Genesis 31:50

Summary

Laban addresses Jacob with a conditional warning about the treatment of his daughters and the possible taking of additional wives, followed by a declaration that no human witness is present, an imperative to "see," and a statement that God stands as witness between the two men.

Key words

• 'im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle, repeated twice to introduce two parallel hypothetical clauses (mistreatment of the daughters; taking of other wives).
• te'anneh ("you will mistreat", H6031B) — piel (intensive) imperfect, 2nd masculine singular; the piel stem intensifies the action, marking deliberate or repeated affliction rather than a single act.
• tiqqach ("you will take", H3947I) — qal (simple) imperfect, 2nd masculine singular, referring to the future possibility of taking wives "over" ('al, H5921A) Laban's daughters, i.e., in addition to them.
• 'ein ("there is not", H0369) — construct noun functioning as a negative existential particle, producing the clause "no man is with us."
• re'eh ("see", H7200G) — qal imperative, 2nd masculine singular; a direct command shifting the sentence from conditional/statement mode to an appeal for attention before the final declaration.

What the text says

The verse opens with two parallel conditional clauses, both introduced by 'im (H0518A): one concerning the mistreatment (te'anneh, H6031B, piel imperfect) of "my daughters" (benotai, from H1323G with the 1st person suffix -i, H9020), and one concerning taking (tiqqach, H3947I, qal imperfect) "wives" (nashim, H0802H) "over" ('al, H5921A) those same daughters. The piel form of te'anneh gives the verb an intensive nuance, distinguishing it from a simple qal action.

After the two conditions, the Hebrew inserts an independent clause, 'ein 'ish 'immanu ("there is no man with us," H0369 + H0376I + H5973A with 1st plural suffix -nu, H9035), stating the absence of a human witness. This is followed by the imperative re'eh ("see," H7200G), a command directed at the addressee to pay attention, and then the closing declaration: 'Elohim 'ed beini uveinekha ("God [is] witness between me and you," H0430G + H5707), using the construct noun bein (H0996G) twice with pronominal suffixes (-i, H9030; -kha, H9031) to mark the relational space "between" the two parties. The Hebrew thus moves from conditional warning, to a statement about the lack of human oversight, to a command to look, and finally to the naming of a divine witness — four distinct grammatical moves within one verse.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate compresses the structure differently: instead of a separate statement "no man is with us" followed by an imperative and then a witness clause, it renders "nullus sermonis nostri testis est absque Deo, qui præsens respicit" — "no one is a witness of our word except God, who watches being present." This reworks 'ein 'ish 'immanu (literally "no man with us") into "no witness of our word except God," merging what the Hebrew treats as two separate statements (absence of human witness; presence of divine witness) into one continuous clause.

The LXX text as given (ὅρα, οὐθεὶς μεθ' ἡμῶν ἐστίν — "see, no one is with us") ends after the imperative and the negative statement, without reproducing the following Hebrew clause naming 'Elohim (H0430G) as 'ed (H5707, "witness") "between me and you."