Bible Strands
Genesis 31:29
I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Laban confronts Jacob after his departure, admitting his own capacity to retaliate while recounting a divine warning that restrained his speech.
The words — יֶשׁ־לְאֵל יָדִי (yesh-le'el yadi) translates literally to “there is to my power,” marking Laban’s acknowledgment of his authority to inflict harm.
The thread — Divine restraint over human speech and power reappears when Laban invokes the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor as judge (Genesis 31:53), and aligns with the patriarchal revelation where the Lord identifies Himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 28:13).
Why it lands — The passage demands the reader note that human authority is bounded by divine command, requiring acknowledgment that God actively limits human retaliation.
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
It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
Cross-references
- Genesis 31:42 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.”
- Genesis 31:53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
- Genesis 28:13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
- Genesis 31:24 But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
- Joshua 24:2 And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.
- 2 Kings 19:10 “Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
- Psalms 52:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
- Daniel 2:47 The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”
- Daniel 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
- Daniel 6:20 When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”