Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
- BSB Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.
- NKJV Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good.
- NASB Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The matter has come from the Lord; so we cannot speak to you bad or good.
- NLT Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we can say.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Laban and Bethuel acknowledge the matter is from Yahweh and cannot oppose it.
Overview
The family recognizes God's evident hand and confesses they can say nothing against it. Even outside the central covenant household, they bow to the Lord's clear leading. Their words testify that God's purposes are unmistakable when he is at work, and human plans must yield to his will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 118:23This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
- Gen 31:24And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
- Gen 31:29It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
- Mark 12:11This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
- 2 Sam 13:22And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
- Gen 24:28And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house these things.
- Gen 24:55And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
- Gen 24:15And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
- Matt 21:42Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
- Acts 11:17Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
- Gen 24:53And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
- Gen 24:60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 24:50 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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