Genesis 31:26

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

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 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, "Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad."
25 And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen encamped in the hill country of Gilead.
26 And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have cheated me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27 Why did you flee secretly, and cheat me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre?
28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.