Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
- KJV And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.
- NKJV Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s.
- NASB Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.
- NLT At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her.
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
While Laban shears his sheep, Rachel secretly steals his household idols (teraphim). Her theft will create danger and tension on the journey.
Overview
Rachel's taking of the teraphim, likely valued as household gods or tokens of inheritance, reveals lingering attachment to pagan objects in Jacob's family. Her secret act will nearly cost her life and forces a later cleansing of foreign gods (Genesis 35:2-4). The episode shows that even the covenant family struggled to leave idolatry fully behind, highlighting the need for wholehearted devotion to the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Sam 19:13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
- Hos 3:4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
- Gen 31:30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
- Gen 35:2So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
- Ezek 21:21For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.
- Judg 18:14–24Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
- Judg 17:4–5So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.
- Gen 31:34Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.
- Gen 31:32If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
- Judg 18:31So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.
- Josh 24:2And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 31:19 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.