Genesis 30:26

Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Give	תְּנָ֞ה te.Nah	H5414	to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
wives	נָשַׁ֣י na.Shai	H802	a woman · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
children	יְלָדַ֗י ye.la.Dai	H3206	something born · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
for	הֵן hên	H2004	they (only used when emphatic)
served	עָבַ֧דְתִּי 'a.Vad.ti	H5647	to work (in any sense) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
go	יָלַךְ yâlak	H3212	to walk (literally or figuratively)
knowest	יָדַ֔עְתָּ ya.Da'.ta	H3045	to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
service	עֲבֹדָתִ֖י 'a.vo.da.Ti	H5656	work of any kind · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
done	עֲבַדְתִּֽיךָ 'a.vad.Ti.kha	H5647	to work (in any sense) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 29:30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
Hosea 12:12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
Genesis 29:19-20 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
Genesis 31:6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.
Genesis 31:26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken wi…
Genesis 31:31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.
Genesis 31:38-41 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.
Genesis 30:29-30 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 30:25-36

We have here, I. Jacob's thoughts of home. He faithfully served his time out with Laban, even his second apprenticeship, though he was an old man, had a large family to provide for, and it was high time for him to set up for himself. Though Laban's service was hard, and he had cheated him in the first bargain he had made, yet Jacob honestly performs his engagements. Note, A good man, though he swear to his own hurt, will not change. And though others have deceived us this will not justify us in deceiving them. Our rule is to do as we would be done by, not as we are done by. Jacob's term having expired, he begs leave to be gone, Gen 30:25. Observe, 1. He retained his affection for the land of…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 30:25

JACOB'S COVENANT WITH LABAN. (Gen. 30:25-43) when Rachel had born Joseph--Shortly after the birth of this son, Jacob's term of servitude expired, and feeling anxious to establish an independence for his family, he probably, from knowing that Esau was out of the way, announced his intention of returning to Canaan (Heb 13:14). In this resolution the faith of Jacob was remarkable, for as yet he had nothing to rely on but the promise of God (compare Gen 28:15).

Adam Clarke on Genesis 30:25

Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away - Having now, as is generally conjectured, fulfilled the fourteen years which he had engaged to serve for Leah and Rachel. See Gen 30:26, and conclusion at Gen 31:55 (note).

John Gill on Genesis 30:26

Give me my wives,.... His two wives, Leah and Rachel, and the two maids, Bilhah and Zilpah, which he had given him for wives also; he desires leave not to have them, but to take them away with him: and my children; his twelve children; he did not desire his father-in- law to take any of them, and keep them for him, but was desirous of having them with him: no doubt, for the sake of their education, though he had nothing of his own wherewith to support them; not doubting that God would make good his promise in giving him food and raiment, and returning him to his country; and which his faith applied to his family as well as to himself: for whom I have served thee; not for his children, but…

The Church Fathers

Nothing is really more efficacious than meekness and nothing more powerful than it. See at any rate how, by a disarming use of meekness, Jacob also brought Laban to reply to him with great deference. "Laban replied to him," the text goes on, remember, "If I have found favor in your sight, and the omens do not deceive me, God has blessed me in your coming. Name your wage to me, and I will pay." "I am not unaware," he is saying, that in the wake of your coming I enjoyed favor from God more richly. So, since I recognize the kindness done me in your coming, "name any wage you care to mention, and I will readily pay it."Consider what a great thing meekness is, and don't pass idly by these words. Instead, keep in mind that the good man had made no mention of this nor looked for any payment for his trouble. [He] had said only this: "Let me have my wives and children, for whom I was in your service, so that I may depart." And yet the other man, out of respect for the good man's great meekness, replied, "Tell me what wage you want to be paid by me, and I will cheerfully pay it." After all, were not "Jacob's wives and children in his company"? So why did he say, "Let me have my wives and children"? Jacob was giving him due respect and displaying in every circumstance his typical behavior, and wishing as well to take his leave without hindrance. Notice, at any rate, from these words how he won Laban over to the extent of promising to pay a wage and to leave the decision to him.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.2-3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Concubine — In the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was…
Rachel · Jacob in or — Jacob in or

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 30:26

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 30:25-36

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 30:25

Adam Clarke on Genesis 30:25

John Gill on Genesis 30:26

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 30:26

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 30:25-36

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 30:25

Adam Clarke on Genesis 30:25

John Gill on Genesis 30:26

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 30:25-26

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 30:25-33

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 30:25-34

Rashi on Genesis 30:26