted animals, as if they had been sprinkled with hail.” This single word is the Verifier’s only bridge out of the Pentateuch — to Zechariah’s horses.
  • בַּחֲל֑וֹם “in a dream” (baḥălōwm, H2472) reframes the whole flock-stratagem of chapter 30 as revelation. Cambridge: it is “revealed to Jacob… that the birth, in such numbers, of spotted and parti-coloured young is due to God’s goodness.”
Word by word16 · parsed+
וַיְהִ֗יway·hîH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
בְּעֵת֙bə·‘êṯWhenH6256
√ ʻêth — time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etcPreposition-bNouncommon singular
הַצֹּ֔אןhaṣ·ṣōnthe flocksH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)ArticleNouncommon singular
יַחֵ֣םya·ḥêmwere breedingH3179
√ yâcham — probably to be hotVerbPielInfinitive construct
וָאֶשָּׂ֥אwā·’eś·śāI sawH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singular
עֵינַ֛י‘ê·nay. . .H5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Nouncdcfirst person common singular
וָאֵ֖רֶאwā·’ê·re. . .H7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singular
בַּחֲל֑וֹםba·ḥă·lō·wmin a dreamH2472
√ chălôwm — a dreamPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
baḥălōwm (H2472) — “in a dream”; Cambridge cross-references Abimelech’s dream (20:3) as the mode of revelation, the standard channel of the divine word to the patriarchs.
וְהִנֵּ֤הwə·hin·nêh. . .H2009
√ hinnêh — lo!Conjunctive wawInterjection
עֲקֻדִּ֥ים‘ă·qud·dîmthat the streakedH6124
√ ʻâqôd — striped (with bands)Adjectivemasculine plural
‘ăquddîm (H6124) — “streaked”; the dream-flock wears the very colors Laban kept reassigning. Gill suggests “such will be those the ewes would bring forth, which would be right in him to agree with Laban for as his hire.”
וּבְרֻדִּֽים׃ū·ḇə·rud·dîmspottedH1261
√ bârôd — spotted (as if with hail)Conjunctive wawAdjectivemasculine plural
ūḇəruddîm (H1261) — “and spotted / grisled”; Keil, weighing the whole speech, voices the chapter’s most candid suspicion — that the “vision… was nothing more than a natural dream,” built from Jacob’s own schemes, the Bethel promise, and his wish to justify himself.
נְקֻדִּ֖יםnə·qud·dîmand speckledH5348
√ nâqôd — spottedAdjectivemasculine plural
הָֽעַתֻּדִים֙hā·‘at·tu·ḏîmmalesH6260
√ ʻattûwd — prepared, iArticleNounmasculine plural
hā‘attuḏîm (H6260) — “the he-goats”; Gesenius (via the Pulpit Commentary) derives it “from an unused root, to be ready, perhaps because ready and prompt for fighting.”
הָעֹלִ֣יםhā·‘ō·lîmwere matingH5927
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
עַל־‘al-withH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
הַצֹּ֔אןhaṣ·ṣōnthe femalesH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)ArticleNouncommon singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Rams. —Heb., he-goats. The Authorised Version has made the alteration, because the word rendered “cattle” is really sheep
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
It is thus revealed to Jacob ( Genesis 31:10-12 ) that the birth, in such numbers, of spotted and parti-coloured young is due to God’s goodness towards him
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
excites the suspicion, that the vision of which he spoke was nothing more than a natural dream
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
The grisled ( beruddim , from barad , to scatter hail) were spotted animals, as if they had been sprinkled with hail
11“In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replie…”+

11In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ba·ḥă·lō·wm mal·’aḵ hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm way·yō·mer ’ê·lay ya·‘ă·qōḇ wā·’ō·mar hin·nê·nî

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-said the angel of God to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ And-I-said, ‘Here am I.’

Where the English smooths the original

  • מַלְאַ֧ךְ הָאֱלֹהִ֛ים “the angel of God” is mal’aḵ hā’ĕlōhîm (H4397 + H430). Gill insists “this was not a created angel, but the eternal one, the Son of God, and who is afterwards called God, and to whom Jacob had made a vow” — a vow no creature could receive.
  • הִנֵּֽנִי “Here I am” is the single word hinnênî (H2009 + suffix) — the patriarchs’ answer of total availability. It is Abraham’s word at the binding (22:1, 11) and will become Samuel’s and Isaiah’s; Jacob answers the Angel as a servant summoned by name.
  • בַּחֲל֖וֹם “In that dream” (baḥălōwm, H2472) repeats v. 10’s opening word, binding the vision of the flock to the voice that interprets it. The seeing and the hearing are one revelation.
Word by word8 · parsed+
בַּחֲל֖וֹםba·ḥă·lō·wmIn that dreamH2472
√ chălôwm — a dreamPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
מַלְאַ֧ךְmal·’aḵthe angelH4397
√ mălʼâk — a messengerNounmasculine singular construct
mal’aḵ (H4397) — “angel / messenger of”; the figure who speaks as God in the first person (v. 13). Benson identifies him with “the Word… of God, who now condescended to be the angel or messenger of the Father to Jacob, and yet styles himself the God of Beth-el.”
הָאֱלֹהִ֛יםhā·’ĕ·lō·hîmof GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseArticleNounmasculine plural
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרway·yō·mersaidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֵלַ֜י’ê·layto meH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionfirst person common singular
יַֽעֲקֹ֑בya·‘ă·qōḇJacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
ya‘ăqōḇ (H3290) — the Angel calls Jacob by name; personal address, not general theophany.
וָאֹמַ֖רwā·’ō·marAnd I repliedH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singular
הִנֵּֽנִי׃hin·nê·nîHere I am.H2009
√ hinnêh — lo!Interjectionfirst person common singular
hinnênî (H2009) — “here am I”; Gill: he “signified that he was ready to attend to whatsoever he should say to him” — the posture of obedience that the whole chapter is about.
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
This, no doubt, was the Word, or Song of Solomon of God, who now condescended to be the angel or messenger of the Father to Jacob, and yet styles himself the God of Beth-el.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
This was not a created angel, but the eternal one, the Son of God, and who is afterwards called God, and to whom Jacob had made a vow, which he would never have done to an angel
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
the angel (or Maleach) of Elohim , i . e . of the God who was with me and protecting me, though himself continuing unseen
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
Notice the frequent use of “God” (Elohim), not Lord (Jehovah), in this chapter
12“‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating …”+

12‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

śā- nā ‘ê·ne·ḵā way·yō·mer ū·rə·’êh kāl- hā·‘at·tu·ḏîm hā·‘ō·lîm ‘al- haṣ·ṣōn ‘ă·qud·dîm ū·ḇə·rud·dîm nə·qud·dîm kî rā·’î·ṯî ’êṯ kāl- ’ă·šer lā·ḇān ‘ō·śeh lāḵ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-said, ‘Lift now your eyes and see: all the he-goats mounting upon the flock are streaked, spotted, and speckled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.’

Where the English smooths the original

  • רָאִ֔יתִי “I have seen” is rā’îṯî (H7200), the same verb Jacob used of himself in v. 5 (“I am seeing your father’s face”). Now God says it: the divine gaze has been on Laban’s injustice all along. Benson: “here is a plain declaration that God would effect the thing, and the reason why; because he had seen Laban’s… unfair dealing.”
  • עֹ֥שֶׂה “has done” is the participle ‘ōśeh (H6213), “is doing” — continuous, ongoing wrong. Keil leans on exactly this tense: “the ‘āśāh… ‘all that Laban is doing to thee,’ does not exactly suit” an end-of-service date — the grammar argues for an earlier vision.
  • שָׂא־ נָ֨א “Look up” is śā’-nā’ (H5375 + H4994), “lift, I pray” — the courteous particle nā’ on a divine imperative. God invites rather than compels Jacob’s gaze upward to the sign.
Word by word21 · parsed+
שָׂא־śā-Look upH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeVerbQalImperativemasculine singular
śā’ (H5375) — “lift up”; the same verb as v. 17 (“Jacob… set [lifted] his children… on camels”), framing obedience as a lifting-up of eyes that becomes a lifting-up for the road.
נָ֨אnā. . .H4994
√ nâʼ — 'I pray', 'now', or 'then'Interjection
עֵינֶ֤יךָ‘ê·ne·ḵā. . .H5869
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Nouncdcsecond person masculine singular
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרway·yō·merhe saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וּרְאֵה֙ū·rə·’êhand seeH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalImperativemasculine singular
כָּל־kāl-that allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָֽעַתֻּדִים֙hā·‘at·tu·ḏîmthe malesH6260
√ ʻattûwd — prepared, iArticleNounmasculine plural
הָעֹלִ֣יםhā·‘ō·lîmthat are matingH5927
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)ArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural
עַל־‘al-withH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
הַצֹּ֔אןhaṣ·ṣōnthe flockH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)ArticleNouncommon singular
עֲקֻדִּ֥ים‘ă·qud·dîmare streakedH6124
√ ʻâqôd — striped (with bands)Adjectivemasculine plural
וּבְרֻדִּ֑יםū·ḇə·rud·dîmspottedH1261
√ bârôd — spotted (as if with hail)Conjunctive wawAdjectivemasculine plural
נְקֻדִּ֖יםnə·qud·dîmor speckledH5348
√ nâqôd — spottedAdjectivemasculine plural
כִּ֣יkîforH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
רָאִ֔יתִיrā·’î·ṯîI have seenH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)VerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
rā’îṯî (H7200) — “I have seen”; the Pulpit Commentary reads it as God’s assurance “that his immense wealth was not to be ascribed to the success of his own stratagem, but to the blessing of God.”
אֵ֛ת’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
לָבָ֖ןlā·ḇānLabanH3837
√ Lâbân — Laban, a MesopotamianNounpropermasculine singular
עֹ֥שֶׂה‘ō·śehhas doneH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
‘ōśeh (H6213) — participle, “is doing”; the Pulpit Commentary refuses to convict Jacob of fraud here — “equally arbitrary does it seem… to accuse Jacob of fraud in adopting the artifice of the pilled rods,” for “both may be true.”
לָּֽךְ׃lāḵto you
Prepositionsecond person feminine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
here is a plain declaration that God would effect the thing, and the reason why; because he had seen Laban’s ungenerous and unfair dealing toward Jacob
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
To insist upon a contradiction between this account of the increase of Jacob's flocks and that mentioned in Genesis 30:37 is to forget that both may be true.
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
covered with spots like hailstones, the word “grisled” being derived from the French grêle, hail.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
thereby assuring him, that such would be those the ewes would bring forth, which would be right in him to agree with Laban for as his hire
13“I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a…”+

13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’ā·nō·ḵî hā·’êl bêṯ- ’êl ’ă·šer mā·šaḥ·tā šām maṣ·ṣê·ḇāh ’ă·šer nā·ḏar·tā šām ne·ḏer lî ‘at·tāh qūm ṣê min- haz·zōṯ hā·’ā·reṣ wə·šūḇ ’el- mō·w·laḏ·te·ḵā ’e·reṣ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed to me a vow. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birthplace.’

Where the English smooths the original

  • הָאֵל֙ “the God” is hā’êl (H410) — and the article is grammatically irregular. Keil, the Pulpit Commentary, and Cambridge all flag it: “Contrary to usual custom, hā’êl, though in the construct state, has the art.” The Septuagint smooths it, “the God who appeared to thee in the place of God” — a textual seam left visible.
  • מַצֵּבָ֔ה “the pillar” is maṣṣêḇāh (H4676), the standing-stone Jacob raised at Bethel (Genesis 28:18). The shared word is the Verifier’s structural link back to that night; God recalls the exact monument to summon Jacob home by the road he came.
  • נָדַ֥רְתָּ שָׁ֖ם נֶ֑דֶר “made a solemn vow” is the cognate-accusative nāḏartā… neḏer (H5087 + H5088), “you vowed a vow.” These rare words (the vow-verb and -noun) verbally tie this verse to Genesis 28:20. Poole: God mentions it “to show his acceptance of that action… his mindfulness even of the past and forgotten services of his people.”
Word by word23 · parsed+
אָנֹכִ֤י’ā·nō·ḵîIH595
√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
הָאֵל֙hā·’êlam the GodH410
√ ʼêl — strengthArticleNounmasculine singular
hā’êl (H410) — “the God”; the speaker is the Angel of v. 11, now naming Himself as God. Cambridge: “the Angel is shewn to be not a created angel, but Jehovah Himself in a manifested form.”
בֵּֽית־bêṯ-vvvH1008
√ Bêyth-ʼÊl — Beth-El, a place in PalestinePreposition
אֵ֔ל’êlof BethelH1008
√ Bêyth-ʼÊl — Beth-El, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerwhereH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
מָשַׁ֤חְתָּmā·šaḥ·tāyou anointedH4886
√ mâshach — to rub with oil, iVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular
māšaḥtā (H4886) — “you anointed”; the root of mâshîach, “Messiah.” Jacob’s anointed stone is the memory God revives.
שָּׁם֙šām. . .H8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
מַצֵּבָ֔הmaṣ·ṣê·ḇāhthe pillarH4676
√ matstsêbâh — something stationed, iNounfeminine singular
maṣṣêḇāh (H4676) — “pillar”; Gill ties the whole verse to Bethel: God “signifying the divine approbation of the name Jacob gave to that place, and of what he did in it.”
אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
נָדַ֥רְתָּnā·ḏar·tāand madeH5087
√ nâdar — to promise (posVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular
שָׁ֖םšām. . .H8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
נֶ֑דֶרne·ḏera solemn vowH5088
√ neder — a promise (to God)Nounmasculine singular
neḏer (H5088) — “a vow”; the cognate noun. Geneva, on the angel: “This angel was Christ who appeared to Jacob in Bethel… he talks as though they knew this thing.”
לִּ֛יlîto Me
Prepositionfirst person common singular
עַתָּ֗ה‘at·tāhNowH6258
√ ʻattâh — at this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletiveAdverb
ק֥וּםqūmget upH6965
√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular
צֵא֙ṣêleaveH3318
√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalImperativemasculine singular
מִן־min-. . .H4480
√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition
הַזֹּ֔אתhaz·zōṯthisH2063
√ zôʼth — this (often used adverb)ArticlePronounfeminine singular
הָאָ֣רֶץhā·’ā·reṣland {at once}H776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
וְשׁ֖וּבwə·šūḇand returnH7725
√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)Conjunctive wawVerbQalImperativemasculine singular
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
מוֹלַדְתֶּֽךָ׃mō·w·laḏ·te·ḵāyour nativeH4138
√ môwledeth — nativity (plural birth-place)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
אֶ֥רֶץ’e·reṣlandH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular construct
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599
This angel was Christ who appeared to Jacob in Bethel: and by this it appears that he had taught his wives the fear of God
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
By the words “I am the God of Beth-el,” the Angel is shewn to be not a created angel, but Jehovah Himself in a manifested form
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
this God here mentions to show his acceptance of that action of Jacob’s, his mindfulness even of the past and forgotten services of his people
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
The angel of Elohim ( Genesis 31:11 ) was the speaker, but the words were those of God
14“And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inherita…”+

14And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

rā·ḥêl wə·lê·’āh wat·ta·‘an wat·tō·mar·nāh lōw lā·nū ḥê·leq wə·na·ḥă·lāh ha·‘ō·wḏ ’ā·ḇî·nū bə·ḇêṯ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-answered Rachel and Leah and-they-said to him, “Is there yet for us a portion or inheritance in the house of our father?

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַתַּ֤עַן רָחֵל֙ וְלֵאָ֔ה The verb “answered” (watta‘an, H6030) is singular though two subjects follow — Rachel and Leah. Gill: “the verb is singular… it may be Rachel answered in the name of Leah, and for herself.” Two wives speak with one voice.
  • חֵ֥לֶק וְנַחֲלָ֖ה “portion or inheritance” is ḥêleq wənaḥălāh (H2506 + H5159) — Cambridge calls it “a proverbial phrase,” the very words of Israel’s later cry of secession (2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16). The daughters disown their father’s house in the formula of a divided kingdom.
  • הַע֥וֹד “left” is ha‘ōwḏ (H5750), the interrogative “is there yet…?” Cambridge reads it as rhetorical despair: “we have no reason any longer to expect” anything. The question expects the answer none.
Word by word11 · parsed+
רָחֵל֙rā·ḥêlAnd RachelH7354
√ Râchêl — Rachel, a wife of JacobNounproperfeminine singular
וְלֵאָ֔הwə·lê·’āhand LeahH3812
√ Lêʼâh — Leah, a wife of JacobConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
וַתַּ֤עַןwat·ta·‘anrepliedH6030
√ ʻânâh — properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular
watta‘an (H6030) — “and she answered”; the singular verb with the plural sequel (wattômarnâh, v. 14) shows one speaking for both. JFB: “Having heard his views, they expressed their entire approval.”
וַתֹּאמַ֖רְנָהwat·tō·mar·nāh. . .H559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine plural
ל֑וֹlōw
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
לָ֛נוּlā·nūDo we
Prepositionfirst person common plural
חֵ֥לֶקḥê·leqhave any portionH2506
√ chêleq — properly, smoothness (of the tongue)Nounmasculine singular
ḥêleq (H2506) — “portion”; Benson hears the wound: “both agree in acknowledging that his behaviour had been extremely ungenerous and sordid, even to them, his own children.”
וְנַחֲלָ֖הwə·na·ḥă·lāhor inheritanceH5159
√ nachălâh — properly, something inherited, iConjunctive wawNounfeminine singular
wənaḥălāh (H5159) — “or inheritance”; the daughters expected, Cambridge notes, what custom denied married daughters — but Laban “had not treated Jacob’s wives even as daughters” (Pulpit Commentary).
הַע֥וֹדha·‘ō·wḏleftH5750
√ ʻôwd — properly, iteration or continuanceAdverb
אָבִֽינוּ׃’ā·ḇî·nūin our father’sH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common plural
בְּבֵ֥יתbə·ḇêṯhouseH1004
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
Having heard his views, they expressed their entire approval; and from grievances of their own, they were fully as desirous of a separation as himself.
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
They both agree in acknowledging that his behaviour had been extremely ungenerous and sordid, even to them, his own children.
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
Leah and Rachel had both been alienated from their father by his disregard of their feelings and by his mean grasping policy.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
it was in vain for them to hope for anything; signifying to Jacob hereby, that they were willing to leave their father's house, and go with him when he pleased
15“Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us…”+

15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hă·lō·w neḥ·šaḇ·nū lōw nā·ḵə·rî·yō·wṯ kî mə·ḵā·rā·nū gam- way·yō·ḵal ’ā·ḵō·wl ’eṯ- kas·pê·nū

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has utterly devoured our silver.

Where the English smooths the original

  • נָכְרִיּ֛וֹת “outsiders” is nāḵərîyōwṯ (H5237), “foreign women, strangers.” Cambridge: “foreigners, people of another kindred or country.” The free-born daughters of a chieftain charge that their own father has classed them as alien property.
  • אָכ֖וֹל…וַיֹּ֥אכַל BSB’s “certainly squandered” renders the infinitive-absolute construction way-yōḵal…’āḵōwl (H398), literally “eating he has eaten our money.” Keil: “the inf. abs. ’ākhol after the finite verb expresses the continuation of the act, and is intensified by gam, ‘yes, even.’” Laban devoured them, and kept devouring.
  • כַּסְפֵּֽנוּ “what was paid for us” is kaspēnū (H3701), simply “our silver / money.” Cambridge prefers the marginal “the price paid for us” — the bride-price (mohar) Laban pocketed instead of settling on his daughters.
Word by word11 · parsed+
הֲל֧וֹאhă·lō·wAre we notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
נֶחְשַׁ֥בְנוּneḥ·šaḇ·nūregardedH2803
√ châshab — properly, to plait or interpenetrate, iVerbNifalPerfectfirst person common plural
neḥšaḇnū (H2803) — “we are reckoned” (Niphal); Ellicott marks the tone — “a marked asperity towards their father… not only the petted Rachel but the neglected Leah joins in it.”
ל֖וֹlōwby him
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
נָכְרִיּ֛וֹתnā·ḵə·rî·yō·wṯas outsidersH5237
√ nokrîy — strange, in a variety of degrees and applications (foreign, non-relative, adulterous, different, wonderful)Adjectivefeminine plural
nāḵərîyōwṯ (H5237) — “as foreigners”; Gill: he treated them “as if they were foreigners that he had taken in war, or bought of others.”
כִּ֣יkîNot onlyH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
מְכָרָ֑נוּmə·ḵā·rā·nūhas he sold usH4376
√ mâkar — to sell, literally (as merchandise, a daughter in marriage, into slavery), or figuratively (to surrender)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singularfirst person common plural
məḵārānū (H4376) — “he has sold us”; Cambridge ties it to “the bargain by which Jacob had obtained his two wives at the price of fourteen years’ service” (Genesis 29:18–27).
גַּם־gam-but he hasH1571
√ gam — properly, assemblageConjunction
וַיֹּ֥אכַלway·yō·ḵalcertainly squanderedH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yōḵal (H398) — “he has devoured”; the eating-metaphor for consuming what was theirs — the dowry “in equity… due to us and to our children” (Poole).
אָכ֖וֹל’ā·ḵō·wl. . .H398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalInfinitive absolute
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כַּסְפֵּֽנוּ׃kas·pê·nūwhat was paid for usH3701
√ keçeph — silver (from its pale color)Nounmasculine singular constructfirst person common plural
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
There is a marked asperity towards their father in the answer of Jacob’s wives, and not only the petted Rachel but the neglected Leah joins in it.
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
He hath not only withheld from us, but spent upon himself, that money which he got by thy care and industry, whereof a considerable part was due in equity to us and to our children.
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
he had not treated them as daughters, but sold them like strangers, i.e., servants.
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
Better, as marg., the price paid for us . Laban had taken to himself the full profits of Jacob’s fourteen years’ service
16“Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father be…”+

16Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî ḵāl hā·‘ō·šer ’ă·šer ’ĕ·lō·hîm hiṣ·ṣîl mê·’ā·ḇî·nū lā·nū hū ū·lə·ḇā·nê·nū wə·‘at·tāh ‘ă·śêh kōl ’ă·šer ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’ā·mar ’ê·le·ḵā

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Surely all the riches that God has snatched away from our father, it is ours and our children’s. So now, all that God has said to you, do.

Where the English smooths the original

  • כִּ֣י “Surely” is kî (H3588), which Keil reads here as “so that, as in Deuteronomy 14:24” — the wives draw a conclusion from v. 15: because Laban devoured the price, therefore the wealth God recovered is rightfully theirs.
  • הִצִּ֤יל “has taken away” is hiṣṣîl (H5337), the same “snatch away / deliver” verb Jacob used in v. 9. The daughters echo their husband’s theology exactly: the Pulpit Commentary notes “Rachel and Leah also recognize the hand of God (Elohim) in Jacob’s unusual prosperity.”
  • עֲשֵֽׂה “do” is the bare imperative ‘ăśêh (H6213) — “whatever God has said to you, do.” JFB and Henry both seize on it: “Those that are really their husbands’ helpmeets will never be their hindrances in doing that to which God calls them.”
Word by word17 · parsed+
כִּ֣יkîSurelyH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
כָל־ḵālallH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הָעֹ֗שֶׁרhā·‘ō·šerthe wealthH6239
√ ʻôsher — wealthArticleNounmasculine singular
hā‘ōšer (H6239) — “the wealth”; the daughters claim it by “the natural right which children have to a share in his estate… the account of thy faithful and laborious service” (Poole).
אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אֱלֹהִים֙’ĕ·lō·hîmGodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
הִצִּ֤ילhiṣ·ṣîlhas taken awayH5337
√ nâtsal — to snatch away, whether in a good or a bad senseVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
hiṣṣîl (H5337) — “has snatched away”; the wives’ verb matches Jacob’s in v. 9, sealing the household’s shared confession that God, not craft, transferred the herd.
מֵֽאָבִ֔ינוּmê·’ā·ḇî·nūfrom our fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-mNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common plural
לָ֥נוּlā·nūbelongs to us
Prepositionfirst person common plural
ה֖וּאhū. . .H1931
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular
וּלְבָנֵ֑ינוּū·lə·ḇā·nê·nūand to our childrenH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcConjunctive waw, Preposition-lNounmasculine plural constructfirst person common plural
וְעַתָּ֗הwə·‘at·tāhSoH6258
√ ʻattâh — at this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletiveConjunctive wawAdverb
עֲשֵֽׂה׃‘ă·śêhdoH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperativemasculine singular
‘ăśêh (H6213) — “do”; the consent that releases the flight. JFB calls it not merely “conjugal affection, but piety in following the course described.”
כֹּל֩kōlwhateverH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אֱלֹהִ֛ים’ĕ·lō·hîmGodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
אָמַ֧ר’ā·marhas toldH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
אֵלֶ֖יךָ’ê·le·ḵāyouH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionsecond person masculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
They display not only conjugal affection, but piety in following the course described—"whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do"
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
not only by God’s special gift, but by the natural right which children have to a share in his estate, and upon the account of thy faitithful and laborious service.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
they mean, that he should leave their father's house, and go into the land of Canaan, as God had directed him; and they signified that they were willing
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
in Genesis 31:16 signifies "so that," as in Deuteronomy 14:24
17“Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,”+

17Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·‘ă·qōḇ way·yā·qām way·yiś·śā ’eṯ- bā·nāw wə·’eṯ- nā·šāw ‘al- hag·gə·mal·lîm

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Then-rose Jacob, and-he-lifted his children and his wives upon the camels;

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיָּ֖קָם “got up” is way-yāqām (H6965), “and he arose” — the precise verb God commanded in v. 13 (“Now arise”). The Pulpit Commentary hears it as obedience embodied, “expressive of the vigor and alacrity with which… Jacob set about fulfilling the Divine instructions.”
  • וַיִּשָּׂ֛א “put” is way-yiśśā’ (H5375), “and he lifted” — the same “lift” verb as the divine “lift up your eyes” in v. 12. Eyes lifted to the sign become hands lifting wives and children for the road home.
  • בָּנָ֥יו “his children” is bānāw (H1121), literally “his sons,” but the Pulpit Commentary widens it “his children… including Dinah,” and Gill insists “rather his children: for they were not all sons, there was one daughter, and they were all young.”
Word by word9 · parsed+
יַעֲקֹ֑בya·‘ă·qōḇThen JacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
וַיָּ֖קָםway·yā·qāmgot upH6965
√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yāqām (H6965) — “and he rose”; the verb of decisive departure, answering God’s “arise” (v. 13). Ellicott notes the rising “did not take place till the time of sheep-shearing.”
וַיִּשָּׂ֛אway·yiś·śāand putH5375
√ nâsâʼ — to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relativeConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
בָּנָ֥יוbā·nāwhis childrenH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
bānāw (H1121) — “his children”; Gill dates them young — “his eldest son Reuben could not be much more than twelve years of age, and his youngest son Joseph about six.”
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
נָשָׁ֖יוnā·šāwand his wivesH802
√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine singular
עַל־‘al-onH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
הַגְּמַלִּֽים׃hag·gə·mal·lîmcamelsH1581
√ gâmâl — a camelArticleNounmasculine plural
hag-gəmallîm (H1581) — “the camels”; JFB sketches the speed of a nomad strike-camp: “A plain that is covered in the morning with a long array of tents… may, in a few hours, appear so desolate that not a vestige of the encampment remains.”
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
A plain that is covered in the morning with a long array of tents and with browsing flocks, may, in a few hours, appear so desolate that not a vestige of the encampment remains
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
This was the final result of Jacob’s deliberation with his wives, but it did not take place till the time of sheep-shearing.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
his eldest son Reuben could not be much more than twelve years of age, and his youngest son Joseph about six.
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
expressive of the vigor and alacrity with which, having obtained the concurrence of his wives, Jacob set about fulfilling the Divine instructions
18“and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the po…”+

18and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yin·haḡ ’eṯ- kāl- miq·nê·hū wə·’eṯ- miq·nêh qin·yā·nōw ’ă·šer rā·ḵaš bə·p̄ad·dan kāl- rə·ḵu·šōw ’ă·šer rā·ḵāš ’ă·rām lā·ḇō·w ’el- ’ā·ḇîw yiṣ·ḥāq ’ar·ṣāh kə·nā·‘an

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-drove all his livestock and all his possessions that he had acquired, the livestock of his getting that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיִּנְהַ֣ג “he drove” is way-yinhaḡ (H5090), from a root “to pant.” The Pulpit Commentary: the verb “is specially used of those who are exhausted by running… may perhaps indicate the haste with which Jacob acted” — the same panting root behind “all my strength” in v. 6.
  • מִקְנֵה֙…רְכֻשׁוֹ֙ Two wealth-words pile up: miqnêh (H4735, “cattle,” from qânâh) and rəḵušōw (H7399, “substance,” from râkash). The Pulpit Commentary distinguishes them — Mikneh, “possession… always used of cattle”; Recush, “acquisition, hence substance, wealth in general.” The rare verb râkash verbally links this to Abraham’s own acquisitions (Genesis 12:5).
  • אֲרָ֑ם בְּפַדַּ֣ן “Paddan-aram” (paddan ’ărām, H6307 + H758) is the redundant, formulaic geography Cambridge assigns to the Priestly source: “the brief summary of Jacob’s departure given in that narrative… the mention of ‘Paddan-aram,’ and the redundancy of the language, are characteristic of P.”
Word by word21 · parsed+
וַיִּנְהַ֣גway·yin·haḡand he droveH5090
√ nâhag — to drive forth (a person, an animal or chariot), iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yinhaḡ (H5090) — “and he drove”; JFB stresses Jacob carried off “his own and nothing more… content with what Providence had given him.”
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
מִקְנֵ֗הוּmiq·nê·hūhis livestock {before him}H4735
√ miqneh — something bought, iNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
miqnêhū (H4735) — “his livestock”; Gill cites the rabbinic estimate “5,500 head of cattle.”
וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
מִקְנֵה֙miq·nêhH4735
√ miqneh — something bought, iNounmasculine singular construct
קִנְיָנ֔וֹqin·yā·nōw. . .H7075
√ qinyân — creation, iNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
רָכַ֖שׁrā·ḵašH7408
√ râkash — to lay up, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
בְּפַדַּ֣ןbə·p̄ad·dan. . .H6307
√ Paddân — Paddan or Paddan-Aram, a region of SyriaPreposition
כָּל־kāl-along with allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
רְכֻשׁוֹ֙rə·ḵu·šōwthe possessionsH7399
√ rᵉkûwsh — property (as gathered)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
רָכָ֔שׁrā·ḵāšhe had acquiredH7408
√ râkash — to lay up, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
rāḵāš (H7408) — “he had acquired”; a rare verb (4 verses), the lexical hinge to Genesis 12:5, where Abram carries his “substance… gotten” toward the same Canaan.
אֲרָ֑ם’ă·rāmin Paddan-aramH758
√ ʼĂrâm — Aram or Syria, and its inhabitantsPrepositionNounproperfeminine singular
לָב֛וֹאlā·ḇō·wto goH935
√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
אָבִ֖יו’ā·ḇîwhis fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
יִצְחָ֥קyiṣ·ḥāqIsaacH3327
√ Yitschâq — Jitschak (or Isaac), son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular
yiṣḥāq (H3327) — “Isaac”; Gill notes the long road ahead — “it was some years before he got to his father’s house” — and the silence about Rebekah, “she perhaps being now dead.”
אַ֥רְצָה’ar·ṣāhin the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singularthird person feminine singular
כְּנָֽעַן׃kə·nā·‘anin CanaanH3667
√ Kᵉnaʻan — Kenaan, a son a HamNounpropermasculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
He did not indemnify himself for his many losses by carrying off any thing of Laban's, but was content with what Providence had given him.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
this seems to be purposely observed, to show that he took nothing but what was his own getting, not anything that belonged to Laban
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
Jacob then set out with his children and wives, and all the property that he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to return to his father in Canaan
✦Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706
In all our removals we should have respect to the command and promise of God. If He be with us, we need not fear.
19“Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her fat…”+

19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·lā·ḇān hā·laḵ liḡ·zōz ’eṯ- ṣō·nōw rā·ḥêl ’eṯ- wat·tiḡ·nōḇ lə·’ā·ḇî·hā hat·tə·rā·p̄îm ’ă·šer

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Now Laban had gone to shear his flock; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.

Where the English smooths the original

  • הַתְּרָפִ֖ים “household idols” is hattərāp̄îm (H8655), the untranslated “teraphim” — rare (15 verses). The Pulpit Commentary derives the word from a root “taraph, signifying to live comfortably,” and the figures were “worshipped as gods… consulted for oracles… believed to be the custodians and promoters of human happiness.” This single rare word bridges to Zechariah and Hosea.
  • וַתִּגְנֹ֣ב “stole” is wattignōḇ (H1589), the very verb used of Jacob in v. 20 (“Jacob stole the heart of Laban”). The narrator pairs Rachel’s theft of gods with Jacob’s theft of knowledge — two thefts on one flight, only one of which Jacob knew.
  • לִגְזֹ֖ז “shearing” is liḡzōz (H1494); sheep-shearing was a multi-day festival. Cambridge: “Among shepherds this was an occasion of feasting, which lasted several days,” cf. 1 Samuel 25 — Laban’s absence is Jacob’s window.
Word by word11 · parsed+
וְלָבָ֣ןwə·lā·ḇānNow while LabanH3837
√ Lâbân — Laban, a MesopotamianConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
הָלַ֔ךְhā·laḵwas outH1980
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
hālaḵ (H1980) — “had gone”; Laban was “three days’ distance from Jacob’s flocks” (Gill), the gap that makes flight feasible.
לִגְזֹ֖זliḡ·zōzshearingH1494
√ gazâz — to cut offPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
צֹאנ֑וֹṣō·nōwhis sheepH6629
√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
רָחֵ֔לrā·ḥêlRachelH7354
√ Râchêl — Rachel, a wife of JacobNounproperfeminine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַתִּגְנֹ֣בwat·tiḡ·nōḇstoleH1589
√ gânab — to thieve (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular
wattignōḇ (H1589) — “and she stole”; the same root as Jacob’s deceit in v. 20. Barnes: Rachel “had a lingering attachment to these objects… and secretly carried them away as relics of a home she was to visit no more.”
לְאָבִֽיהָ׃lə·’ā·ḇî·hāher father’sH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructthird person feminine singular
הַתְּרָפִ֖יםhat·tə·rā·p̄îmhousehold idolsH8655
√ tᵉrâphîym — Teraphim (singular or plural) a family idolArticleNounmasculine plural
hattərāp̄îm (H8655) — “the teraphim”; Geneva: “the word here signifies… because Laban calls them gods, Ge 31:30.” Rachel’s motive is endlessly disputed — Gill prefers that she took them “to take off her father from the idolatrous worship of them.”
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
The teraphim were the household gods, like the Latin Penates , sometimes small in size
✦Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834
Rachel had a lingering attachment to these objects of her family's superstitious reverence, and secretly carried them away as relics of a home she was to visit no more
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
we are willing to hope that she took them away, not out of covetousness, much less for her own use, or out of any superstitions fear
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Rachel stole them upon the supposition that they would bring prosperity to her and her husband.
20“Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him th…”+

20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ya·‘ă·qōḇ ’eṯ- way·yiḡ·nōḇ lêḇ lā·ḇān hā·’ă·ram·mî ‘al- bə·lî hig·gîḏ lōw kî hū ḇō·rê·aḥ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was fleeing.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיִּגְנֹ֣ב…לֵ֥ב BSB’s “deceived” renders the idiom way-yignōḇ…lêḇ (H1589 + H3820), literally “stole the heart of Laban.” Ellicott: “Heb., stole the heart. But the heart was regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of the intellect… to steal a man’s understanding… means to elude his observation.” Keil and Cambridge both cite the Greek kleptein noon.
  • הָאֲרַמִּ֑י “the Aramean” (hā’ărammî, H761) is a pointed ethnic tag — “Laban the Syrian.” The narrator marks the man Jacob outwitted as the foreign kinsman; the same root names Paddan-aram in v. 18, the land Jacob is fleeing.
  • בֹרֵ֖חַ “was running away” is the participle ḇōrêaḥ (H1272), “fleeing” — the same root that opens v. 21 (“so he fled”). Jacob, who fled Esau twenty years before, now flees Laban; the patriarch’s life is bracketed by flight.
Word by word13 · parsed+
יַעֲקֹ֔בya·‘ă·qōḇMoreover, JacobH3290
√ Yaʻăqôb — Jaakob, the Israelitish patriarchNounpropermasculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיִּגְנֹ֣בway·yiḡ·nōḇdeceivedH1589
√ gânab — to thieve (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yignōḇ (H1589) — “and he stole”; the heart-theft idiom. Barnes: “To steal the heart of anyone is to act without his knowledge.”
לֵ֥בlêḇ. . .H3820
√ lêb — the heartNounmasculine singular construct
lêḇ (H3820) — “the heart”; Keil: “to steal the heart (as the seat of the understanding)… to take the knowledge of anything away from a person, to deceive him.”
לָבָ֖ןlā·ḇānLabanH3837
√ Lâbân — Laban, a MesopotamianNounpropermasculine singular
הָאֲרַמִּ֑יhā·’ă·ram·mîthe ArameanH761
√ ʼĂrammîy — an Aramite or AramaeanArticleNounpropermasculine singular
hā’ărammî (H761) — “the Aramean / Syrian”; Gill: “notwithstanding his astrology and superstitious arts, which the Syrians are addicted to, he had no foresight of this matter.”
עַל־‘al-. . .H5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
בְּלִי֙bə·lîby notH1097
√ bᵉlîy — properly, failure, iAdverb
הִגִּ֣ידhig·gîḏtellingH5046
√ nâgad — properly, to front, iVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
ל֔וֹlōwhim
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
כִּ֥יkîthatH3588
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
הֽוּא׃hūheH1931
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular
בֹרֵ֖חַḇō·rê·aḥwas running awayH1272
√ bârach — to bolt, iVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
ḇōrêaḥ (H1272) — “fleeing”; JFB on the secrecy: “otherwise, Laban might have detained him by violence or artifice.”
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
the heart was regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of the intellect, and so to steal a man’s understanding, like the similar phrase in Greek, means to elude his observation.
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
The result showed the prudence and necessity of departing secretly; otherwise, Laban might have detained him by violence or artifice.
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
signifies to take the knowledge of anything away from a person, to deceive him
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
he was too cunning for Laban the Syrian; notwithstanding his astrology and superstitious arts, which the Syrians are addicted to, he had no foresight of this matter
21“So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and …”+

21So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hū way·yiḇ·raḥ wə·ḵāl ’ă·šer- lōw way·yā·qām way·ya·‘ă·ḇōr ’eṯ- han·nā·hār way·yā·śem ’eṯ- pā·nāw har hag·gil·‘āḏ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

So-he-fled, he and all that was his; and-he-rose and-he-crossed the river, and-he-set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

Where the English smooths the original

  • הַנָּהָ֑ר “the Euphrates” is simply han-nāhār (H5104), “the River” — the Euphrates named by preeminence. Cambridge cross-references Psalm 72:8, “from the River unto the ends of the earth”; Poole notes it is “oft called the river emphatically.”
  • וַיָּ֥שֶׂם…פָּנָ֖יו “headed for” is the idiom way-yāśem…pānāw (H7760 + H6440), “he set his face.” Poole: “he resolutely directed his course” — the same fixed-face resolve later said of the Servant (Isaiah 50:7) and of Christ toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).
  • הַגִּלְעָֽד “Gilead” (hag-gil‘āḏ, H1568) is named proleptically — before the heap (Galeed) that gives it the name is even raised (vv. 45–48). Ellicott: “the region of rock… a very old appellation… Jacob apparently plays upon it in his name Galeed.”
Word by word14 · parsed+
הוּא֙hūSo heH1931
√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular
וַיִּבְרַ֥חway·yiḇ·raḥfledH1272
√ bârach — to bolt, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yiḇraḥ (H1272) — “and he fled”; the same root as v. 20’s “fleeing,” closing the unit on the act it named. Poole: “he fled, because he knew Laban’s selfish, and unrighteous, and cruel disposition.”
וְכָל־wə·ḵālwith allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-his possessionsH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
ל֔וֹlōw
Prepositionthird person masculine singular
וַיָּ֖קָםway·yā·qāmH6965
√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וַיַּעֲבֹ֣רway·ya·‘ă·ḇōrcrossedH5674
√ ʻâbar — to cross overConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
הַנָּהָ֑רhan·nā·hārthe EuphratesH5104
√ nâhâr — a stream (including the seaArticleNounmasculine singular
han-nāhār (H5104) — “the River”; the Euphrates, the boundary between Mesopotamia and the land of promise — to cross it is to leave exile.
וַיָּ֥שֶׂםway·yā·śemand headed forH7760
√ sûwm — to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
פָּנָ֖יוpā·nāwH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural constructthird person masculine singular
הַ֥רharthe hill countryH2022
√ har — a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)Nounmasculine singular construct
hag-gil‘āḏ (H1568) — “Gilead”; the Pulpit Commentary explains the name is given “proleptically… from the transaction recorded in verses 45–47,” the covenant-heap still ahead.
הַגִּלְעָֽד׃hag·gil·‘āḏof GileadH1568
√ Gilʻâd — Gilad, a region East of the JordanArticleNounproperfeminine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Gilead, the region of rock, was the mountainous frontier between the Aramean and Canaanite races.
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
And set his face, i.e. resolutely directed his course.
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
passed over the river (Euphrates), and took the direction to the mountains of Gilead.
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
toward the mountain of Gilead ] i.e. towards the hill-country on the east side of Jordan. The name “Gilead” is here used in its widest application.
✣

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙Grand Commentary — the unit, read wholesynthesis · verify+

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Envy heard, estrangement seen — Genesis 31:1–2

The flight is set in motion not by a vision but by gossip and a glance. Jacob “heard the words” of Laban’s sons (v. 1) and “saw the face” of Laban (v. 2) — two senses, one verdict. Benson catches the symmetry across the chapter break: “The last chapter began with Rachel’s envying Leah; this begins with Laban’s sons envying Jacob.” The brothers’ charge that Jacob “has gotten all this glory” turns on kāḇōḍ (H3519), “glory” bent to mean “wealth” (Cambridge, Pulpit Commentary). Geneva reads the envy to its root: “the covetous think that whatever they cannot take, is taken from them.” Cambridge frames the whole sojourn as a duel now ending: “It has hitherto been a contest of wits between Laban and Jacob. Jacob has had the best of it.” The change in Laban’s countenance is, in the Hebrew idiom, “not as yesterday and the day before” (vv. 2, 5) — JFB: “a common Oriental form of speech.”

ii. The covenant-God commands the road home — Genesis 31:3

Into the souring atmosphere comes one sentence from Yahweh (v. 3): “Return… and I will be with you.” The verb is šūḇ (H7725), “turn / return,” and the promise wə’ehyeh (H1961) is voiced in the grammar of the divine Name. Cambridge identifies it precisely: “the renewal of the promise of the Divine Presence made to Jacob in Genesis 28:15.” Ellicott notes the name-shift that runs through the chapter — the providence ascribed to Elohim in the dream is here named Jehovah, “to show that… it was really in His character of Jehovah, the covenant-God, that He thus guarded him.” Benson draws the discipline of the moment: “though Jacob had met with very hard usage, yet he would not quit his place till God bid him,” and JFB turns it to a rule — “So ought we to set the Lord before us, and to acknowledge Him in all our ways.”

iii. Jacob's apology — and the honest seam in it — Genesis 31:4–12

Jacob calls Rachel and Leah to the field (v. 4 — Rachel first, “as the chief wife,” Ellicott) and makes his case: twenty years of service “with all my strength” (v. 6), a father-in-law who “cheated me and changed my wages ten times” (v. 7), yet a God who “did not give him to do evil with me.” The flock-stratagem of chapter 30 is here retold as pure providence: “God has snatched away your father’s livestock and given them to me” (v. 9). The commentators do not look away from the gap. Geneva defends Jacob — this “declares that the thing Jacob did before, was by God’s commandment, and not through deceit.” Cambridge notes the two accounts differ: here the result came “by the providence of God, not by Jacob’s cleverness.” But Keil & Delitzsch name the seam plainly — the difference rests on “the fact that Jacob did not tell the whole truth to his wives,” adding that “self-help and divine help do not exclude one another.” This is the Synthetic Bible’s discipline in miniature: the inspired record preserves a patriarch’s self-justifying spin without endorsing it.

iv. The Angel who is God of Bethel — Genesis 31:11–13

At the center of Jacob’s speech stands a theophany. “The angel of God” (v. 11) calls him by name; Jacob answers “Here am I” (hinnēnî); and the Angel then says, “I am the God of Bethel” (v. 13). The figure speaks as God in the first person and receives Jacob’s vow — which no creature may. Gill: “This was not a created angel, but the eternal one, the Son of God… to whom Jacob had made a vow, which he would never have done to an angel.” Benson agrees: “this, no doubt, was the Word… who now condescended to be the angel or messenger of the Father… and yet styles himself the God of Beth-el.” Cambridge, more cautiously, holds the same conclusion: “the Angel is shewn to be not a created angel, but Jehovah Himself in a manifested form.” The Angel recalls the exact monument — the anointed pillar (maṣṣēḇāh, H4676) and the vow (neḍer, H5088) of Genesis 28 — binding Jacob’s homeward road to the night he first met God on the way out.

v. The daughters disinherited — and assenting — Genesis 31:14–16

Rachel and Leah answer with one voice (the verb watta‘an, v. 14, is singular). Their grievance is sharp: “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has utterly devoured our silver” (v. 15). Ellicott hears “a marked asperity towards their father… not only the petted Rachel but the neglected Leah joins in it.” Keil parses the Hebrew intensity — “he had not treated them as daughters, but sold them like strangers” — and the daughters close by echoing their husband’s own theology word for word: the wealth “God has snatched away from our father” (same verb as v. 9) “is ours and our children’s.” Then the release: “whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do” (v. 16). JFB, citing Henry: they show “not only conjugal affection, but piety” — “those that are really their husbands’ helpmeets will never be their hindrances in doing that to which God calls them.”

vi. Two thefts and a fixed face — Genesis 31:17–21

Jacob “rose up” (v. 17, the verb of God’s “arise,” v. 13) and drove his herd toward Canaan. The narrator then sets two thefts side by side with the same verb gānaḇ (H1589): Rachel “stole the teraphim” (v. 19), and Jacob “stole the heart of Laban the Aramean” (v. 20). On the teraphim the voices range widely — Barnes: Rachel kept them “as relics of a home she was to visit no more”; Benson hopes she meant to “convince her father of the folly of his regard to those as gods which could not secure themselves”; Cambridge connects their very presence to “Aramaean influences.” On Jacob’s theft the idiom is exact — Ellicott: “to steal a man’s understanding, like the similar phrase in Greek, means to elude his observation.” The unit ends with Jacob crossing “the River” (the Euphrates) and setting “his face toward… Gilead” — Poole: “he resolutely directed his course” — the place named, the Pulpit Commentary observes, proleptically, for a covenant-heap not yet raised.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority — and offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted — this flight-narrative preaches a God who keeps His own timetable and tells the truth about His people. The promise “I will be with you” is the spine of the whole chapter. Twenty years earlier at Bethel God pledged His presence (28:15); here He renews it in a single sentence (31:3) and the same Angel reappears to seal it (31:13). Everything between — the envy, the changed wages, the dream, the disinherited daughters — is the slow vindication of one word: wə’ehyeh ‘immāḵ, “I will be with you.” The text is honest about a fallible man. Jacob tells his wives the flock multiplied by God’s pure gift and quietly omits his own rods and stratagem; Keil names the omission — “Jacob did not tell the whole truth” — and even floats that the dream may have been “nothing more than a natural dream.” A book inventing a hero would have airbrushed the seam; Scripture leaves it, because self-help and divine help “do not exclude one another,” and grace works through crooked instruments without blessing the crookedness. And the God who appears is the God who will become flesh. The Angel who bears the divine Name, receives a vow, and calls Himself “the God of Bethel” is read by the older voices — Geneva flatly, Gill and Benson with care — as the pre-incarnate Word. The covenant-keeping presence that walks Jacob home is not an abstraction but a Person.

The whole flight rests on three words spoken twenty years apart — “I will be with you” — and a fallible man is carried home on a promise he could not keep himself.

⚙Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripturecross-refs · verify+

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The dream-flock and the stratagem of Genesis 30 verbal / quotation — confirmed

Jacob’s dream of “streaked, spotted, and speckled” he-goats (vv. 10, 12) is the same vocabulary that governs the wage-bargain and breeding scenes of the previous chapter (Genesis 30:32–43). The link is verbal and strong: the color-terms ‘āqōḍ (“streaked,” only 6 verses) and nāqōḍ (“speckled,” only 7 verses) are genuinely rare, and the breeding-verb yācham (5 verses) appears with them. The Verifier returns Genesis 30:39 as the top external match; Cambridge already cross-references Jacob’s original proposal at 30:32. The thread is the seam between the two tellings — chapter 30 the deed, chapter 31 the dream that recasts the deed as God’s gift.

Genesis 31:10 · Genesis 31:8 · Genesis 30:39 · Genesis 30:35 · Genesis 30:32

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew). With Genesis 30:39: H6124 ʻâqôd (rare, 6 vv), H5348 nâqôd (rare, 7 vv), H3179 yâcham (rare, 5 vv), H6629 tsôʼn (247 vv). With Genesis 30:35: H6124 ʻâqôd (6 vv), H5348 nâqôd (7 vv). The rarity of the two mottled-coat adjectives warrants the verbal tier; the same distinctive vocabulary carries the bargain across both chapters.

“Changed my wages ten times” — the charge repeated to Laban's face verbal / quotation — confirmed

Jacob’s accusation to his wives in v. 7 — “he … changed my wages ten times” — is re-spoken verbatim, this time to Laban himself, in the confrontation at Genesis 31:41. The verbal bridge is unusually firm: the noun mōneh (“times,” occurring in only 2 verses of all Scripture, both in this chapter), the rare wage-noun maskôreth (4 verses), and the change-verb châlaph (27 verses) recur together. A speaker quoting himself across the same composition: the rarity of mōneh raises it above mere theme.

Genesis 31:7 · Genesis 31:41

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H4489 môneh (rare, 2 vv — both in Genesis 31), H4909 maskôreth (rare, 4 vv), H2498 châlaph (27 vv), H6235 ʻeser (157 vv). The two-verse rarity of môneh and the four-verse rarity of maskôreth give a true verbal self-quotation within the chapter; v. 41 repeats the complaint of v. 7 directly to Laban.

The pillar and the vow at Bethel verbal / quotation — confirmed

When the Angel says “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you vowed a vow to Me” (v. 13), he names the two physical acts of Genesis 28:18–22 with their own words. The vow-verb nâdar (28 vv) and the vow-noun neḍer (57 vv) recur together with the emphatic ’ânôkî, and the standing-stone maṣṣêḇâh (31 vv) ties the verses; the Verifier grades the link to 28:20 as verbal. Poole reads the recollection as grace: God’s “mindfulness even of the past and forgotten services of his people.” The thread closes the twenty-year arc — the God met on the way out summons Jacob home by the same altar.

Genesis 31:13 · Genesis 28:18 · Genesis 28:20

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew). The verbal tier rests on Genesis 28:20, which shares the cognate-accusative vow-pair H5087 nâdar (28 vv) + H5088 neḍer (57 vv) — God quotes back Jacob's own 'you vowed a vow' (the emphatic H595 ʼânôkî, 335 vv, also recurs). The link to Genesis 28:18 is weaker and the Verifier grades it structural, not verbal: it shares only H4676 matṣêbâh (31 vv, not rare), the standing-stone — a recalled motif, not a quotation. We keep the thread verbal on the strength of the 28:20 vow-pair while noting the 28:18 pillar link is structural. Named on the verse by Poole, Gill, Cambridge, and the Pulpit Commentary.

“Return to your birthplace” — Abraham's call run in reverse structural / thematic — confirmed

The single sentence that turns Jacob homeward — “Return to the land of your fathers and to your birthplace” (v. 3) — deliberately reuses the vocabulary of the call that first set the family in motion — the command to Abram to go from his birthplace (Genesis 12:1). The shared word is môwledeth (“birthplace / kindred,” H4138), and the same term reappears in Isaac’s bride-quest (24:4), binding three generations to one land. Ellicott names the link on the verse: “Heb., thy birthplace, as in Genesis 12:1.” The motif is a reversal — Abraham was called away from his môwledeth into Canaan; Jacob is called back toward his into the same promise. The connection is structural, not a quotation: môwledeth is shared but not rare (21 vv), so the thread rests on the patterned reversal the expositors themselves trace, not on a distinctive lexeme.

Genesis 31:3 · Genesis 12:1 · Genesis 24:4

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme (Hebrew↔Hebrew) for Genesis 31:3 ↔ 12:1: H4138 môwledeth (21 vv) and H1 ʼâb (1060 vv). Because môwledeth is shared but not rare, the Verifier grades the pair structural, not verbal — and the connection is precisely a patterned reversal of the Abrahamic call (away from the birthplace, then back toward it), not a quotation. Named on the verse by Ellicott (‘as in Genesis 12:1’).

“The substance he had gotten” — Jacob carries home what Abram carried out verbal / quotation — confirmed

The summary of Jacob’s departure says he drove off “the livestock of his getting that he had acquired” (v. 18); the verb is râkash (“to gather, acquire”) with its noun rᵉkûwsh (“substance”). The verb is genuinely rare — only four verses in all Scripture — and the closest match is Genesis 12:5, the record of Abram gathering the substance he had acquired and setting out for the land of Canaan. The same rare verb (râkash), the same wealth-noun (rᵉkûwsh), and the same destination (Kᵉnaʻan) recur together — the Verifier’s three shared lexemes. The Pulpit Commentary parses the noun on the verse (“Recush… acquisition, hence substance, wealth in general”), and JFB stresses Jacob took “his own and nothing more.” The thread frames Jacob’s homecoming as a recapitulation of Abram’s first entry: the grandson re-enters the land of promise carrying his acquired substance, as the patriarch once did.

Genesis 31:18 · Genesis 12:5

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew) for Genesis 31:18 ↔ 12:5: H7408 râkash (very rare, 4 vv), H7399 rᵉkûwsh (27 vv), H3667 Kᵉnaʻan (91 vv). The four-verse rarity of the acquire-verb râkash, recurring with its cognate noun and the shared destination Canaan, warrants the verbal tier as a genuine lexical echo of Abram's entry into the land — narrative recurrence within the Genesis composition, not a citation.

The teraphim — household gods across the canon structural / thematic — confirmed

Rachel’s theft of her father’s teraphim (v. 19) introduces a word that recurs at the canon’s seams. The lexeme tərâphîm (H8655) is rare — 15 verses in all Scripture — and surfaces in Michal’s ruse (1 Samuel 19:13), Micah’s shrine (Judges 17:5), and the prophets’ indictments of divination (Hosea 3:4; Zechariah 10:2). Because the shared word is a genuine technical term and not a common noun, the cross-references are firm structural links: the same forbidden objects, traced from the patriarchal tent to their later condemnation. The expositors lean on exactly this chain — Ellicott, the Pulpit Commentary, and Cambridge all marshal these verses to define what Rachel carried off.

Genesis 31:19 · 1 Samuel 19:13 · Judges 17:5 · Hosea 3:4 · Zechariah 10:2

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H8655 tərâphîm (rare, 15 vv) across all four cross-references (with Zechariah 10:2 also H6629 tsôʼn). The single recurring technical term is a thematic/lexical chain — the same cultic objects condemned later — not a quotation of one verse by another, so tiered structural rather than verbal.

“Grisled” — a rare word shared with Zechariah's horses flagged — verify source

The rarest color-word in the dream, bârôd (“spotted / grisled,” vv. 10, 12), occurs in only four verses of the entire Hebrew Bible — and two of them are Zechariah’s vision of the patrolling chariot-horses, “grisled and bay” (Zechariah 6:3, 6). The Verifier scores it “verbal” on the bare statistics of a single very-rare lexeme, but we decline that tier and flag the link instead. The shared word is all there is: there is no quotation, no allusion, and no shared motif — a hailstone-spotted goat (Pulpit Commentary: “from barad, to scatter hail”) and an apocalyptic team of horses have nothing in common but a coat-pattern adjective. A rare lexeme can mark a real cross-reference, but here it almost certainly marks coincidence; we record the overlap for the reader and warn that any theology read across the gap is unwarranted.

Genesis 31:10 · Genesis 31:12 · Zechariah 6:3 · Zechariah 6:6

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H1261 bârôd (very rare, 4 vv total — here and Zechariah 6:3, 6) is the only point of contact. Although a 4-verse lexeme is rare enough that the Verifier returns 'verbal,' we downgrade to flagged: there is no quotation, allusion, or shared motif between a mottled flock and apocalyptic horses — only a coincidental color-adjective. The honest claim is a bare lexical overlap, not a verbal cross-reference; flagged so the reader can verify and not over-read it.

“Stealing the heart” — a Hebrew idiom for deceit structural / thematic — confirmed

Jacob “stole the heart of Laban” (v. 20): the idiom gânaḇ + lêḇ reappears when Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (2 Samuel 15:6). The shared words are common — the verb gânaḇ (“steal,” 36 vv) and lêḇ (“heart,” 551 vv) — so this is a shared idiom, not a quotation. Ellicott, Cambridge, and Keil all gloss it by the Greek kleptein noon, “to steal the mind,” i.e. to deceive. The thread shows the same Hebrew figure of speech for outwitting a man, used of a fleeing patriarch and a usurping prince alike.

Genesis 31:20 · 2 Samuel 15:6

basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H1589 gânaḇ (36 vv), H3820 lêḇ (551 vv). Both lexemes are common, so the link is a shared idiom (‘steal the heart’ = deceive), tiered structural/thematic rather than verbal; named by Ellicott, Cambridge, and Keil, who all cite the Greek parallel.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify+

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Angel who is the God of Bethel ancient/widely-held

The “angel of God” who speaks to Jacob in the dream (v. 11) declares in the next breath, “I am the God of Bethel” (v. 13) — speaking as God in the first person, receiving Jacob’s vow, and identifying himself with the LORD who appeared at Bethel (Genesis 28:13). This is the classic Angel-of-the-LORD theophany, read since the Fathers as a pre-incarnate appearing of the Son. Geneva states it without hedging: “This angel was Christ who appeared to Jacob in Bethel.” Benson: “this, no doubt, was the Word… of God, who now condescended to be the angel or messenger of the Father.” Gill: “not a created angel, but the eternal one, the Son of God… to whom Jacob had made a vow, which he would never have done to an angel.” The reading is ancient and widely held among these voices, though Cambridge more soberly says only that the Angel is “Jehovah Himself in a manifested form” — the divine identity is certain; the specifically Christological identification is the interpretive step.

Genesis 31:11 · Genesis 31:13 · Genesis 28:13

“I will be with you” — the presence that names the Christ ancient/widely-held

The promise that launches and undergirds the flight — “Return… and I will be with you” (v. 3), confirmed “the God of my father has been with me” (v. 5) — is the same covenant assurance of accompanying presence that runs from Bethel (28:15) through the Exodus “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12) to its consummation in the One named Immanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23), and the risen Lord’s “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). The thread is typological: a single divine pledge of presence, given to a fugitive patriarch, finds its terminus in the incarnate God who is presence itself. This is a figural reading across Testaments — not a verbal citation (the languages differ) — and is offered as such: the pattern of God-with-His-people, named at last in the Son.

Genesis 31:3 · Genesis 31:5 · Matthew 1:23 · Matthew 28:20

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

This unit is mostly narrative and reported speech in Hebrew, so the ⚙ layer leans on idiom and source-history rather than on heavy lexical cruxes. Three honesty notes specific to Genesis 31:1–21:

1. Jacob's selective account (vv. 4–13). The chief interpretive tension is internal, not cross-canonical: Jacob attributes the flock’s increase wholly to God’s dream-gift and is silent about the peeled rods of Genesis 30:37–42. We have followed Keil & Delitzsch in naming this openly — “Jacob did not tell the whole truth to his wives” — and in recording his own further suspicion that the dream may have been a natural one. The voices genuinely divide (Geneva and the Pulpit Commentary defend Jacob’s piety; Keil withholds judgment), and the ⚙ reading does not resolve what the sources leave open.

2. The Angel = Christ identification (v. 13). That the speaker is divine is textually secure (he bears the Name and takes a vow). That he is specifically the pre-incarnate Christ is an interpretive tradition — stated flatly by Geneva and Gill, held more cautiously by Cambridge. We have tiered the Christ note “ancient/widely-held” rather than “confirmed,” preserving the distinction between the text’s claim (deity) and the reading (Christology).

3. The “grisled” / Zechariah link (vv. 10, 12). The Verifier scores this verbal because bârôd (H1261) is shared and very rare (4 vv), but a shared rare word is not a shared meaning. We have declined the Verifier’s verbal tier and downgraded the thread to “flagged — verify source”: a spotted flock and apocalyptic horses share nothing but a coat-adjective, with no motif, allusion, or quotation across the gap — almost certainly a lexical coincidence rather than a true cross-reference. This is the unit’s one deliberate departure from the Verifier’s computed tier, made in the direction of under-claiming. Cross-Testament threads (the Immanuel typology) are tiered typological, never verbal, because Greek and Hebrew share no Strong’s number.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)