Bible Strands
Genesis 31:50
If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Laban addresses Jacob at the stone boundary between their camps, establishing a covenant after Jacob’s departure. He declares that God will serve as the ongoing witness to guarantee Jacob's future conduct toward his wives and daughters.
The words — The Hebrew verbs תְּעַנֶּ֣ה (te.'a.Neh) and תִּקַּ֤ח (ti.Kach) literally mean "you will mistreat" and "you will take." These terms specify the exact household actions Laban forbids under the covenant.
The thread — The motif of God as a binding witness to human agreements appears in Judges 11:10 and Jeremiah 42:5. Jeremiah 29:23 further illustrates the breach of this boundary by condemning adultery as an outrage that violates divine oversight.
Why it lands — The text places interpersonal promises under divine scrutiny rather than human enforcement. It requires readers to acknowledge that covenantal boundaries carry permanent accountability, regardless of physical distance or human absence.
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
If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.
- Jeremiah 29:23 For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.”
- Judges 11:10 And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
- Micah 1:2 Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
- Leviticus 18:18 You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.
- 1 Samuel 12:5 Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied.
- Malachi 2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Matthew 19:5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
- 1 Thessalonians 2:5 As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness!