“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.
Parallel Translations
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“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.
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This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
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These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Genesis 31:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 30:27 Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake.”
- Genesis 30:30 For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?”
- Exodus 23:26 No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
- Deuteronomy 28:4 You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.
- Ezekiel 34:2-4 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, been barren.
Or, been barren.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 31:38 This twenty years [have] I [been] with…
Gen 31:38 This twenty years [have] I [been] with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
Ver. 38. The rams of thy flock have I not eaten.] A lively picture of a careful pastor. {2Co 11:9} He fats not himself, but feeds the flock; he seeks not theirs, neither fleece nor flesh, but them and their welfare. He takes not to him "the instruments of a foolish shepherd"; {Zec 11:15} that is, forcipes et mulctram, that he may carry away lac et lanam; but feeds the flock of God, and takes care of the cure, as Peter bids; "not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind," &c. {1Pe 5:2} About the year of Christ 1260, the people and clergy of England, the Pope’s ass, as it was called, opposed themselves to the legate’s exactions. And when Rustandus, the legate, alleged that all churches were the Pope’s, Leonard, a learned man of those times, answered, Tuitione, non fruitione; defensione, non dissipatione. {a}
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{a} Jac. Revius, De Vitis Pontif., p. 178.
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 Thy she-goats have not cast their young, which thou…
Thy she-goats have not cast their young, which thou owest in a great measure to my care and diligence in ordering them, and principally to God’s blessing given to thee for my sake, by thy own confession, Gen 30:27.
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 Thus I was,.... In such a situation, as well…
Thus I was,.... In such a situation, as well as in the following uncomfortable plight and condition:
in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night: the violent heat in the daytime scorched him, and the severe frosts in the night pinched him: that is, in the different seasons of the year, the heat of the day in the summertime, and the cold of the night in the wintertime; for it cannot well be thought that there should be excessive heat in the day and sharp frosts in the night, in the same season of the year: it looks as if Laban did not allow Jacob the proper conveniencies of clothes, and of tents to secure him from the inclemency of the weather, which other shepherds usually had:
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and my sleep departed from mine eyes; through diligent care and watchfulness of the flocks in the night season, which on some occasions were necessary; see Luk 2:8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The rams of thy flock have I not eaten--Eastern…
The rams of thy flock have I not eaten--Eastern people seldom kill the females for food except they are barren.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 38. This twenty years] Jacob’s indignant protest proclaims (1)…
38. This twenty years] Jacob’s indignant protest proclaims (1) his length of service, (2) his perfect honesty, (3) his uncomplaining endurance of hardship, in spite of capricious changes in his wage. And now that he has left Haran, it was only because of God’s mercy, and not through Laban’s kindness, that he did not go empty-handed.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Jacob continues to speak to Laban.
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twenty years
"20 years" (See: Numbers)
ewes
female sheep
have not miscarried
This means they have not had a pregnancy end early and unexpectedly with the lamb or kid born dead.
What was torn by beasts I did not bring to you
This can be stated in active form. AT: "When a wild animal killed one of your animals I did not bring it to you" (See: Active or Passive)
Instead, I bore the loss of it
For Jacob to count Laban's dead animals as a loss from his own flock is spoken of as if it was a burden he would bear on his shoulders. AT: "Instead of counting it a loss from your flock, I counted it as a loss from my flock" (See: Metaphor)
There I was; in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night
Suffering in the hot and cold temperatures is spoken of as if the temperatures were animals that were eating Jacob. AT: "I stayed with your flocks even during hottest part of the day and the coldest part of the night" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
year
goat
ewe
flocks
consume
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.