Genesis 31:26

26 Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done that you {tricked me} and have carried off 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 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "{Take care} that you not speak with Jacob, whether good or evil."
25 And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his kinsmen pitched [their tents] in the hill country of Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done that you {tricked me} and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword?
27 Why did you hide [your intention] to flee and {trick me}, and did not tell me so that I would have sent you away with joy and song and tambourine and lyre?
28 And [why] did you not give me opportunity to kiss my grandsons and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have behaved foolishly [by] doing [this].

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "stole my heart"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.