Christian Standard Bible
Genesis 31:30
30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s family — but why have you stolen my gods?”
Genesis 31:30 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?
- New International Version (NIV)Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?”
- English Standard Version (ESV)And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house, but why did you steal my gods?"
- New King James Version (NKJV)And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
Context of Genesis 31:30
28but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly. 29I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Watch yourself! Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s family — but why have you stolen my gods?” 31Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
Read all of Genesis 31Genesis 31:30 word by word
וְעַתָּה֙ הָלֹ֣ךְ הָלַ֔כְתָּ כִּֽי־נִכְסֹ֥ף נִכְסַ֖פְתָּה לְבֵ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ לָ֥מָּה גָנַ֖בְתָּ אֶת־אֱלֹהָֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Genesis 31:30
- Genesis 31:19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
- Exodus 12:12“I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I am the Lord; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt.
- Numbers 33:4Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying every firstborn male the Lord had struck down among them, for the Lord had executed judgment against their gods.
- Judges 6:31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.”
- Judges 18:24He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you? ’”
- 1 Samuel 5:2brought it into the temple of Dagon and placed it next to his statue.
- 2 Samuel 5:21The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
- Isaiah 37:19They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made from wood and stone by human hands. So they have destroyed them.
- Isaiah 46:1Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Idols depicting them are consigned to beasts and cattle. The images you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary animal.
- Jeremiah 10:11You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
- Jeremiah 43:12I will kindle a fire in the temples of Egypt’s gods, and he will burn them and take them captive. He will clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks lice off his clothes, and he will leave there unscathed.
Commentaries on Genesis 31:30
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1-55Verses 1-55 - Jacob‘s Flight from Haran 19. תרפים terāpı̂ym 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…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22-35Verses 22-35 God can put a bridle in the mouth of wicked men, to restrain their malice, though he do not change their hearts. Though they have no love to God's people, they will pretend to it, and try to make a merit of necessity. Foolish Laban! to call those things his gods which could be stolen! Enemies may steal our goods, but not our God. Here Laban lays to Jacob's charge things that he knew not. Those who commit their cause to God, are not forbidden…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 25-30The dispute between the two men used the language of legal controversies and lawsuits (see also 31:36). Laban first argued that Jacob had wronged him by stealing from him.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 26-3026-30. Laban said ... What hast thou done?--Not a word is said of the charge (Ge 31:1). His reproaches were of a different kind. His first charge was for depriving him of the satisfaction of giving Jacob and his family the usual salutations at parting. In the East it is customary, when any are setting out to a great distance, for their relatives and friends to accompany them a considerable way with music and valedictory songs. Considering the past conduct…Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 31:30
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Genesis 31
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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