Kejadian 31:26-27

31:26 “What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me ¹  and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war! ²  31:27 Why did you run away secretly ³  and deceive me? ⁴  Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? ⁵ 

Kejadian 20:11

20:11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ⁶  ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of ⁷  my wife.’

Amsal 29:25

29:25 The fear of people ⁸  becomes ⁹  a snare, ¹⁰ 

but whoever trusts in the Lord will be set on high. ¹¹ 

[31:26]  ¹ tn Heb “and you have stolen my heart.” This expression apparently means “to deceive” (see v. 20).

[31:26]  ² tn Heb “and you have led away my daughters like captives of a sword.”

[31:27]  ³ tn Heb “Why did you hide in order to flee?” The verb “hide” and the infinitive “to flee” form a hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the main verb and the other the adverb: “flee secretly.”

[31:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “and steal me.”

[31:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “And [why did] you not tell me so I could send you off with joy and with songs, with a tambourine and with a harp?”

[20:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “Because I said.”

[20:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[29:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fear of man.” This uses an objective genitive to describe a situation where fearing what people might do or think controls one’s life. There is no indication in the immediate context that this should be limited only to males, so the translation uses the more generic “people” here.

[29:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “gives [or yields, or produces]”; NIV “will prove to be.”

[29:25]  ¹⁰ sn “Snare” is an implied comparison; fearing people is like being in a trap – there is no freedom of movement or sense of security.

[29:25]  ¹¹ sn The image of being set on high comes from the military experience of finding a defensible position, a place of safety and security, such as a high wall or a mountain. Trusting in the Lord sets people free and gives them a sense of safety and security (e.g, Prov 10:27; 12:2).