Bible Strands
Genesis 31:7
And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob addresses Laban, recounting his two decades of service and justifying his departure with his household and flocks.
The words — הֵ֣תֶל (hētēl) carries the literal sense "he has deceived," while מֹנִ֑ים (mônîm) translates directly to "times."
The thread — The motif of God restraining a human adversary appears in Genesis 31:29, where God warns Laban against speaking to Jacob, and parallels the wilderness testing pattern in Numbers 14:22.
Why it lands — The verse states that God actively prevented harm despite repeated wage alterations, directing attention to divine intervention as the factual boundary around human exploitation.
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
And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Cross-references
- 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.’
- 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!
- Numbers 14:22 not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Nehemiah 4:12 At that time the Jews who lived nearby came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
- Psalms 37:28 For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
- Zechariah 8:23 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will tightly grasp the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
- Genesis 20:6 Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
- Leviticus 26:26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Job 1:10 Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
- Job 19:3 Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.