Genesis 31:38

Plain English Version

Then Jacob said to Laban, “I worked hard for you for 20 years, and I looked after your sheep and goats really well. They had lots of babies, and none of those babies died. And I never took any of your sheep for my food, not even your male sheep.

Cross References

Genesis 30:27

But Laban said, “Please listen to me. I’m asking you to stay here with me. You see, Yahweh your God is only good to me when you are here. I learned that by magic.

Genesis 30:29

Jacob said to Laban, “Look, you know that I worked really hard for you. When I came here, you only had a few animals. I looked after those animals for you, and they kept on having lots of babies, so now you have lots and lots of animals. Yes, Yahweh my God was good to you all the time that I worked for you. But I don’t have any animals myself. So now it’s time for me to look after myself and my own family.”

Genesis 31:10

Then Jacob said, “One time, I had a dream. It was the month when the male and female animals join together to make babies. In that dream, I saw male and female goats joining together, and all the male goats had black and white spots and stripes on their wool.

Genesis 31:37

And you looked through all my things. If you found anything that belongs to you, then you can put those things here, in front of all our relatives. And they can say which one of us is right and which one is wrong. Did you find anything that belongs to you? No you didn’t. I didn’t take any of your things.”

Genesis 31:39

And whenever a wild animal killed one of your sheep or goats, I always paid for it. I never showed you that dead sheep or goat, I never asked you to pay for it. You made me pay for every sheep or goat that somebody stole, even if that happened at night time. That’s not fair.