Genesis 31:26

Summary

Laban confronts Jacob with a rhetorical question about his departure, using the idiom "you stole my heart" (ganav + levavi) alongside the accusation that he led away Laban's daughters "like captives of the sword." The verse is built as a series of accusatory questions followed by narrative-tense verbs describing what Jacob did.

Key words

• amar ("he said", H0559) — qal narrative verb introducing direct speech, standard formula opening dialogue.
• ganav ("you have stolen", H1589) — qal narrative verb; together with levavi ("my heart", H3824 + suffix H9020) forms the idiom "you stole my heart," object-marked by 'et.
• nahag ("you have led away", H5090A) — piel (intensive) narrative verb, describing the forceful or continued driving away of the daughters, distinct in stem from the simple qal used for "stole."
• shevuyot ("captives of", H7617) — qal passive participle, feminine plural construct, linking directly to cherev ("sword", H2719) to form the comparison "like captives of the sword."
• cherev ("sword", H2719) — feminine singular noun completing the construct phrase; no verb of violence is stated, only the comparative image.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav plus amar (H0559), the standard formula for reported speech, followed by Laban's name and "to Jacob" (le-Ya'aqov). The direct speech itself consists of a short interrogative, meh 'asita ("what have you done", H4100 + H6213A, qal perfect), which frames the accusation as already completed action. Two further narrative-tense verbs continue the accusation: ganav (H1589, qal) governs the object marker 'et plus levavi ("my heart," H3824 with 1st-person suffix H9020), producing the idiomatic expression "you stole my heart" — in Biblical Hebrew this idiom conveys deception or acting behind someone's back, not a literal theft of an organ. The next verb, nahag (H5090A), is in the piel stem, marking an intensified or effortful action of "leading away," applied to 'et bnotai ("my daughters," H1323G with suffix H9020). The final phrase uses the qal passive participle shevuyot (H7617), construct with cherev (H2719), producing the simile "like captives of the sword" — a participial construction describing a state of captivity rather than asserting that a sword was actually used.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the "stole my heart" idiom (ganav 'et levavi) as ἐκλοποφόρησάς με ("you robbed me"), dropping the specific reference to "heart" found in the Hebrew noun levavi (H3824). The LXX also adds a clause not present in the Hebrew text, ἵνα τί κρυβῇ ἀπέδρας ("why did you flee secretly"), inserting an idea of secret flight before the accusation of robbery. The Vulgate compresses the Hebrew's two separate accusatory clauses (stealing the heart; leading away the daughters) into a single clause, "quare ita egisti, ut clam me abigeres filias meas" ("why did you act thus, that you secretly drove away my daughters"), omitting a direct equivalent for the "heart" idiom altogether.