Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”
- KJV And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?
- NKJV And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
- NASB Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?”
- NLT I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?”
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 concedes Jacob's longing for home but demands to know why his gods were stolen. The missing teraphim become the new accusation.
Overview
Laban shifts from the matter of departure to the theft of his household gods, which he values highly. His attachment to the teraphim reveals the idolatry of Laban's household, contrasting with the call to serve the living God. Unknown to Jacob, Rachel has taken them, setting up the tense search that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 10:11Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
- Gen 31:19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
- Judg 18:24He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”
- Isa 37:19They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
- Judg 6:31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.”
- Jer 43:12I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar will burn those temples and take their gods as captives. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in his garment, and he will depart from there unscathed.
- Exod 12:12On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
- 2 Sam 5:21There the Philistines abandoned their idols, and David and his men carried them away.
- Num 33:4who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had executed judgment against their gods.
- Isa 46:1–2Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- 1 Sam 5:2–6carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.
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 31:30 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.