If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”
Parallel Translations
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If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”
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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.
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If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives beside my daughters, no man being with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.'
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Genesis 31:50 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness among us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which Yahweh your God sends you to tell us.
- Jeremiah 29:23 because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.
- Judges 11:10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahweh will be witness between us. Surely we will do what you say.”
- Micah 1:2 Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
- Leviticus 18:18 “ ‘You shall not take a wife in addition to her sister, to be a rival, to uncover her nakedness, while her sister is still alive.
- 1 Samuel 12:5 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.”
- Malachi 2:14 Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Matthew 19:5-6 and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’ So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”
- 1 Thessalonians 2:5 For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 50. If thou shalt take other wives besides my…
50. If thou shalt take other wives besides my daughters. Laban declares that it would be a species of perfidy, if Jacob should take to himself any other wives. But he had himself compelled Jacob to the act of polygamy: for whence was it that the holy man had more wives than one, except that Leah had been craftily substituted in the place of Rachel? But he now, from a pure sentiment of nature, condemns the fault, of which, blinded by avarice, he had wickedly been the author. And certainly, when the bond of marriage is broken, than which none among men is more sacred, the whole of human society sinks into decay. Wherefore, those fanatical men, who, at this day, delight to defend polygamy, have no need of any other judge than Laban.
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 Nature compelleth him to condemn that vice, whereunto through…
Nature compelleth him to condemn that vice, whereunto through covetousness he forced Jacob.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 31:50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or…
Gen 31:50 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.
Ver. 50. {See Trapp on "Gen 31:44"}
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 The curse is here understood, as it commonly is,…
The curse is here understood, as it commonly is, to maintain a greater reverence for oaths, and to beget a greater dread of the curse belonging to the violaters of it.
No man is with us, i.e. here is now no man with us, who when we are parted can witness and judge between us, and punish the transgressor. Or thus, Though now we have many with us, as witnesses of this agreement, yet shortly, when we shall be parted, no man will be with us, to observe and report our actions to the other, or to do the injured person right.
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 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor,…
The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us,.... And the father of these was Terah, so that the god of them was not the true God, and is not meant, at least not as truly worshipped; but the god or gods of Terah, Nahor and Abraham worshipped while idolaters, and Laban still continued to do, though perhaps not in so gross a manner as some did:
and Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac; that is, by the true God his father Isaac feared, served, and worshipped: or "but Jacob" (r), &c. which seems plainly to suggest, that the God whom Laban called upon to be a judge between them, should they break covenant, and swore by, and he whom Jacob swore by, were different; each swore by their own deities.
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(r) "sed juravit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
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 50. No man is with us] Though all…
Verse 50. No man is with us] Though all were present at the sacrifice offered, yet it appears that in making the contract Jacob and Laban withdrew, and transacted the business in private, calling on God to witness it.
Jacob had already four wives; but Laban feared that he might take others, whose children would naturally come in for a share of the inheritance to the prejudice of his daughters and grandchildren. Though the Koran allows a man to have four wives if he can maintain them, yet we learn that in many cases where a man takes a wife, the parents or relatives of the woman stipulate that the man is not to take another during the lifetime of that one whom he now espouses; and notwithstanding the permission of the Koran, he is obliged to fulfil this agreement.
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 Over them. A wise precaution, which the rich Turks…
Over them. A wise precaution, which the rich Turks still observe when they give their daughters in marriage. (Busbeq. ep. 3.)
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 50. wives beside my daughters] So that Leah and…
50. wives beside my daughters] So that Leah and Rachel may not be exposed to the risk of any indignity. “Afflict,” cf. “dealt hardly” (Gen_16:6).
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 31:50-53 Laban added some face-saving stipulations to the treaty,…
31:50-53 Laban added some face-saving stipulations to the treaty, using many words to cover up his own untrustworthiness and portray Jacob as the unethical party. He even took credit for the monument Jacob had erected (this monument I have set, 31:51). The women and children would be much safer and better cared for with Jacob than they ever were with Laban.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.