Genesis 31:35

Summary

Rachel asks her father Laban not to be angry that she cannot rise before him, explaining she is experiencing "the way of women." Laban then searches intensively for the missing teraphim but does not find them, since Rachel is sitting on them.

Key words

• yichar ("it burn", H2734) — qal jussive, third person: a negative jussive construction ("may it not burn") used idiomatically for anger, addressed indirectly through "the eyes of my lord" rather than "you" directly.
• derekh ("way of", H1870G) — construct singular noun linked to nashim ("women", H0802G) to form the idiom "the way of women," a euphemism for menstruation, structurally parallel to a possessive phrase ("the custom belonging to women").
• li ("to me", H9005+H9030) — preposition with first-person suffix, completing the idiom as "the way of women is to/for me," i.e., it applies to her at this moment.
• yechapes ("he searched", H2664) — piel (intensive) narrative verb, marking Laban's search as thorough or repeated, contrasted with the simple qal verbs used elsewhere in the verse.
• matza ("he found", H4672) — qal perfect, stating the completed but negative outcome: the search reached its end without success.

What the text says

The verse opens with Rachel's direct speech introduced by the narrative va-Tomer ("and she said", H0559), addressed 'el 'aviha ("to her father", H0413/H0001G). Her request uses a negated jussive, 'al yichar ("may it not burn", H0408/H2734), governing the phrase be'einei 'adoni ("in the eyes of my lord", H5869I/H0113), an idiom locating anger in the "eyes" of the addressee rather than naming the emotion directly. She then gives two causal clauses, each introduced by ki ("that/for", H3588A): first, her inability to rise ('ukhal laqum mipaneikha, "I am able to rise from before you", H3201/H6965B/H6440G) is negated by lo' ("not", H3808); second, the reason itself, derekh nashim li ("the way of women is to me"), a construct-chain euphemism without an explicit verb, letting the noun phrase itself state the condition.

The narrative resumes with the vav-consecutive va-yechapes ("and he searched", H2664), a piel form suggesting a more thorough or repeated search than a simple qal would imply, followed by velo' matza' ("and he did not find", H3808/H4672) with the direct object marker 'et (H0853) preceding ha-terafim ("the teraphim", H8655), the definite plural noun naming the objects sought.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the idiom 'al yichar be'einei 'adoni as "Μὴ βαρέως φέρε, κύριε" ("do not take it heavily, lord"), omitting the literal "eyes" image present in the Hebrew. Both LXX ("κατ᾿ ἐθισμὸν τῶν γυναικίων," "according to the custom of the little women") and the Vulgate ("juxta consuetudinem feminarum," "according to the custom of women") render derekh nashim as a reference to custom rather than preserving the Hebrew's bare construct phrase "way of women."