Kejadian 31:27

31:27 Why did you run away secretly ¹  and deceive me? ²  Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? ³ 

Kejadian 31:31

31:31 “I left secretly because I was afraid!” ⁴  Jacob replied to Laban. “I thought ⁵  you might take your daughters away from me by force. ⁶ 

Kejadian 31:38-40

31:38 “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 31:39 Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself. ⁷  You always made me pay for every missing animal, ⁸  whether it was taken by day or at night. 31:40 I was consumed by scorching heat ⁹  during the day and by piercing cold ¹⁰  at night, and I went without sleep. ¹¹ 

[31:27]  ¹ tn Heb “Why did you hide in order to flee?” The verb “hide” and the infinitive “to flee” form a hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the main verb and the other the adverb: “flee secretly.”

[31:27]  ² tn Heb “and steal me.”

[31:27]  ³ tn Heb “And [why did] you not tell me so I could send you off with joy and with songs, with a tambourine and with a harp?”

[31:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Jacob answered and said to Laban, ‘Because I was afraid.’” This statement is a not a response to the question about Laban’s household gods that immediately precedes, but to the earlier question about Jacob’s motivation for leaving so quickly and secretly (see v. 27). For this reason the words “I left secretly” are supplied in the translation to indicate the connection to Laban’s earlier question in v. 27. Additionally the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse have been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “for I said.”

[31:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “lest you steal your daughters from with me.”

[31:39]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates that this was a customary or typical action.

[31:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “from my hand you exacted it.” The imperfect verbal form again indicates that this was a customary or typical action. The words “for every missing animal” are supplied in the translation for clarity; the following clause in Hebrew, “stolen by day or stolen by night,” probably means “stolen by wild beasts” and refers to the same animals “torn by wild beasts” in the previous clause, although it may refer to animals stolen by people. The translation used here, “missing,” is ambiguous enough to cover either eventuality.

[31:40]  ⁹ tn Or “by drought.”

[31:40]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “frost, ice,” though when contrasted with the חֹרֶב (khorev, “drought, parching heat”) of the day, “piercing cold” is more appropriate as a contrast.

[31:40]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and my sleep fled from my eyes.”