Bible Strands
Genesis 31:39
I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob addresses Laban during their final dispute over livestock accounts and stolen household gods. This dialogue follows twenty years of Jacob’s service in Haran.
The words — טְרֵפָה (te.re.Fah) denotes a carcass torn by wild beasts, and אֲחַטֶּנָּה ('a.chat.Te.nah) means I bore the loss. Jacob states he personally absorbed the financial damage rather than charging Laban.
The thread — The prohibition against consuming torn animals appears in Exodus 22:31 and Leviticus 22:8. The liability rules for livestock under a neighbor’s care are detailed in Exodus 22:10.
Why it lands — The text records Jacob’s explicit claim of personal responsibility for uncontrollable losses. It requires the reader to acknowledge that labor contracts demand honest accounting without shifting blame for events beyond human control.
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
That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.
Cross-references
- Exodus 22:10 If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any other animal to be cared for by his neighbor, but it dies or is injured or stolen while no one is watching,
- Exodus 22:31 You are to be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs.
- Leviticus 22:8 He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.
- Luke 2:8 And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
- 1 Samuel 17:34 David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,
- John 10:12 The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.