Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Key: khaki:verbs, blue:Elohim.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrLXXἮλθε δὲ ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς Λάβαν τὸν Σύρον καθʼ ὕπνον τὴν νύκτα, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Φύλαξαι σεαυτὸν μή ποτε λαλήσῃς μετὰ Ἰακὼβ πονηρά. (Aʸlthe de ho Theos pros Laban ton Suron kathʼ hupnon taʸn nukta, kai eipen autōi, Fulaxai seauton maʸ pote lalaʸsaʸs meta Yakōb ponaʸra. )
BrTrAnd God came to Laban the Syrian in sleep by night, and said to him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not at any time to Jacob evil things.
ULTBut God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream that night and said to him, “Watch yourself that you do not speak with Jacob either good or bad.”
USTBut that night God appeared to Laban in a dream and warned him, “Be sure that you do not threaten Jacob in any way.”
BSBBut that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
OEBBut God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night, and said to him, ‘Take care that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.’
WEBBEGod came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
NETBut God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, “Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.”
LSVAnd God comes to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and says to him, “Take heed to yourself lest you speak with Jacob from good to evil.”
FBVBut during the night God came to Laban in a dream and told him, “Watch what you say to Jacob. Don't try to persuade him to come back, and don't threaten him either.”[fn]
31:24“Don't try to get him to come back, and don't threaten him either”: literally, “from good to bad.” This idiomatic expression covered the range of possible approaches Laban might have been tempted to take, from trying to induce Jacob to return by offering some reward, to threatening him with force or some kind of penalty.
T4TThen God appeared to Laban in a dream at night, and said to him, “When you catch up to Jacob, be sure that you do not say anything at all [HYP] to him in an angry manner!”
LEBAnd God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Take care[fn] that you not speak with Jacob, whether good or evil.”
JPSAnd God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said unto him: 'Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.'
ASVAnd God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
DRAAnd he saw in a dream God saying to him: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.
YLTAnd God cometh in unto Laban the Aramaean in a dream of the night, and saith to him, 'Take heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good unto evil.'
DrbyAnd [fn]God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
RVAnd God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
WbstrAnd God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream by night, and said to him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
KJB-1769And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.[fn] (And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou/you speak not to Jacob either good or bad. )
KJB-1611[fn]And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night, and saide vnto him, Take heed that thou speake not to Iacob either good or bad. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above apart from footnotes)
BshpsAnd God came to Laban the Syrian in a dreame by nyght, and sayd vnto him: take heede that thou speake not to Iacob ought saue good. (And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him: take heed that thou/you speak not to Yacob ought save good.)
GnvaAnd God came to Laban the Aramite in a dreame by night, and sayde vnto him, Take heede that thou speake not to Iaakob ought saue good. (And God came to Laban the Aramite in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou/you speak not to Yacob ought save good. )
CvdlBut God came vnto Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night, & sayde vnto him: Be warre, that thou speake nothinge to Iacob but good. (But God came unto Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him: Be war, that thou/you speak nothing to Yacob but good.)
WyclAnd Laban seiy in sleep the Lord seiynge to him, Be war that thou speke not ony thing sharpli ayens Jacob. (And Laban see in sleep the Lord seiynge to him, Be war that thou/you speak not any thing sharpli against Yacob.)
LuthAber GOtt kam zu Laban, dem Syrer, im Traum des Nachts und sprach zu ihm: Hüte dich, daß du mit Jakob nicht anders redest denn freundlich! (But God came to Laban, to_him Syrer, in_the Traum the Nachts and spoke to him: Hüte dich, that you with Yakob not anders redest because freundlich!)
ClVgViditque in somnis dicentem sibi Deum: Cave ne quidquam aspere loquaris contra Jacob. (Viditque in somnis dicentem sibi God: Cave not quidquam aspere loquaris on_the_contrary Yacob. )
31:24leave Jacob alone! (literally Do not speak to Jacob either good or evil): God commanded Laban not to take justice into his own hands. When we try to enact our own sense of good and evil apart from God’s command, we always do evil (see study note on 2:9).
See how you translated a similar clause in Gen 20:3. Also see how you translated Laban the Aramean in verse 20. Alternate translation: “Then that same night God appeared to Laban in a dream” or “That night Laban had a dream and in it God appeared to him”
careful to/for=yourself(m) lest say with Yaakob whether,good until bad
God is warning Laban not to say or do anything that would harm Jacob (See verse 29). Alternate translation: “Be careful that you do not say or do anything to Jacob to try to stop him from leaving.” or “Be sure that you do not harm Jacob in any way.”
Though the patriarch Isaac moved from place to place several times within southern Canaan, compared to his father Abraham and his son Jacob, Isaac appears to have been a bit of a homebody. In fact, unless Isaac resettled in places not recorded in Scripture, the farthest extent he ever traveled appears to have been only about 90 miles (113 km). Yet, as the child of God’s promise to Abraham to build a great nation from his descendants, Isaac’s relatively simple life served as a critical bridge from Abraham to the beginnings of the twelve tribes of Israel, who were descended from Isaac’s son Jacob. It is likely that Isaac was born at Beersheba (see Genesis 21:1-24), and later Abraham offered him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah (located at Jerusalem; see 2 Chronicles 3:1). Then Abraham, Isaac, and those with them returned to Beersheba (Genesis 22:1-19). When Isaac reached adulthood, his father sent a servant to bring back a bride for him from Aram-naharaim, far north of Canaan. When his bride, Rebekah, arrived, Isaac had just come from Beer-lahai-roi and settled in the Negev (Genesis 24:62). Later Isaac resettled with Rebekah in Beer-lahai-roi, and this may have been where their twins son Esau and Jacob were born. A famine forced Isaac to go to Gerar (Genesis 26:1-6) in “the land of the Philistines.” The distinct people group known as the Philistines in later books of the Bible did not arrive until the time of the Judges, so the term here must have referred to another people group living in this region, and this is supported by the fact that King Abimelech’s name is Semitic, not Aegean (the likely origin of the later Philistines). While Isaac was there, he repeated his father’s error (Genesis 20) by lying to the king that his wife was only his sister. Isaac also became increasingly prosperous at Gerar, so the Philistines told him to leave their region. Isaac moved away from the town of Gerar and settled further away in the valley of Gerar. There he dug a well, but the Philistines claimed it for themselves, so he called it Esek, meaning “argument.” So Isaac’s men dug another well and called it Sitnah (meaning “hostility”), but it led to more quarreling, so he dug yet another well and called it Rehoboth (meaning “open space”). The locations of these two later wells are not certain, but they may have been located near Ruheibeh as shown on this map. Then Isaac moved to Beersheba and built an altar. He also dug a well there, and King Abimelech of the Philistines came and exchanged oaths of peace with him. It was likely at Beersheba that Isaac blessed his sons Esau and Jacob, and both sons eventually left Canaan (see “Jacob Goes to Paddan-Aram” map). When Jacob later returned, he traveled to Mamre near Hebron and reunited with Isaac. Sometime after this Isaac died, and Jacob and Esau buried him there.
