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Genesis 31:34

in Genesis 31

Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not.

KJV

Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.

This verse in Genesis 31

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 5.27 · Written before 397.

Moreover, holy Rachel—that is, the church, or prudence—hid the idols, because the church does not know representations and figures of idols that are totally devoid of reality, but it knows the real existence of the Trinity. Indeed, it has destroyed darkness and revealed the splendor of glory.

This site's exposition

Laban went into Jacob's tent, then Leah's tent

on Genesis 31:33-35

Laban searches four tents in order, and Rachel's comes last. She has put the household idols in her camel's saddlebag and is sitting on them. She stays seated and tells her father she is having her period. Laban searches the tent and finds nothing.

This site's exposition

Laban searched everything in the tent

Searched is the Hebrew mashash, to feel with the hands, and Laban gropes through the tent. It is the verb of Isaac touching his disguised son at Genesis 27:21 and 22. Another father now searches by hand and is deceived.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

There is therefore a right order; man should study first Sacred Scripture, in the letter and the spirit; then the original writings of the saints, giving priority to Sacred Scripture over them.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Laban, after all his searches, missed of finding his gods, and was baffled in his enquiry with a sham; but our God will not only by found of those that seek him, but they shall find him their bountiful rewarder. 36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:31w-of-71

Now Rachel had taken the images,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them--The common pack saddle is often used as a seat or a cushion, against which a person squatted on the floor may lean. Jacob was wroth--Recrimination on his part was natural in the circumstances, and, as usual, when passion is high, the charges took a wide range.

The words behind it

16 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.

  • וְרָחֵ֞לand Rachel

    verachelH7354 →47 times

  • לָקְחָ֣הshe had taken

    lakechahH3947 →966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַתְּרָפִ֗יםthe teraphim

    haterafimH8655 →15 times

  • וַתְּשִׂמֵ֛םand she had put them

    vatesimemH7760 →584 times

  • בְּכַ֥רin [the] saddlebag of

    bekharH3733 →

  • הַגָּמָ֖לthe camel

    hagamalH1581 →54 times

  • וַתֵּ֣שֶׁבand she sat

    vateshevH3427 →1079 times

  • עֲלֵיהֶ֑םon them

    ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times

  • וַיְמַשֵּׁ֥שׁand he searched

    vaymasheshH4959 →9 times

  • לָבָ֛ןLaban

    lavanH3837 →55 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הָאֹ֖הֶלthe tent

    haohelH168 →345 times

  • וְלֹ֥אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • מָצָֽא׃he found [them]

    matza'H4672 →455 times

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

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 31:19

    Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 19:13

      Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

    • Hosea 3:4

      For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.

    • Genesis 31:30

      Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”

    • Ezekiel 21:21

      For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the…

    • Genesis 35:2

      So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

  • Through

    Genesis 31:17

    Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,

    it leads to

    • Genesis 24:10

      Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim.

    • 1 Samuel 30:17

      And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.

    • Genesis 24:61

      Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 5.27; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.