Genesis 31:41 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 31:41
Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
house
בְּבֵיתֶךָ֒be.vei.te.Kha
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
thee
עֲבַדְתִּ֜יךָ'a.vad.Ti.kha
H5647
to work (in any sense) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
fourteen
אַרְבַּֽע'ar.ba'-
H702
four · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
years
שָׁנָה֙sha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
two
בִּשְׁתֵּ֣יbish.Tei
H8147
two · preposition + cardinal number, feminine dual construct
daughters
בְנֹתֶ֔יךָve.no.Tei.kha
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
six
וְשֵׁ֥שׁve.Shesh
H8337
six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the h… · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders singular construct
years
שָׁנִ֖יםsha.Nim
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
cattle
בְּצֹאנֶ֑ךָbe.tzo.Ne.kha
H6629
a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
wages or a reward · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
ten
עֲשֶׂ֥רֶת'a.Se.ret
H6235
ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits) · noun, common feminine singular construct
times
מֹנִֽיםmo.Nim
H4489
properly · noun, common masculine plural 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 31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Genesis 29:18-30 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
Genesis 30:33-40 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and…
Genesis 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.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they a…
2 Corinthians 11:26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 31:36-42
See in these verses,
I. The power of provocation. Jacob's natural temper was mild and calm, and grace had improved it; he was a smooth man, and a plain man; and yet Laban's unreasonable carriage towards him put him into a heat that transported him into a heat that transported him into some vehemence, Gen 31:36, Gen 31:37. His chiding with Laban, though it may admit of some excuse, was not justifiable, nor is it written for our imitation. Grievous words stir up anger, and commonly do but make bad worse. It is a very great affront to one that bears an honest mind to be charged with dishonesty, and yet even this we must learn to bear with patience, committing our cause to God.
II. The comfort o…
in the day the drought . . . and the frost by night--The temperature changes often in twenty-four hours from the greatest extremes of heat and cold, most trying to the shepherd who has to keep watch by his flocks. Much allowance must be made for Jacob. Great and long-continued provocations ruffle the mildest and most disciplined tempers. It is difficult to "be angry and sin not" [Eph 4:26]. But these two relatives, after having given utterance to their pent-up feelings, came at length to a mutual understanding, or rather, God influenced Laban to make reconciliation with his injured nephew (Pro 16:7).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 31:41
Twenty years - See the remarks at the end, Gen 31:55 (note).
John Gill on Genesis 31:41
Thus have I been twenty years in thy house,.... Attended with these difficulties, inconveniencies, and hardships:
I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters; Rachel and Leah; first seven years for Rachel; and having Leah imposed upon him instead of her, was obliged to serve seven years more, which he did for her sake; whereas he ought to have given them, and a dowry with them, to one who was heir to the land of Canaan, and not have exacted servitude of him:
and six years for thy cattle, to have as many of them for his hire, as were produced from a flock of white sheep, that were speckled, spotted, or ringstraked, or brown:
and thou hast changed my wages ten times; See Gill on Gene…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 41.) And you changed my reward to ten lambs. The same mistake as above: The word 'numerus' should be read instead of 'agnis'.
ON THE CONDUCT OF LABAN TO JACOB IN RELATION TO THE HERDS. — What does it mean what Jacob says to his father-in-law, and you did falsely rate my wages for ten lambs ? For the Scripture does not say when or where this was done. But obviously what Jacob mentions did happen. He even told his wives, when he made them come to the country, complaining about their father, he says among other things: "And he changed my wages to ten lambs (Gen. 31:7)." It happened, therefore, that in each of the times the lambs were born. When Laban saw that the offspring that was agreed upon that they belonged to Jacob, Laban fraudulently changed the agreement and said that Jacob would have as payment other colored lambs that would be born in the future. Jacob no longer the varying shades, but there were no spotted offspring, but only one-color offspring, which Jacob took under the new agreement. When Laban became aware of this, he again fraudulently changed the agreement so that the spotted lambs belonged to Jacob. And the spotted lambs were born because Jacob had put out those branches. Then what Jacob says to his wives: "He changed my pay into ten lambs”, and then to Laban: “You took away from my wages ten lambs.” Jacob therefore does not wish to make it understood that this disloyalty benefited his father-in-law, for he says that God helped him against Laban to prevent this result. But he wagered ten lambs or ten young lambs to indicate the ten times that the sheep he kept had offspring for a six-year term. They gave birth twice a year. However, the first year he dealt with Laban, and he agreed to keep the flocks for the agreed reward, the sheep only gave lambs once at the end of the year, the first litter having already come, when the commitment was contracted. The same thing happened in the sixth and last year. When the sheep had given a first litter, it was necessary for Jacob to leave, before they had given the second. Thus, as the first year and the last year had only two births, that is, each year one, and, on the other hand, the four years in between had two in each one, they make a total of ten births. It is not surprising that he designates these ten seasons by the names of the lambs which came at these times; It is as if one said: during so many harvests, during so many harvests, to mark the number of years. Thus a poet said (Virgil, Ecl. 1, 70), "After a few ears,"…
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
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…
Wages — Rate of (mention only in Matt. 20:2); to be punctually paid (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14, 15); judgements threatened against the withholding of (Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; comp. James 5:4); paid in money…
Chiding · General references — General references
Covetousness · In — In
Dishonesty · .Laban’s treatment of Jacob — .Laban’s treatment of Jacob
Father-In-Law · Unjust, Laban to Jacob — Unjust, Laban to Jacob
Ingratitude · Should be met with: Faithfulness — Should be met with: Faithfulness
Laban · him — him
Wages · Of Jacob — Of Jacob
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 Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban. Jacob again acts amiss, in contending with Laban about a matter not sufficiently known, and in wrongfully fastening on him the charge of calumny. For although he supposed all his family to be free from blame, yet he was deceived by his own negligence. He acts, indeed, with moderation, because in expostulating with Laban he does not use reproaches; but in this he is not to be excused, that he undertakes the cause of his whole family, when they were not exempt from blame. If any one should make the objection to this statement, that Jacob was constrained by fear, because Laban had brought with him a great band of companions: the circumstances themselve…
"I have been; by day (i.e., I have been in this condition, that by day) heat has consumed (prostrated) me, and cold by night" - for it is well known, that in the East the cold by night corresponds to the heat by day; the hotter the day the colder the night, as a rule.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 31:40
Jacob, who preferred domestic life (25:27), had for twenty years endured the rigors of the outdoors that Esau had loved.
Rashi on Genesis 31:41
ותחלף את משכרתי AND THOU HAST CHANGED MY HIRE — You have altered the agreement regarding my hire between us from speckled to spotted and from streaked to grisled.