Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.
Parallel Translations
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Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.
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Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
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Are we not accounted by him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our price.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Genesis 31:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 29:15-20 Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?” Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.” Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.” Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.
- Genesis 29:27-30 Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me for seven more years.” Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. Laban gave Bilhah, his servant, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him seven more years.
- Genesis 30:26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.”
- Genesis 31:41 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
- Exodus 21:7-11 “If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. If he doesn’t do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
- Nehemiah 5:8 I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For they were given to Jacob in recompence of…
For they were given to Jacob in recompence of his service, which was a kind of sale.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 31:15 Are we not counted of him strangers?…
Gen 31:15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
Ver. 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?] Well might that father {a} say, Aεινος και παντολμος πης φιλοχρηματιος ερως. "The love of money is the root of all evil," as the apostle hath it. {1Ti 6:10} This kyte-footed corruption, wheresoever it seizeth and domineereth, it blasteth and banisheth all nobleness of spirit, natural affection, humanity, reason, discretion, manliness, mutual entertainment, intercourse of kindness and love: so that, for any fair dealing, a man had as good converse with a cannibal, as with a truly covetous captive. Well might the apostle set "covetousness" and "want of natural affection" together, as signs of a reprobate sense. {Rom 1:29; Rom 1:31} Laban sells his own daughters here, and devours also their price. And the covetous Pharisees taught children to starve their parents, to offer to the altar; that is, to their paunches and purses. {Mat 15:4-6}
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{a} Isidor., Pelus., lib. iii. Ep 24.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Are we not confuted of him strangers? as if…
Are we not confuted of him strangers? as if we had no more right to his estate than strangers? Instead of a good part of his estate, which by the law of God and nature belongs to us, 2Co 12:14, wherewith he should have endowed us upon our marriage, he hath made sale of us for this fourteen years’ hard service, seeking only his own, not our advantage. He hath not only withheld from us, but spent upon himself, that money which he got by thy care and industry, whereof a considerable part was due in equity to us and to our children.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For all the riches which God hath taken from…
For all the riches which God hath taken from our father,.... And given to Jacob for his labour:
that is ours, and our children's; it belonged to us by the law of nature, before it came into thine hands; and our right unto it is still more manifest, and is confirmed by the service thou hast done for it, by which means it came into thy possession; and therefore it is no point of conscience with us, nor need it be any with thee especially, to go off with it:
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now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do; for that must needs be right: this was well spoken indeed; they mean, that he should leave their father's house, and go into the land of Canaan, as God had directed him; and they signified that they were willing: to go along with him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?]…
Verse 15. Are we not counted of him strangers?] Rachel and Leah, who well knew the disposition of their father, gave him here his true character. He has treated us as strangers - as slaves whom he had a right to dispose of as he pleased; in consequence, he hath sold us - disposed of us on the mere principle of gaining by the sale.
And hath quite devoured also our money.] Has applied to his own use the profits of the sale, and has allowed us neither portion nor inheritance.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Eaten up. Laban kept for himself the dowry paid…
Eaten up. Laban kept for himself the dowry paid by Jacob for his wives, though he ought to have allotted it to them, with the addition of something more, in proportion to his immense wealth. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Counted of him strangers — Rachel and Leah…
15. Counted of him strangers — Rachel and Leah both readily sympathize with their husband as against their father, and look upon Laban’s dealings as narrow, unfatherly, and unworthy of him. The last twenty years had largely alienated them from their father’s house.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. strangers] i.e. foreigners, people of another kindred or…
15. strangers] i.e. foreigners, people of another kindred or country.
sold us] Referring to the bargain by which Jacob had obtained his two wives at the price of fourteen years’ service (Gen_29:15-20; Gen_29:27).
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our money] Better, as marg., the price paid for us. Laban had taken to himself the full profits of Jacob’s fourteen years’ service as the gift, or mohar, to the bride’s family; but had assigned nothing of it as the dowry or gift to the two brides. Cf. Gen_24:53. This conduct they imply was contrary to usual custom, and was part of his stinginess. It was too late now to expect him to give anything back.
18 (P). all his substance] It would appear that this verse, taken from P, is the brief summary of Jacob’s departure given in that narrative. The words for “substance” and “his getting,” the mention of “Paddan-aram,” and the redundancy of the language, are characteristic of P.
to Isaac his father] The narrative of JE (Gen_27:1, Gen_28:21) would suggest that Isaac had died long previously.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) He hath sold us.—There is a marked asperity…
(15) He hath sold us.—There is a marked asperity towards their father in the answer of Jacob’s wives, and not only the petted Rachel but the neglected Leah joins in it. Now, though his sale of them to Jacob had been more open than Oriental good manners usually allowed, and though he seems to have acted meanly in giving no portion with them, yet these were old sores, long since healed and forgiven. Laban must have been stingy, grasping, and over-reaching in recent times, to have kept the memory of old wrongs so fresh in the minds of his daughters.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.