Genesis 31:42
לוּלֵי אֱלֹהֵי אָבִי אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם וּפַחַד יִצְחָק הָיָה לִי כִּי עַתָּה רֵיקָם שִׁלַּחְתָּנִי אֶת־עָנְיִי וְאֶת־יְגִיַע כַּפַּי רָאָה אֱלֹהִים וַיּוֹכַח אָֽמֶשׁ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
לוּלֵ֡י אֱלֹהֵ֣י אָבִי֩ אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם וּפַ֤חַד יִצְחָק֙ הָ֣יָה לִ֔י כִּ֥י עַתָּ֖ה רֵיקָ֣ם שִׁלַּחְתָּ֑נִי אֶת־עָנְיִ֞י וְאֶת־יְגִ֧יַע כַּפַּ֛י רָאָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים וַיּ֥וֹכַח אָֽמֶשׁ׃
εἰ μὴ ὁ θεὸς τοῦ πατρός μου Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ φόβος Ἰσαὰκ ἦν μοι, νῦν ἂν κενόν με ἐξαπέστειλας· τὴν ταπείνωσίν μου καὶ τὸν κόπον τῶν χειρῶν μου ἴδεν ὁ θεός, καὶ ἤλεγξέν σε χθές.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Nisi Deus patris mei Abraham, et timor Isaac affuisset mihi, forsitan modo nudum me dimisisses: afflictionem meam et laborem manuum mearum respexit Deus, et arguit te heri.
Si el Dios de mi padre, el Dios de Abraham y el Temor de Isaac, no hubiera estado conmigo, seguramente me habrías despedido con las manos vacías. Pero Dios vio mi aflicción y el duro trabajo de mis manos, y anoche te reprendió”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Si el Dios de mi padre, el Dios de Abraham, y el temor de Isaac, no fuera conmigo, de cierto me enviarías ahora vacío: vió Dios mi aflicción y el trabajo de mis manos, y reprendióte anoche.
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.” Jacob’s Covenant with Laban
✦ What the text says
Summary
Jacob argues that had the God of his father, the God of Abraham, and the "fear of Isaac" not been with him, Laban would have sent him away empty-handed. He concludes that God has seen his affliction and the labor of his hands, and intervened the previous night.
Key words
- lulei ("if not", H3884) — a conditional particle introducing an unreal (counterfactual) condition: the situation described did not happen because the protasis is false.
- 'elohei ("God of", H0430G) — masculine plural noun in construct state, appearing twice (with avi, "my father", and with Avraham), forming a chain of divine epithets tied to ancestors.
- pachad ("fear of", H6343) — masculine singular construct, paired with Yitzchak ("Isaac", H3327) to form the epithet "the fear of Isaac," parallel in structure to the preceding "God of" phrases.
- shillachtani ("you sent away", H7971G + H9030) — piel perfect (intensive stem) with 1st person suffix "me," expressing a completed, forceful action of dismissal within the conditional clause.
- yokach ("he decided/rebuked", H3198) — hiphil (causative) narrative verb form, continuing the narrative chain with va- and reporting a decisive divine action.
What the text says
The verse opens with the conditional particle lulei ("if not," H3884), which sets up a counterfactual: the protasis names three divine designations — 'elohei avi ("God of my father," H0430G + H0001G), 'elohei Avraham ("God of Abraham," H0430G + H0085), and pachad Yitzchak ("fear of Isaac," H6343 + H3327) — all functioning as the subject of hayah li ("he had been to me," H1961), a qal perfect. This triple naming links divine presence to three generations (Jacob's father, presumably Isaac himself, Abraham, and Isaac again through the "fear" epithet).
The apodosis begins with ki 'attah ("for now," H3588A + H6258) and states what would have happened: reikam shillachtani ("empty you sent me away," H7387 + H7971G), using the piel perfect to mark completed, intensified action. The clause following, introduced by ki again functioning as "for," shifts to affirm what did happen: ra'ah 'Elohim ("God has seen," H7200G + H0430G), followed by the narrative verb yokach ("he decided," H3198), a hiphil form chained with the narrative va- prefix (H9001), closing with 'amesh ("last night," H0570).
Differences between versions
The Hebrew yokach (H3198, glossed "he decided") is rendered by the LXX as ēlegxen ("he reproved/rebuked") and by the Vulgate as arguit ("he argued/accused"), both framing the action as a rebuke rather than a "decision." The LXX also adds an explicit direct object, se ("you"), after this verb — "he rebuked you" — which is not marked by a separate object element in the Hebrew clause as provided. Additionally, reikam ("empty," H7387) appears in the Vulgate as nudum ("naked" or "stripped"), a more physical image than the LXX's kenon ("empty"), though both align with the Hebrew sense of departing without possessions.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.