If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
Parallel translations
- WEB If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”
- KJV If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
- NKJV If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”
- NASB If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
- NLT If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other wives, God will see it even if no one else does. He is a witness to this covenant between us.
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 warns Jacob not to mistreat his daughters or take other wives, with God as witness. He seeks to protect his daughters' welfare.
Overview
Laban's concern for Rachel and Leah, though late and self-interested, leads him to invoke God as the unseen witness to Jacob's conduct. The clause guards the marriage covenant even amid a strained family treaty. It affirms that God watches over the vulnerable and holds husbands accountable for how they treat their wives.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 42:5Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.
- Jer 29:23For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.”
- Mic 1:2Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
- Judg 11:10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
- Mal 2:14Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- Matt 19:5–6and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
- Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- 1 Th 2:5As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness!
- 1 Sam 12:5Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied.
- Lev 18:18You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.
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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 31:50 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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