Genesis 31:26

26 Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me and taken off with my daughters as if they were prisoners of war.

Genesis 31:26 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 31:26

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 (See Gill on Genesis 31:20); 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.

Genesis 31:26 In-Context

24 That night, God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, "Be careful and don't say anything hastily to Jacob one way or the other."
25 Laban reached Jacob after Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains. So Laban and his brothers also pitched theirs in the mountains of Gilead.
26 Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me and taken off with my daughters as if they were prisoners of war.
27 Why did you leave secretly, deceiving me, and not letting me know? I would've sent you off with a celebration, with songs and tambourines and harps.
28 You didn't even let me kiss my sons and my daughters good-bye. Now you've acted like a fool,
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