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Genesis 31:17-19
New English Translation
Genesis 31:17-19
New English Translation
17 So Jacob immediately put his children and his wives on the camels.[a] 18 He took away[b] all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac.[c]
19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep,[d] Rachel stole the household idols[e] that belonged to her father.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 31:17 tn Heb “and Jacob arose and he lifted up his sons and his wives on to the camels.”
- Genesis 31:18 tn Heb “drove away,” but this is subject to misunderstanding in contemporary English.
- Genesis 31:18 tn Heb “and he led away all his cattle and all his moveable property which he acquired, the cattle he obtained, which he acquired in Paddan Aram to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan.”
- Genesis 31:19 tn This disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new scene. In the English translation it may be subordinated to the following clause.
- Genesis 31:19 tn Or “household gods.” Some translations merely transliterate the Hebrew term תְּרָפִים (terafim) as “teraphim,” which apparently refers to household idols. Some contend that possession of these idols guaranteed the right of inheritance, but it is more likely that they were viewed simply as protective deities. See M. Greenberg, “Another Look at Rachel’s Theft of the Teraphim,” JBL 81 (1962): 239-48.
New English Translation (NET)
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