Bible Strands
Genesis 31:15
Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Rachel and Leah address Jacob as they prepare to leave their father’s household. They speak as displaced daughters asserting their rights after years of their father’s exploitation.
The words — The phrase נֶחְשַׁבְנוּ (nech.Shav.nu) literally means "are we accounted," paired with נָכְרִיּוֹת (na.khe.ri.Yot), "foreigners," to state that Laban treated them as outsiders rather than kin. The verb אָכַל ('a.Khol) here carries the concrete sense of consuming or squandering the wages paid for them.
The thread — This pattern of displaced family members facing economic exploitation echoes the earlier negotiations in Genesis 29:15 and Genesis 29:27, where Laban repeatedly adjusted Jacob’s wages. The complaint about squandered payments directly continues the grievance stated in Genesis 30:26.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how economic abuse strips family of dignity and inheritance. It requires the reader to acknowledge that service without fair compensation leaves the worker legally and socially destitute.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
Cross-references
- Genesis 29:15 Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
- Genesis 29:27 Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”
- Genesis 30:26 Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”
- Genesis 31:41 Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
- Exodus 21:7 And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.
- Nehemiah 5:8 and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.