Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me.
Parallel Translations
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Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me.
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And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
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And your father hath mocked me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Genesis 31:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 31:29 It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’
- 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.
- Numbers 14:22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
- Nehemiah 4:12 When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
- Psalms 37:28 For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
- Zechariah 8:23 Yahweh of Armies says: “In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”
- Genesis 20:6 God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn’t allow you to touch her.
- Leviticus 26:26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight. You shall eat, and not be satisfied.
- Job 1:10 Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
- Job 19:3 You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
- Isaiah 4:1 Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”
- Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
- Job 19:8 He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
- Psalms 105:14-15 He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, “Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, many times.
Or, many times.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and…
Gen 31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Ver. 7. Changed my wages ten times.] And ever for the worse. The matter mended, with poor Jacob, as sour ale doth in summer. Laban, the churl, the richer he grew by him, the harder he was to him: like children with mouthfuls and handfuls, who will yet rather spoil all, then part with any. It is the love, not the lack of money, that makes men churls.
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 Ten times, i.e. ofttimes, as that certain number is…
Ten times, i.e. ofttimes, as that certain number is commonly used, as Lev 26:26; Num 14:22; 1Sa 1:8; Job 19:3, &c.
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 If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy…
If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages,.... Sometimes Laban would say to Jacob, only the speckled lambs which the ewes shall bring forth shall be thine hire, and not the spotted; or the ringstraked, or the brown, which according to the bargain should have been his, the one and the other:
then all the cattle bare speckled; that season, God ordering it so in his providence, that Laban might be disappointed, and Jacob might have his full hire; that is, the greatest part of the cattle bore such, as Ben Melech observes:
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and if he said thus, the ringstraked shall be thine hire; observing the cattle to bring forth only speckled, or the greatest part such, then he changed his hire, and would have it be not the speckled, nor the brown, only the ringstraked, there being none or few of that colour the last yeaning time:
then bare all the cattle ringstraked; or the greatest part of them were such; so that let Laban fix on what colour he would as Jacob's wages, there were sure to be the greatest part of that colour; which shows the hand of God in it, as is next observed by Jacob.
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 7. Changed my wages ten times] There is…
Verse 7. Changed my wages ten times] There is a strange diversity among the ancient versions, and ancient and modern interpreters, on the meaning of these words. The Hebrew is עשרת מנים asereth monim, which Aquila translates δεκα αριθμους ten numbers; Symmachus, δεκακις αριτμω, ten times in number; the Septuagint δεκα αμνων, ten lambs, with which Origen appears to agree. St. Augustine thinks that by ten lambs five years' wages is meant: that Laban had withheld from him all the party-coloured lambs which had been brought forth for five years, and because the ewes brought forth lambs twice in the year, bis gravidae pecudes, therefore the number ten is used, Jacob having been defrauded of his part of the produce of ten births. It is supposed that the Septuagint use lambs for years, as Virgil does aristas.
En unquam patrios longo post tempore fines,
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Pauperis et tuguri congestum cespite culmen,
Post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas?
Virg. Ec. i., ver. 68.
Thus inadequately translated by DRYDEN:
O must the wretched exiles ever mourn;
Nor, after length of rolling years, return?
Are we condemn'd by Fate's unjust decree,
No more our harvests and our homes to see?
Or shall we mount again the rural throng,
And rule the country, kingdoms once our own?
Here aristas, which signifies ears of corn, is put for harvest, harvest for autumn, and autumn for years. After all, it is most natural to suppose that Jacob uses the word ten times for an indefinite number, which we might safely translate frequently; and that it means an indefinite number in other parts of the sacred writings, is evident from Le 26:26: TEN women shall bake your bread in one oven. Ec 7:19: Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than TEN mighty men the city. Nu 14:22: Because all these men have tempted me now these TEN times. Job 19:3: These TEN times have ye reproached me. Zec 8:23: In those days - TEN men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew. Re 2:10: Ye shall have tribulation TEN days.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 31:7-8. Hath changed my wages ten times —…
Gen 31:7-8. Hath changed my wages ten times — That is, oft-times, as is often the signification of the number ten. It appears that Laban, through envy and covetousness, often broke his agreement made with Jacob, and altered it as he thought fit, and that Jacob patiently yielded to all such changes Then all the cattle bare speckled — This seems to put it out of doubt, that, as Jacob says in the following verse, it was indeed God who ordered this matter; for it can scarcely be supposed that any natural causes whatever, without his peculiar providence, could produce so many different changes in a thing of this nature, without once failing.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Ten times. Very often, or perhaps this exact number…
Ten times. Very often, or perhaps this exact number of times, ver. 41.
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 7. Ten times — Probably a round number used…
7. Ten times — Probably a round number used for an indefinite number, and equivalent to very frequently, or, as often as possible. Compare Num_14:22; Job_19:3. The manner of Laban’s changing Jacob’s wages was doubtless that indicated in the next verse. “He made repeated attempts to limit the original stipulation by changing the rule as to the colours of the young, and so diminishing Jacob’s wages.” — Keil.
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 7. changed my wages] The account given in the…
7. changed my wages] The account given in the following passage differs from that in the preceding chapter, Gen_30:25-31. There Jacob specified the conditions, to which Laban acceded; and then Jacob resorted to artifice, in order to improve his position. Here it is Laban that has specified the wages, and arbitrarily changed them (cf. Gen_31:41) from time to time. But in every case, by the providence of God, not by Jacob’s cleverness, the result has worked out advantageously to Jacob. In ch. 30 we had principally, probably, the narrative of J; in this chapter, that of E is predominantly employed.
ten times] A phrase used to denote frequency, as in Gen_31:41, Num_14:22, Neh_4:12, Job_19:3, by a round number; Lat. decem vicibus. But LXX, not understanding the Hebrew word rendered “times” (mônîm), seems to have transliterated it with the rendering ἀμνῶν, “lambs” (or is this for μνῶν?), i.e. “ten lambing seasons.”
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 (7) Ten times.—That is, a good many times.
(7) Ten times.—That is, a good many times.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And your father hath deceived me, ltehe, the hiph.…
And your father hath deceived me, ltehe, the hiph. of llT; means to rob or plunder (Furst), or to cause to fall, as in the cognate languages, whence to deceive (Gesenius) and changed my wages ten times; i.e. many times, as in Num_14:22; Job_19:3 (Rosenm Bush, Kalisch, Lange) as often as possible, the number ten expressing the idea of completeness (Keil, Murphy)but God (Elohim, Jacob purposing to say that he had been protected, not by human stratagem, but by Divine interposition) suffered him not to hurt me literally, to do evil to me. The verb here construed with dMi = is sometimes followed by l, (1Ki_17:20) and sometimes by B. (1Ch_16:22)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 has deceived me
has deceived me
"has lied to me" or "has not treated me fairly"
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my wages
"what he said he would pay me"
to hurt me
Possible meanings are 1) physical harm or 2) to cause Jacob to suffer in any way.
The speckled animals
"The animals with spots"
the flock bore
"the flock gave birth to"
The striped
"The animals with stripes"
In this way God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me
"This is how God gave your father's animals to me"
translationWords
deceive
livestock
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.