Genesis 31:33

Hebrew Bible

32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives identify whatever is yours and take it.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) 33 So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle and sat on them.) Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.

LXX Genesis 31:33

Septuagint

32 Discover what I have of yours, and take it.” And he did not discover anything with him. And Iakob said, “Anyone with whom you should find your gods shall not live in the presence of our kinsfolk.” Now Iakob did not know that his wife Rachel had stolen them. 33 And Laban, when he had gone in, searched in Leia’s house and found nothing. And he went out of Leia’s house and searched in Iakob’s house and in the house of the two maids and found nothing. Then he also entered into Rachel’s house. 34 Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them into the camel’s packsaddles and sat on them.

 Notes and References

"... What SP and MT describe is first an overview of Jacob’s tent, before moving to Leah’s tent, and ending with the maidservants’ tents. Then the scene goes back to focus on an incident in the middle of the search, after Leah’s tent is searched and Laban goes to search Rachel’s. LXX was apparently bothered by this, especially since the summary statement makes no mention of Rachel’s tent, implying that after Leah came the maidservants’ tents, which would mean Rachel’s was last. To deal with this tension, the LXX—or more likely, its Vorlage (Hebrew original)—reorders the sequence, using phrases from the original presentation, placing Leah first, then Jacob’s, then the maidservants’ and finally Rachel’s. This strange order where Leah’s tent was searched first instead of Jacob’s was likely motivated by a desire to leave intact the phrase “leaving Leah’s, he entered…,” which reveals a contradiction within MT, SP and the Peshitta ..."

Tov, Emanuel Laban Searches for His Stolen Idols, Genesis 31:33 (pp. 1-3) Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2018

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