gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
came
וַיָּבֹ֧אvai.ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Laban
לָבָ֥ןla.Van
H3837
Laban · proper noun, a man's name
Syrian
הָאֲרַמִּ֖יha.'a.ra.Mi
H761
an Aramite or Aramaean · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
dream
בַּחֲלֹ֣םba.cha.Lom
H2472
a dream · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
night
הַלָּ֑יְלָהha.La.ye.lah
H3915
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
heed
הִשָּׁ֧מֶרhi.Sha.mer
H8104
properly · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
speak
תְּדַבֵּ֥רte.da.Ber
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
to
עִֽם'im-
H5973
adverb or preposition · preposition
Jacob
יַעֲקֹ֖בya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
good
מִטּ֥וֹבmi.Tov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · preposition + adjective, masculine singular absolute
or
עַד'ad-
H5704
as far (or long · preposition
bad
רָֽעRa'
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
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 24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
Genesis 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for sh…
Genesis 31:29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak n…
Genesis 31:42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath…
Numbers 24:13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine o…
2 Samuel 13:22 And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
Matthew 27:19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered m…
Genesis 28:5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mothe…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 31:17-24
Here is, I. Jacob's flight from Laban. We may suppose he had been long considering of it, and casting about in his mind respecting it; but when now, at last, God had given him positive orders to go, he made no delay, nor was he disobedient to the heavenly vision. The first opportunity that offered itself he laid hold of, when Laban was shearing his sheep (Gen 31:19), that part of his flock which was in the hands of his sons three days' journey off. Now, 1. It is certain that it was lawful for Jacob to leave his service suddenly, without giving a quarter's warning. It was not only justified by the particular instructions God gave him, but warranted by the fundamental law of self-preservation,…
LABAN PURSUES JACOB--THEIR COVENANT AT GILEAD. (Gen. 31:22-55)
it was told Laban on the third day--No sooner did the news reach Laban than he set out in pursuit, and he being not encumbered, advanced rapidly; whereas Jacob, with a young family and numerous flocks, had to march slowly, so that he overtook the fugitives after seven days' journey as they lay encamped on the brow of mount Gilead, an extensive range of hills forming the eastern boundary of Canaan. Being accompanied by a number of his people, he might have used violence had he not been divinely warned in a dream to give no interruption to his nephew's journey. How striking and sudden a change! For several days he had been full o…
And God came to Laban - God's caution to Laban was of high importance to Jacob - Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad; or rather, as is the literal meaning of the Hebrew, מטוב עד רע mittob ad ra, from good to evil; for had he neither spoken good nor evil to Jacob, they could have had no intercourse at all. The original is, therefore, peculiarly appropriate; for when people meet, the language at first is the language of friendship; the command therefore implies, "Do not begin with Peace be unto thee, and then proceed to injurious language and acts of violence." If this Divine direction were attended to, how many of those affairs of honor, so termed, which commence with, "…
The Church Fathers
Wonderful is the Lord's goodness. When God saw Laban bent on fighting and intent on conflict with the good man, he said as if to check his intention by word, "Watch yourself, lest you be guilty of evil words to Jacob." Don't try even in word to harass Jacob, he is saying, but watch yourself; check this wicked assault of yours, repress your anger, rein in your seething thoughts and forbear harassing him even in word. Notice, I ask you, God's loving kindness. Instead of bidding Laban return to his own place, he only directed him to deliver no harsh or severe words to the good man. What on earth was the reason for that? For the good man to learn in fact and by experience the degree of care he was accorded by God.You see, had Laban turned back, how would the good man or his wives have known this? Hence God allowed Laban to come and from his own lips to confess the words spoken to him by God. He did so that the good man might also gain greater enthusiasm for his journey and embrace it in confidence and that his wives might come to know how much care Jacob was accorded by the God of all and so reject their father's deception and imitate the good man. They thus gained from the incident considerable instruction in knowing God. I mean, what came from Jacob was not so convincing as the words spoken by Laban, who was still a devotee of idols. After all, the testimony of infidels and opponents of religion always carries with it great power to convince. This in fact is a sign of God's creative wisdom, when he turns the enemies of truth into the very witnesses to truth, who then by their own mouth fight on its side.
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
Aram — The son of Shem (Gen. 10:22); according to Gen. 22:21, a grandson of Nahor. In Matt. 1:3, 4, and Luke 3:33, this word is the Greek form of Ram, the father of Amminadab (1 Chr. 2:10). The word means…
Jacob — One who follows on another’s heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; Hos. 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father was…
Leah — Weary, the eldest daughter of Laban, and sister of Rachel (Gen. 29:16). Jacob took her to wife through a deceit of her father (Gen. 29:23). She was “tender-eyed” (17). She bore to Jacob six sons…
Dream · .Of Laban, concerning Jacob — .Of Laban, concerning Jacob
Dreams · Mentioned in scripture of: Laban — Mentioned in scripture of: Laban
Gilead · .Laban overtakes Jacob at — .Laban overtakes Jacob at
Laban · him — him
Night · God frequently: Revealed his will in — God frequently: Revealed his will in
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).
And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night,.... It is probable that Laban came to Mount Gilead late in the evening, and so had no sight of, or conversation with Jacob until the morning; and that night God came to him, and in a dream advised him as follows: or it may be rendered, "and God had come", &c. (f); in one of the nights in which he had lain upon the road; though the former seems best to agree with Genesis 31:29; the Targum of Jonathan has it, an angel came; and the Jews (g) say it was Michael; by whom, if they understand the uncreated Angel, the Son of God, it is right:
and said unto him, take heed that thou speak not to, Jacob either good or bad; not that he should keep a…
And pursued him seven days' journey. Since the cruelty of Laban was now appeased, or at least bridled, he did not dare severely to threaten; but laying aside his ferocity, he descended to feigned and hypocritical blandishments. He complains that injury had been done him, because he had been kept in ignorance of Jacob's departure, whom he would rather leave sent forth with customary tokens of joy, in token of his paternal affection. Thus hypocrites, when the power of inflicting injury is taken away from them, heap false complaints upon the good and simple, as if the blame rested with them. Wherefore, if at any time wicked and perfidious men, when they have unjustly harassed us, put forward so…
Laban's Pursuit, Reconciliation, and Covenant with Jacob. - As Laban was not told till the third day after the flight, though he pursued the fugitives with his brethren, i.e., his nearest relations, he did not overtake Jacob for seven days, by which time he had reached the mountains of Gilead (Gen 31:22-24). The night before he overtook them, he was warned by God in a dream, "not to speak to Jacob from good to bad," i.e., not to say anything decisive and emphatic for the purpose of altering what had already occurred (vid., Gen 31:29, and the note on Gen 24:50). Hence he confined himself, when they met, "to bitter reproaches combining paternal feeling on the one hand with hypocrisy on the oth…
leave Jacob alone! (literally Do not speak to Jacob either good or evil): God commanded Laban not to take justice into his own hands. When we try to enact our own sense of good and evil apart from God’s command, we always do evil (see study note on 2:9).
Rashi on Genesis 31:24
מטוב עד רע EITHER GOOD OR EVIL — why should he not speak good? Because all the good that the wicked do to the righteous is evil in the opinion of the righteous (Yevamot 103b).
