Genesis Chapter 31 verse 31 Holy Bible
And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force.
read chapter 31 in ASV
And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force.
read chapter 31 in BBE
And Jacob answered and said to Laban, I was afraid; for I said, Lest thou shouldest take by force thy daughters from me.
read chapter 31 in DARBY
And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.
read chapter 31 in KJV
And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, It may be thou wouldest take thy daughters from me by force.
read chapter 31 in WBT
Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.'
read chapter 31 in WEB
And Jacob answereth and saith to Laban, `Because I was afraid, for I said, Lest thou take violently away thy daughters from me;
read chapter 31 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 31, 32. - And Jacob answered - "in an able and powerful speech" (Kalisch) - and said to Laban (replying to his first interrogation as to why Jacob had stolen away unawares), Because I was afraid: for I said (sc. to myself), Peradventure (literally, lest, i.e. I must depart without informing thee lest) thou wouldest (or shoudest) take by force - the verb signifies to strip off as skin from flesh (vide Micah 3:2), and hence to forcibly remove - thy daughters from me (after which, in response to Laban's question about his stolen gods, he proceeds). With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live. If Jacob meant he shall not live, but I will slay him with mine own hand (Aben Ezra), let God destroy him (Abarbanel), I give him up to thee to put to death (Rosenmüller), let him instantly die (Drusius), he was guilty of great unadvisedness in speech. Accordingly, the import of his words has been mollified by regarding them simply as a prediction, "he will not live," i.e. he will die before his time (Jonathan), a prediction which, the Rabbins note, was fulfilled in Rachel (vide Genesis 35:16, 18); or by connecting them with clause following, "he will not live before our brethren," i.e. let him be henceforth cut off from the society of his kinsmen (LXX., Bush). Yet, even as thus explained, the language of Jacob was precipitats, since he ought first to have inquired at his wives and children before pronouncing so emphatically on a matter of which he was entirely ignorant (Calvin). Before our brethren - not Jacob's sons, but Laban's kinsmen (ver. 23) - discern thou - literally, examine closely for thyself, the hiph. of נָכַר (to be strange) meaning to press strongly into a thing, i.e. to perceive it by finding out its distinguishing characteristics (vide Furst, sub voce) - what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For (literally, and) Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them - otherwise he would have spoken with less heat and more caution.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(31, 32) Jacob answered.--Jacob gives the true reason for his flight; after which, indignant at the charge of theft, he returns, in his anger, as rash an answer about the teraphim as Joseph's brethren subsequently did about the stolen cup (Genesis 44:9).Let him not live.--The Rabbins regard this as a prophecy, fulfilled in Rachel's premature death. Its more simple meaning is, I yield him up to thee even to be put to death.
