Genesis 31:7

Gen 31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

Ver. 7. Changed my wages ten times.] And ever for the worse. The matter mended, with poor Jacob, as sour ale doth in summer. Laban, the churl, the richer he grew by him, the harder he was to him: like children with mouthfuls and handfuls, who will yet rather spoil all, then part with any. It is the love, not the lack of money, that makes men churls.

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.

Gen 31:7-8. Hath changed my wages ten times — That is, oft-times, as is often the signification of the number ten. It appears that Laban, through envy and covetousness, often broke his agreement made with Jacob, and altered it as he thought fit, and that Jacob patiently yielded to all such changes Then all the cattle bare speckled — This seems to put it out of doubt, that, as Jacob says in the following verse, it was indeed God who ordered this matter; for it can scarcely be supposed that any natural causes whatever, without his peculiar providence, could produce so many different changes in a thing of this nature, without once failing.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, many times.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 7. Changed my wages ten times] There is a strange diversity among the ancient versions, and ancient and modern interpreters, on the meaning of these words. The Hebrew is עשרת מנים asereth monim, which Aquila translates δεκα αριθμους ten numbers; Symmachus, δεκακις αριτμω, ten times in number; the Septuagint δεκα αμνων, ten lambs, with which Origen appears to agree. St. Augustine thinks that by ten lambs five years' wages is meant: that Laban had withheld from him all the party-coloured lambs which had been brought forth for five years, and because the ewes brought forth lambs twice in the year, bis gravidae pecudes, therefore the number ten is used, Jacob having been defrauded of his part of the produce of ten births. It is supposed that the Septuagint use lambs for years, as Virgil does aristas.

En unquam patrios longo post tempore fines,

Pauperis et tuguri congestum cespite culmen,

Post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas?

Virg. Ec. i., ver. 68.

Thus inadequately translated by DRYDEN:

O must the wretched exiles ever mourn;

Nor, after length of rolling years, return?

Are we condemn'd by Fate's unjust decree,

No more our harvests and our homes to see?

Or shall we mount again the rural throng,

And rule the country, kingdoms once our own?

Here aristas, which signifies ears of corn, is put for harvest, harvest for autumn, and autumn for years. After all, it is most natural to suppose that Jacob uses the word ten times for an indefinite number, which we might safely translate frequently; and that it means an indefinite number in other parts of the sacred writings, is evident from Le 26:26: TEN women shall bake your bread in one oven. Ec 7:19: Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than TEN mighty men the city. Nu 14:22: Because all these men have tempted me now these TEN times. Job 19:3: These TEN times have ye reproached me. Zec 8:23: In those days - TEN men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew. Re 2:10: Ye shall have tribulation TEN days.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) Ten times.—That is, a good many times.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. changed my wages] The account given in the following passage differs from that in the preceding chapter, Gen_30:25-31. There Jacob specified the conditions, to which Laban acceded; and then Jacob resorted to artifice, in order to improve his position. Here it is Laban that has specified the wages, and arbitrarily changed them (cf. Gen_31:41) from time to time. But in every case, by the providence of God, not by Jacob’s cleverness, the result has worked out advantageously to Jacob. In ch. 30 we had principally, probably, the narrative of J; in this chapter, that of E is predominantly employed.

ten times] A phrase used to denote frequency, as in Gen_31:41, Num_14:22, Neh_4:12, Job_19:3, by a round number; Lat. decem vicibus. But LXX, not understanding the Hebrew word rendered “times” (mônîm), seems to have transliterated it with the rendering ἀμνῶν, “lambs” (or is this for μνῶν?), i.e. “ten lambing seasons.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If he said thus, the speckled shall be thy wages,.... Sometimes Laban would say to Jacob, only the speckled lambs which the ewes shall bring forth shall be thine hire, and not the spotted; or the ringstraked, or the brown, which according to the bargain should have been his, the one and the other:

then all the cattle bare speckled; that season, God ordering it so in his providence, that Laban might be disappointed, and Jacob might have his full hire; that is, the greatest part of the cattle bore such, as Ben Melech observes:

and if he said thus, the ringstraked shall be thine hire; observing the cattle to bring forth only speckled, or the greatest part such, then he changed his hire, and would have it be not the speckled, nor the brown, only the ringstraked, there being none or few of that colour the last yeaning time:

then bare all the cattle ringstraked; or the greatest part of them were such; so that let Laban fix on what colour he would as Jacob's wages, there were sure to be the greatest part of that colour; which shows the hand of God in it, as is next observed by Jacob.

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

Ten times. Very often, or perhaps this exact number of times, ver. 41.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Ten times, i.e. ofttimes, as that certain number is commonly used, as Lev 26:26; Num 14:22; 1Sa 1:8; Job 19:3, &c.

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

7. Ten times — Probably a round number used for an indefinite number, and equivalent to very frequently, or, as often as possible. Compare Num_14:22; Job_19:3. The manner of Laban’s changing Jacob’s wages was doubtless that indicated in the next verse. “He made repeated attempts to limit the original stipulation by changing the rule as to the colours of the young, and so diminishing Jacob’s wages.” — Keil.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And your father hath deceived me, ltehe, the hiph. of llT; means to rob or plunder (Furst), or to cause to fall, as in the cognate languages, whence to deceive (Gesenius) and changed my wages ten times; i.e. many times, as in Num_14:22; Job_19:3 (Rosenm Bush, Kalisch, Lange) as often as possible, the number ten expressing the idea of completeness (Keil, Murphy)but God (Elohim, Jacob purposing to say that he had been protected, not by human stratagem, but by Divine interposition) suffered him not to hurt me literally, to do evil to me. The verb here construed with dMi = is sometimes followed by l, (1Ki_17:20) and sometimes by B. (1Ch_16:22)

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

has deceived me

"has lied to me" or "has not treated me fairly"

my wages

"what he said he would pay me"

to hurt me

Possible meanings are 1) physical harm or 2) to cause Jacob to suffer in any way.

The speckled animals

"The animals with spots"

the flock bore

"the flock gave birth to"

The striped

"The animals with stripes"

In this way God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me

"This is how God gave your father's animals to me"

translationWords

deceive

livestock

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

עשרת מנים TEN TIMES — The word מנים never means less than ten (Ruth 4:11).

מנים signifies sum — the total of enumeration — these are tens: we may infer, therefore, that he changed the conditions of his hire one hundred times (Genesis Rabbah 74:3).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND YOUR FATHER HATH MOCKED ME, AND CHANGED MY WAGES TEN TIMES. This was true, even though Scripture did not previously relate it. And so too did Jacob tell Laban: And thou hast changed my wages ten times. There are many similar places in the Torah. For example, in this earlier section, Scripture did not relate that Leah gave the mandrakes to Rachel [although the event is referred to later in Verse 16: for I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes].

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.

ואביכן התל בי, this is a variation of the root with the same letters but with the dagesh in the letter ת, as we find in Kings 1 18,27 where it describes the prophet Elijah ridiculing the god of the priests of the Baal. Here the root is not used transitively but intransitively in the conjugation kal, hence there is not dagesh.

עשרת מונים, ten times. The reason the word עשרת is in the construct mode when we would have expected to read עשרה מונים, is because it is the final contact with the single digit numbers. It actually belongs to them, though in our language it is written as a 2 digit number. The fact is that the first 10 numbers are all part of one group, the number “ten” being the last one of that group. Hence it is treated here as if in the construct mode. To prove that this is correct, note that whenever the number ten appears, such as in ואפו עשר נשים, “ten women will bake” (Leviticus 26,26), where the number of women involved bears no relationship to the ninth or eighth woman preceding her, such a number is not in the construct mode. My late father of blessed memory explained the word עשרת as not being meant literally. It is not a figure of speech meaning “numerous times,” Yaakov had spent 6 years working for Lavan’ in order to amass his own flocks. The sheep give birth twice a year, i.e. 12 times in 6 years. Lavan therefore had opportunity to change Yaakov’s wages 8 times in the intermediate 6 years, and once each in the first year and last year respectively.

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.