Discovery BoxGenesis 31:3 
Context31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers 1 and to your relatives. I will be with you.” 2
Genesis 31:42
Context31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears 3 – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, 4 and he rebuked you last night.”
1 tn Or perhaps “ancestors” (so NRSV), although the only “ancestors” Jacob had there were his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac.
2 sn I will be with you. Though Laban was no longer “with him,” the
3 tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.
4 tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”
