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Genesis 30:40

in Genesis 30

Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban’s flock.

KJV

And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle.

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This verse in Genesis 30

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Cyril of Alexandria

GLAPHYRA ON GENESIS, 5.4 · Written before 444.

There is no association between the holy and the profane, between the pure and the impure. Those who belong to Christ are separated and refuse to mix with those who are in the world; they are free from carnal desires. They are marked by their way of life or rather are distinguished by their virtue. "The unmarked ones were Laban's, and the marked ones were Jacob's."

This site's exposition

Then he set his own stock apart

on Genesis 30:40-42

Jacob sets his own stock apart from Laban's animals. He puts the branches out for the stronger females and keeps them back when the animals are weak. So the weaker went to Laban and the stronger to Jacob. At 31:9 Jacob says God took the livestock from Laban and gave them to him.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.7 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

The good man did this, not of his own devising but with grace from on high inspiring his mind. You see, it was not done according to human reasoning but was quite unusual and beyond natural logic.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Jacob did separate the lambs,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Strong impressions, it seems, are made by the eye, with which therefore we have need to make a covenant. When he found that his project succeeded, through the special blessing of God upon it, he contrived, by using it only with the stronger cattle, to secure to himself those that were most valuable, leaving the feebler to Laban,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Jacob did separate the lambs, etc. - When Jacob undertook the care of Laban’s flock, according to the agreement already mentioned, there were no party-colored sheep or goats among them, therefore the ring-streaked, etc., mentioned in this verse, must have been born since the agreement was made; and Jacob makes use of them precisely as he used the pilled rods, that, having these before their eyes during conception, the impression might be made upon their imagination which would lead to the results already mentioned.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְהַכְּשָׂבִים֮and the lambs

    vehakesavimH3775 →13 times

  • הִפְרִ֣ידhe separated

    hifridH6504 →26 times

  • יַעֲקֹב֒Jacob

    yaakoH3290 →350 times

  • וַ֠יִּתֵּןand he set

    vaiyitenH5414 →2011 times

  • פְּנֵ֨י[the] faces of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הַצֹּ֧אןthe flock

    hatzonH6629 →274 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • עָקֹ֛ד[the] striped

    ʾakodH6124 →7 times

  • וְכָל־and every

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • ח֖וּםdark [one]

    chumH2345 →4 times

  • בְּצֹ֣אןamong [the] flock of

    betzonH6629 →274 times

  • לָבָ֑ןLaban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

  • וַיָּֽשֶׁת־and he made

    vaiyashet-H7896 →83 times

  • ל֤וֹfor <the> himself

    lo

  • עֲדָרִים֙flocks

    ʾadarimH5739 →38 times

  • לְבַדּ֔וֹto only him

    levadoH905 →200 times

  • וְלֹ֥אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • שָׁתָ֖םhe put them

    shatamH7896 →83 times

  • עַל־with

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • צֹ֥אן[the] flock of

    tzonH6629 →274 times

  • לָבָֽן׃Laban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
The Tower of Babel, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. Public domain.
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 30 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Cyril of Alexandria, GLAPHYRA ON GENESIS, 5.4; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 57.7; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 30 →