Genesis 31:26

26 Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in 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 In a dream that night God came to Laban and said to him, "Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way."
25 Jacob had set up his camp on a mountain, and Laban set up his camp with his relatives in the hill country of Gilead.
26 Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in war?
27 Why did you deceive me and slip away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have sent you on your way with rejoicing and singing to the music of tambourines and harps.
28 You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. That was a foolish thing to do!
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.