Genesis 31:26

Contemporary English Version

and said: Look what you've done! You've tricked me and run off with my daughters like a kidnapper.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Lavan said to Ya`akov, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

King James Version
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword?

Lexham English Bible
Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done that you tricked me and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword?

New Century Version
Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You cheated me and took my daughters as if you had captured them in a war.

New English Translation
"What have you done?" Laban demanded of Jacob. "You've deceived me and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war!

Amplified Bible
Then Laban said to Jacob, "What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword?

New American Standard Bible
Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Laban sayde to Iaakob, What hast thou done? thou hast euen stolen away mine heart and caried away my daughters as though they had bene taken captiues with the sworde.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Complete Jewish Bible
Lavan said to Ya‘akov, "What do you mean by deceiving me and carrying off my daughters as if they were captives taken in war?

Darby Translation
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast deceived me, and hast carried away my daughters as captives of war?

Easy-to-Read Version
Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you trick me? Why did you take my daughters like they were women you captured during war?

English Standard Version
And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?

George Lamsa Translation
And Laban said to Jacob, What have I clone to you, that you have deceived me and carried away my daughters as though they were captives taken with the sword?

Good News Translation
Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in war?

Christian Standard Bible®
Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war!

Literal Translation
And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done? And you have deceived my heart and have taken my daughters like captives of the sword.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde Laban vnto Iacob: What hast thou done, that thou hast stollen awaie my hert, and caried awaye my doughters, as though they had bene taken captyue wt ye swerde?

American Standard Version
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?

Bible in Basic English
And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Laban said to Iacob: what hast thou done? for thou hast stollen away my heart, and caryed away my daughters as though they had ben taken captiue with the sworde.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Laban said to Jacob: 'What hast thou done, that thou hast outwitted me, and carried away my daughters as though captives of the sword?

King James Version (1611)
And Laban said to Iacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stollen away vnawares to me, and caried away my daughters, as captiues taken with the sword?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done? wherefore didst thou run away secretly, and pillage me, and lead away my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

English Revised Version
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?

Berean Standard Bible
Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whi hast thou do so, that the while I wiste not thou woldist dryue awey my douytris as caitifs by swerd?

Young's Literal Translation
And Laban saith to Jacob, `What hast thou done that thou dost deceive my heart, and lead away my daughters as captives of the sword?

Update Bible Version
And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done, that you have stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?

Webster's Bible Translation
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives [taken] with the sword?

World English Bible
Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

New King James Version
And Laban said to Jacob: "What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword?

New Living Translation
"What do you mean by deceiving me like this?" Laban demanded. "How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war?

New Life Bible
Laban said to Jacob, "What do you mean by fooling me and carrying away my daughters as if they were taken by the sword?

New Revised Standard
Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said Laban to Jacob, What hadst thou done, that thou shouldst steal away unawares to me, - and shouldst carry off my daughters, as captives of the sword?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away, without my knowledge, my daughters as captives taken with the sword?

Revised Standard Version
And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have cheated me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

THE MESSAGE
"What do you mean," said Laban, "by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn't you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn't permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.' I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Contextual Overview

²⁵ Jacob had set up camp in the hill country of Gilead, when Laban and his relatives came and set up camp in another part of the hill country. Laban went to Jacob ²⁶ and said: Look what you've done! You've tricked me and run off with my daughters like a kidnapper. ²⁷ Why did you sneak away without telling me? I would have given you a going-away party with singing and with music on tambourines and harps. ²⁸ You didn't even give me a chance to kiss my own grandchildren and daughters good-by. That was really foolish. ²⁹ I could easily hurt you, but the God your father worshiped has warned me not to make any threats or promises. ³⁰ I can understand why you were eager to return to your father, but why did you have to steal my idols? ³¹ Jacob answered, "I left secretly because I was afraid you would take your daughters from me by force. ³² If you find that any one of us has taken your idols, I'll have that person killed. Let your relatives be witnesses. Show me what belongs to you, and you can take it back." Jacob did not realize that Rachel had stolen the household idols. ³³ Laban searched the tents of Jacob, Leah, and the two servant women, but did not find the idols. Then he started for Rachel's tent. ³⁴ She had already hidden them in the cushion she used as a saddle and was sitting on it. Laban searched everywhere and did not find them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: Genesis 31:36, Genesis 3:13, Genesis 4:10, Genesis 12:18, Genesis 20:9, Genesis 20:10, Genesis 26:10, Joshua 7:19, 1 Samuel 14:43, 1 Samuel 17:29, John 18:35

carried: Genesis 31:16, Genesis 2:24, Genesis 34:29, 1 Samuel 30:2

Reciprocal: Genesis 30:26 - my wives Genesis 31:31 - Because 2 Samuel 19:41 - stolen

Cross-References

Genesis 2:24
That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.

Genesis 3:13
The Lord God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."

Genesis 4:10
Then the Lord said: Why have you done this terrible thing? You killed your own brother, and his blood flowed onto the ground. Now his blood is calling out for me to punish you.

Genesis 12:18
Finally, the king sent for Abram and said to him, "What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me Sarai was your wife?

Genesis 26:10
"Don't you know what you've done?" Abimelech exclaimed. "If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!"

Genesis 31:9
That's how God has taken sheep and goats from your father and given them to me.

Genesis 31:10
Once, when the flocks were mating, I dreamed that all the rams were either spotted or speckled.

Genesis 31:16
Now do whatever God tells you to do. Even the property God took from our father and gave to you really belongs to us and our children.

Genesis 31:36
Jacob became very angry and said to Laban: What have I done wrong? Have I committed some crime? Is that why you hunted me down?

Genesis 34:29
After taking everything of value from the houses, they dragged away the wives and children of their victims.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Laban said unto Jacob,.... Upon their meeting together; perhaps in some middle place between their two tents:

what hast thou done? what evil hast thou committed? what folly art thou guilty of? and what could induce thee to take such a step as this? suggesting that he could see no necessity for it; and as if he had done nothing that should occasion it, and that Jacob had done a very ill thing

that thou hast stolen away unawares to me: of this phrase

:-;

and carried away my daughters, as captives [taken] with the sword; as were commonly done by a band of robbers that made incursions upon their neighbours, and plundered them of their substance, and carried away by force their wives and daughters; and such an one Laban represents Jacob to be, a thief and a robber; who had not only stolen away from him, but had stole away his goods, and even his gods, and carried away his daughters against their will: all which were false, and particularly the latter, since they went along with him with their free and full consent.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Jacob’s Flight from Haran

19. תרפים t^erāpı̂ym, Teraphim. This word occurs fifteen times in the Old Testament. It appears three times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the Pentateuch. It is always in the plural number. The root does not appear in Biblical Hebrew. It perhaps means “to live well,” intransitively (Gesenius, Roedig.), “to nourish,” transitively (Furst). The teraphim were symbols or representatives of the Deity, as Laban calls them his gods. They seem to have been busts (προτομαί protomai, Aquila) of the human form, sometimes as large as life 1 Samuel 19:13. Those of full size were probably of wood; the smaller ones may have been of metal. In two passages Judges 17:1-13; Judges 18:0; Hosea 3:4 they are six times associated with the ephod. This intimates either that they were worn on the ephod, like the Urim and Thummim, or more probably that the ephod was worn on them; in accordance with which they were employed for the purposes of divination Genesis 30:27; Zechariah 10:2. The employment of them in the worship of God, which Laban seems to have inherited from his fathers Joshua 24:2, is denounced as idolatry 1 Samuel 15:23; and hence, they are classed with the idols and other abominations put away by Josiah 2 Kings 23:24.

47. שׂהדוּתא יגר y^egar-śâhădûtā', Jegar-sahadutha, “cairn of witness” in the Aramaic dialect of the old Hebrew or Shemite speech. גלעד gal‛ēd, Gal‘ed; and גלעד gı̂l‛ād, Gil‘ad, “cairn of witness” in Hebrew especially so called (see Genesis 11:1-9).

49. מצפה mı̂tspâh, Mizpah, “watch-tower.”

Jacob had now been twenty years in Laban’s service, and was therefore, ninety-six years of age. It has now become manifest that he cannot obtain leave of Laban to return home. He must, therefore, either come off by the high hand, or by secret flight. Jacob has many reasons for preferring the latter course.

Genesis 31:1-13

Circumstances at length induce Jacob to propose flight to his wives. His prosperity provokes the envy and slander of Laban’s sons, and Laban himself becomes estranged. The Lord now commands Jacob to return, and promises him his presence to protect him. Jacob now opens his mind fully to Rachel and Leah. Rachel, we observe, is put first. Several new facts come out in his discourse to them. 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. During the last six years he was to provide for his own house, as the Lord permitted him, with the full knowledge and concurrence of Laban. Beyond this, which is a fair and acknowledged exception, he has been faithful in keeping the cattle of Laban. “Your father deceived me, and changed my wages ten times;” that is, as often as he could.

If, at the end of the first year, he found that Jacob had gained considerably, though he began with nothing, he might change his wages every following half-year, and so actually change them ten times in five years. In this case, the preceding chapter only records his original expedients, and then states the final result. “God suffered him not to hurt me.” 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. And they would become wholly ineffectual when his wages were changed. Hence, he says, God took the cattle and gave them to me. Jacob seems here to record two dreams, the former of which is dated at the rutting season. The dream indicates the result by a symbolic representation, which ascribes it rather to the God of nature than to the man of art. The second dream makes allusion to the former as a process still going on up to the present time. This appears to be an encouragement to Jacob now to commit himself to the Lord on his way home. The angel of the Lord, we observe, announces himself as the God of Bethel, and recalls to Jacob the pillar and the vow. The angel, then, is Yahweh manifesting himself to human apprehension.

Genesis 31:14-19

His wives entirely accord with his view of their father’s selfishness in dealing with his son-in-law, and approve of his intended departure. Jacob makes all the needful preparations for a hasty and secret flight. He avails himself of the occasion when Laban is at a distance probably of three or more days’ journey, shearing his sheep. “Rachel stole the teraphim.” It is not the business of Scripture to acquaint us with the kinds and characteristics of false worship. Hence, we know little of the teraphim, except that they were employed by those who professed to worship the true God. 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, and as sources of safety to herself against the perils of her flight.

Genesis 31:20-24

Laban hears of his flight, pursues, and overtakes him. “Stole the heart,” κλέπτειν νοῦν kleptein noun. The heart is the seat of the understanding in Scripture. To steal the heart of anyone is to act without his knowledge. The river. The Frat, near which, we may conclude, Jacob was tending his flocks. Haran was about seventy miles from the river, and therefore, Laban’s flocks were on the other side of Haran. “Toward mount Gilead;” about three hundred miles from the Frat. “On the third day.” This shows that Laban’s flocks kept by his sons were still three days’ journey apart from Jacob’s. His brethren - his kindred and dependents. “Seven days’ journey.” On the third day after the arrival of the messenger, Laban might return to the spot whence Jacob had taken his flight. In this case, Jacob would have at least five days of a start; which, added to the seven days of pursuit, would give him twelve days to travel three hundred English miles. To those accustomed to the pastoral life this was a possible achievement. God appears to Laban on behalf of Jacob, and warns him not to harm him. “Not to speak from good to bad” is merely to abstain from language expressing and prefacing violence.

Genesis 31:25-32

Laban’s expostulation and Jacob’s reply. What hast thou done? Laban intimates that he would have dismissed him honorably and affectionately, and therefore, that his flight was needless and unkind; and finally charges him with stealing his gods. Jacob gives him to understand that he did not expect fair treatment at his hands, and gives him leave to search for his gods, not knowing that Rachel had taken them.

Genesis 31:33-42

After the search for the teraphim has proved vain, Jacob warmly upbraids Laban. “The camel’s saddle.” This was a pack-saddle, in the recesses of which articles might be deposited, and on which was a seat or couch for the rider. Rachel pleads the custom of women as an excuse for keeping her seat; which is admitted by Laban, not perhaps from the fear of ceremonial defilement Leviticus 15:19-27, as this law was not yet in force, but from respect to his daughter and the conviction that in such circumstances she would not sit upon the teraphim. “My brethren and thy brethren” - their common kindred. Jacob recapitulates his services in feeling terms. “By day the drought;” caused by the heat, which is extreme during the day, while the cold is not less severe in Palestine during the night. “The fear of Isaac” - the God whom Isaac fears. Judged - requited by restraining thee from wrong-doing.

Genesis 31:43-47

Laban, now pacified, if not conscience-stricken, proposes a covenant between them. Jacob erects a memorial pillar, around which the clan gather a cairn of stones, which serves by its name for a witness of their compact. “Jegar-sahadutha.” Here is the first decided specimen of Aramaic, as contradistinguished from Hebrew. Its incidental appearance indicates a fully formed dialect known to Jacob, and distinct from his own. Gilead or Galeed remains to this day in Jebel Jel’ad, though the original spot was further north.

Genesis 31:48-54

The covenant is then completed. And Mizpah. This refers to some prominent cliff from which, as a watch-tower, an extensive view might be obtained. It was in the northern half of Gilead Deuteronomy 3:12-13, and is noticed in Judges 11:29. It is not to be confounded with other places called by the same name. The reference of this name to the present occurrence is explained in these two verses. The names Gilead and Mizpah may have arisen from this transaction, or received a new turn in consequence of its occurrence. The terms of the covenant are now formally stated. I have cast. The erection of the pillar was a joint act of the two parties; in which Laban proposes, Jacob performs, and all take part. “The God of Abraham, Nahor, and Terah.” This is an interesting acknowledgment that their common ancestor Terah and his descendants down to Laban still acknowledged the true God even in their idolatry. Jacob swears by the fear of isaac, perhaps to rid himself of any error that had crept into Laban’s notions of God and his worship. The common sacrifice and the common meal ratify the covenant of reconciliation.