Genesis 31:6

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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כֹּחִ֔י

kôach

H3581

“strength · my”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular

Appears 127× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:12

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root meaning to be firm

TWOT: 973 . 1

strength, power, might - human strength - strength (of angels) - power (of God) - strength (of animals) - strength, produce, wealth (of soil) - a small reptile, probably a kind of lizard, which is unclean - perhaps an extinct animal, exact meaning is unknown

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
3 nouns
1 pronoun
1 conjunction
1 particle

Verb forms

יְדַעְתֶּ֑ן Qal · Perfect
עָבַ֖דְתִּי Qal · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 14 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Genesis 31:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 30:29 He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me.
Ephesians 6:5–8 Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ;
Genesis 31:38–42 These twenty years have I been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.
Colossians 3:22–25 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
Titus 2:9–10 Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;
1 Peter 2:18 Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 31:6 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאַתֵּ֖נָה יְדַעְתֶּ֑ן כִּ֚י בְּכָל כֹּחִ֔י עָבַ֖דְתִּי אֶת אֲבִיכֶֽן

You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 31:6 Septuagint · lemma form

καί αὐτός δέ οἶδα ὅτι ἐν πᾶς ὁ ἰσχύς ἐγώ δουλεύω ὁ πατήρ σύ

And you⌃ too know that with all my might I have served your father.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאַתִּין יְדַעְתִּין אֲרֵי בְּכָל חֵילִי פְּלָחִית יָת אֲבוּכֶן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאַתּוּן יְדַעְתּוּן אֲרוּם בְּכָל חֵילִי פְּלָחִית יַת אֲבוּכוֹן

And you know that with all my strength I have served your father,

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 31:6 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Gen 31:6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

Ver. 6. With all my power I have served.] The word translated power signifieth that natural moisture of the body that maketh it lively and lusty, vigorous and valorous to do service. So it is used, Gen 49:3 Psa 22:15. Now if Jacob served Laban with all his might, should not we the Lord, a far better Master? Baruch "repaired earnestly". {Neh 3:20} Caleb "fulfilled after God". {Num 14:24} Nehemiah traded every talent with which divine providence had trusted him: he worketh, warreth, watcheth, commandeth, encourageth, threateneth, punisheth, &c. "David danced with all his might," {2Sa 6:14} and did all the wills of God to his dying day; painfully serving out his time to the last. Happy is he that can say, in a spiritual sense, as it was said of Moses, that, after a long profession of religion, he remits not of his zeal; "his sight is not waxed dim, nor his natural" heat or "force abated"; {Deu 34:7} that he is "not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord". {Rom 12:11}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

ye know that . . . I have served your father--Having stated his strong grounds of dissatisfaction with their father's conduct and the ill requital he had got for all his faithful services, he informed them of the blessing of God that had made him rich notwithstanding Laban's design to ruin him; and finally, of the command from God he had received to return to his own country, that they might not accuse him of caprice, or disaffection to their family; but be convinced, that in resolving to depart, he acted from a principle of religious obedience.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

And ye know, that with all my power I have served your father. With all faithfulness and uprightness; with all diligence and industry; with all wisdom and prudence; with all my might and main, contriving the best methods, and sparing no pains by day or night to take care of his flocks, and increase his substance: of this his wives had been witnesses for twenty years past, and to them he appeals for the truth of it; so that there was no just reason for their father's behaviour towards him.

And ye know, that with all my power I have served your father. With all faithfulness and uprightness; with all diligence and industry; with all wisdom and prudence; with all my might and main, contriving the best methods, and sparing no pains by day or night to take care of his flocks, and increase his substance: of this his wives had been witnesses for twenty years past, and to them he appeals for the truth of it; so that there was no just reason for their father's behaviour towards him.

Genesis 31:7

gen 31:7

gen 31:7

gen 31:7And your father hath deceived me,.... In the bargain he had made with him about his wages for keeping his cattle the six years past, after the fourteen years' servitude were ended:

and changed my wages ten times; that is, either very often, many times, as the number ten is sometimes. Used for many, see Lev 26:26; or precisely ten times, since he repeats it afterwards in the same form to Laban's face, Gen 31:41; he had now served him six years upon a new bargain; that he should have all that were of such and such different colours, which were produced out of his flock of white sheep. Laban was at first highly pleased with it, as judging it would be a very good one to him, as he might reasonably think indeed: and it is highly probable he did not attempt any alteration the first year, but observing Jacob's cattle of the speckled sort, &c. prodigiously increasing, he did not choose to abide by the any longer. Now it must be observed, that the sheep in Mesopotamia, as in Italy (x), brought forth the young twice a year; so that every yeaning time, which was ten times in five years, Laban made an alteration in Jacob's wages; one time he would let him have only the speckled, and not the ringstraked; another time the ringstraked, and not the speckled; and so changed every time, according as he observed the prevailing colour was, as may be concluded from Gen 31:8,

but God suffered him not to hurt me; to hinder his prosperity, or having justice done him for his service; for whatsoever colour Laban chose for Jacob to have the next season of yeaning, there was always the greatest number of them, or all of them were of that colour, whether speckled or ringstraked, &c.

(x) "Bis gravidae pecudes.----", Virgil. Georgic. l. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

With all my power, both of my mind and body, as I would have done for myself, as became a faithful servant to do.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. The term Jacob here uses for power is derived from an unused onomatopoetic root, signifying to pant, and hence to exert one s strength. If, therefore, the assertion now made to his wives was not an unblushing falsehood, Jacob could not have been the monster of craft and deception depicted by some (Kalisch); while, if it was, it must have required considerable effrontery to appeal to his wives" knowledge for a confirmation of what they knew to be a deliberate untruth. The hypothesis that Jacob first acquired his great wealth by "consummate cunning," and then piously "abused the authority of God in covering or justifying them" (Kalisch), presupposes on the part of Jacob a degree of wickedness inconceivable in one who had enjoyed the sublime theophany of Bethel.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

אתּנה: the original form of the abbreviated אתּן, which is merely copied from the Pentateuch in Exo 13:11, Exo 13:20; Exo 34:17.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Ramban (Nachmanides)

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides)

THAT WITH ALL MY POWER I HAVE SERVED YOUR FATHER. That is, “from the outset, and he has been blessed since my coming.” It is possible that Laban’s flocks had been many, but that even the feebler ones were blessed since Jacob came, for Laban’s sons complained only out of jealousy of Jacob that he had gotten all this wealth.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Radak

Rabbi David Kimhi (Radak)

ואתנה..., I have served him faithfully whereas he related to me with deceit.

בכל כחי, as Yaakov tells Lavan to his face in verse 40 when he relates the harshness of the conditions he worked under.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 8 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kôach (“strength”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word kôach carries the sense “strength.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 30:29 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «יְדַעְתֶּ֑ן» is Qal Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.