Genesis 31:7

Summary

Jacob tells his wives that their father (Laban) has deceived him and altered his wages ten times, but states that God did not allow Laban to cause him harm. The verse contrasts human deception with divine restraint.

Key words

• hetel ("he has deceived", H2048B) — hiphil (causative) perfect: a completed act of deception, framed as something Laban actively caused to happen to Jacob.
• hechelif ("he has changed", H2498) — hiphil sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun with hetel; it links Laban's deception directly to his repeated alteration of wages.
• 'aseret monim ("ten times", H6235 + H4489) — construct noun + plural noun, forming the phrase "ten instances/times," quantifying how often the wage was changed.
• netano ("he gave/permitted him", H5414K) — qal perfect with 3ms object suffix ("him"); negated by lo' ("not", H3808), producing "he did not permit him."
• lehara' ("to do harm", H7489A) — hiphil infinitive with prefixed le- ("to"), expressing purpose: the harm Laban might have inflicted "with me" ('imadi, H5978+H9030).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure places the subject 'avichen ("your father", H0001G with 2fpl suffix "your") first, followed by two verbs in sequence: hetel ("he deceived") and, joined by the narrative ve- ("and"), hechelif ("he changed"). This vav-sequential construction ties the two actions together as one continuous report of Laban's conduct toward Jacob. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) introduces maskurti ("my wages", H4909 construct + H9020 suffix "my"), which is then quantified by 'aseret monim ("ten times").

The second half of the verse shifts subject to Elohim ("God", H0430G, grammatically plural but referring to a singular deity in this context), introduced after the negation lo'. The qal perfect netano carries the 3ms suffix "him," referring back to Laban — "God did not permit him." The infinitive lehara' expresses the purpose or content of what was not permitted: "to do harm," specified further by 'imadi ("with me"). The grammar thus creates a clear contrast: Laban's repeated, completed actions of deception versus God's completed act of restraint (also perfect tense), which prevented a further action (expressed as infinitive, not yet realized).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'aseret monim ("ten times") as τῶν δέκα ἀμνῶν ("of the ten lambs"), differing from the Hebrew's abstract numerical expression and from the Vulgate's decem vicibus ("ten times"), which follows the Hebrew sense of repeated instances.