Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them.
Parallel Translations
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Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them.
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With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
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With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live; before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee.' — For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. —
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Genesis 31:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 31:19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
- Genesis 31:23 He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
- Genesis 31:30 Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”
- Genesis 44:9-12 With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” He said, “Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found will be my slave; and you will be blameless.” Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
- 1 Samuel 12:3-5 Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.” They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.” He said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed is witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” They said, “He is witness.”
- Genesis 19:7 He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly.
- Genesis 30:33 So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be considered stolen.”
- 1 Samuel 14:24-29 The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food. All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground. When the people had come to the forest, behold, honey was dripping, but no one put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan didn’t hear when his father commanded the people with the oath. Therefore he put out the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened. Then one of the people answered, and said, “Your father directly commanded the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ ” So the people were faint. Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have brightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
- 2 Corinthians 8:20-21 We are avoiding this, that any man should blame us concerning this abundance which is administered by us. Having regard for honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
- 2 Corinthians 12:17-19 Did I take advantage of you by anyone of those whom I have sent to you? I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit? Didn’t we walk in the same steps? Again, do you think that we are excusing ourselves to you? In the sight of God we speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
- Genesis 13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 32. That Rachel had stolen them. Moses relates the…
32. That Rachel had stolen them. Moses relates the manner in which Rachel had concealed her theft; namely, by sitting on the idols, and pretending the custom of women as her excuse. It is a question, whether she did this through shame or pertinacity. It was disgraceful to be caught in the act of theft; she also dreaded the severe sentence of her husband. Yet to me it appears probable that fear did not so much influence her as the obstinate love of idolatry. For we know how greatly superstition infatuates the mind. Therefore, as if she had obtained an incomparable treasure, she thinks that she must attempt anything rather than allow herself to be deprived of it. Moreover, she chooses rather to incur the displeasure of her father and her husband, than to relinquish the object of her superstition. To her stratagem she also adds lying words, so that she deserves manifold censure.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, let him die.
Or, let him die.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 31:32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let…
Gen 31:32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what [is] thine with me, and take [it] to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
Ver. 32. Let him not live.] This was a rash sentence. Hasty speech may work much woe. How sorry would Jacob have been if Laban had found the images under Rachel, and taken him at his word! What a snare befell Jephthah by his rash speaking! It is a proverb among the Arabians, Cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum .{ a} "He is a perfect man that offends not in word," saith St James; for "the tongue is an unruly evil". {Jas 3:2; Jas 3:8} Sooner may a man teach a camel to dance upon a rope, than bridle his tongue from evil speaking. Pareus {b} reckons up five virtues of the tongue that perfect a man: but Peraldus {c} recounts twenty-four various vices of it, that, if not restrained, will work his ruth (distress) and ruin. It should seem by that of our Saviour {Mat 12:37} that a man’s most and worst sins are his words. And St Paul, making the anatomy of a natural man, stands more upon the organ of speaking than on all the other members: {Rom 3:9-18} Let therefore thy words be few, true, and ponderous. An open mouth is a purgatory to the master. Carry a pair of balances betwixt thy lips. Nescit poenitenda loqui, qui proferenda prius suo tradidit examini , saith Cassiodone. {d} Jacob might have learned of the heathen Romans, to speak warily in passing sentence on, or giving testimony of, another. Romani semper Videri in sententiis, in testimoniis Arbitrari, dicebant, saith Cicero.
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{a} Scal., Prov. Arab., cent. i. Pro 75.
{b} Veracitas, constantia, docilitas, taciturnitas, urbanitas . - Pareus on James iii. 5.
{c} Perald., tom. i., p. 264.
{d} Cassiod., lib. x., Eph 4:1-32.
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 Let him not live; I give my consent that…
Let him not live; I give my consent that he shall die by the hands of justice. A rash and inconsiderate sentence.
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 Now Rachel had taken the images,.... Hearing her father…
Now Rachel had taken the images,.... Hearing her father inquire about them, and her husband having given leave to search for them, and to put to death whoever should be found to have them, took them from the place where she had before laid them:
and put them into the camel's furniture; perhaps the camel's furniture she rode on, and therefore it was in her tent, which some understand of the saddle on which she rode; rather, it seems to be the saddle cloth or housing, in which she might wrap the images and put them under her clothes; though some interpret it of the straw or litter of the camel, which is not so probable:
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and sat upon them; the images, which, if she had the veneration for, as some suggest, she would never have used in such a manner:
and Laban searched all the tent, but found them not; excepting the place where Rachel sat; but Aben Ezra thinks she was not in the tent, but in some place without it, and if so, there needs no exception.
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 32. Let him not live] It appears that…
Verse 32. Let him not live] It appears that anciently theft was punished by death; and we know that the patriarchs had the power of life and death in their hands. But previously to the law, the punishment of death was scarcely ever inflicted but for murder. The rabbins consider that this was an imprecation used by Jacob, as if he had said, Let God take away the life of the person who has stolen them! And that this was answered shortly after in the death of Rachel, Ge 35:16-19.
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 Slain. Homer says, "the father judges his children and…
Slain. Homer says, "the father judges his children and wives;" and thus Jacob pronounces sentence. The Rabbins pretend it and its effect soon after in the death of Rachel, chap. xxxv. 18. (Calmet)
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).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 32. our brethren] Cf. Gen_31:23.
32. our brethren] Cf. Gen_31:23.
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 31:32 Jacob, so convinced that he didn’t have the…
31:32 Jacob, so convinced that he didn’t have the gods, used an oath that unwittingly put Rachel under a death sentence.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.