Genesis 30:26
in Genesis 30Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Genesis 30
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland
on Genesis 30:25-26
Joseph is born, and Jacob asks to go home. He calls Canaan his own country after fourteen years away and no ground of his own in it. Henry reads the pull of the land as the promise at work in him. Jacob has to ask for his wives and children, who stood under Laban's terms of service.
This site's exposition
Give me my wives and children
Jacob says he served for his wives and children, and Adam Clarke counts the fourteen years as now complete. Laban sees it otherwise. At 31:43 he claims the daughters, the sons and the flocks as his own.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
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.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Give me my wives,....
Note, Those that trust in God, in his providence and promise, though they have great families and small incomes, can cheerfully hope that he who sends mouths will send meat. He who feeds the brood of the ravens will not starve the seed of the righteous.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּנָ֞ה | tenah | give ! | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נָשַׁ֣י | nashai | wives my | H802 → | 781 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְלָדַ֗י | yeladai | children my | H3206 → | 89 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֨ר | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָבַ֧דְתִּי | ʾavadti | I have served | H5647 → | 288 times |
| אֹֽתְךָ֛ | ʾotekha | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בָּהֵ֖ן | bahen | for them | ||
| וְאֵלֵ֑כָה | veelekhah | so I may go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַתָּ֣ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| יָדַ֔עְתָּ | yada'ta | you know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲבֹדָתִ֖י | ʾavodati | service my | H5656 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עֲבַדְתִּֽיךָ׃ | ʾavadtikha | I have served you | H5647 → | 288 times |
תְּנָ֞הgive !
tenahH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נָשַׁ֣יwives my
nashaiH802 →781 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
יְלָדַ֗יchildren my
yeladaiH3206 →89 times
אֲשֶׁ֨רwhom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָבַ֧דְתִּיI have served
ʾavadtiH5647 →288 times
אֹֽתְךָ֛<obj.> you
ʾotekhaH853 →10935 times
בָּהֵ֖ןfor them
bahen
וְאֵלֵ֑כָהso I may go
veelekhahH1980 →1546 times
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אַתָּ֣הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
יָדַ֔עְתָּyou know
yada'taH3045 →945 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עֲבֹדָתִ֖יservice my
ʾavodatiH5656 →
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עֲבַדְתִּֽיךָ׃I have served you
ʾavadtikhaH5647 →288 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 29:30Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.
it leads to
- Genesis 31:41
Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 29:20
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
- Genesis 44:27
And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.
- Genesis 31:15
Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
- Genesis 29:18
Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
- Genesis 31:41
Through
Genesis 31:31“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
it leads to
- Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is set securely on high.
- Genesis 31:26–27
Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!
- Genesis 20:11
Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’
- Proverbs 29:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.2-3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.