What Does Genesis 31:26 Mean in the King James?
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
In Hebrew, Laban says Jacob “stole my heart” before saying he carried off his daughters, binding secrecy and possession into one accusation.
THE MEANING
When someone is left unaware of a departure, they can frame it as theft and describe those who left as captives. The force of that accusation is clear, but the words alone do not prove its description is true.
THE ROOT
וַתִּגְנֹב אֶת־לְבָבִי
vatignov et-levavi
GROWS FROM
גנב
ganav
to steal, take secretly
“stolen away unawares to me” in this verse is vatignov et-levavi. The Hebrew says, “you stole my heart,” an idiom that conveys how Laban was kept unaware. The image makes secrecy feel like a taking that reaches inward, adding a personal edge to the charge.
ALSO GROWS
ganav: to steal
גָּנַב
This verb is the seed of the accusation that Jacob took something without Laban’s knowledge.
genevah: theft
גְּנֵבָה
The noun names the taking itself, showing how Laban casts an unannounced departure as a violation of possession.
כִּשְׁבֻיוֹת חָרֶב
kishvuyot cherev
GROWS FROM
שבה
shavah
to capture, take captive
“captives taken with the sword” in this verse is kishvuyot cherev. The word for captives carries the sense of actual capture, and “the sword” sharpens the image into one of force. Laban’s language turns his daughters’ departure into a claim that they were seized.
ALSO GROWS
shavah: to capture or take captive
שָׁבָה
The verb supplies the force behind Laban’s description of the daughters as prisoners.
shevi: captivity
שְׁבִי
This related noun names the state of being taken captive, extending the charge from a secret departure to lost freedom.
THE PATTERN
The language of theft frames stealth as a taking of what belongs to another, whether movement, allegiance, or life.
And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.THE THREAD
And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.Both verses use ganav with heart: Laban says Jacob stole his heart, and Absalom steals the hearts of Israel. The shared phrase shows how theft can describe a secret taking of allegiance as well as a secret departure.
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