Genesis 31:38

38 These twenty years I [was] with you; your ewes and your female goats did not miscarry, and the rams of your flocks I did not eat.

Genesis 31:38 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 31:38

This twenty years [have] I been [with] thee
So that he now must have been ninety seven years of age: thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young:
or very few of them: it was a rare case for any to be abortive, if ever: this, though owing to the blessing of God, was for Jacob's sake, and, under God, to be ascribed to his care and diligence in watching and keeping the flock, and doing everything needful for them: and the rams of the flock have I not eaten:
being content with meaner food, as lentil pottage and the like; see the contrary of this in shepherds, ( Ezekiel 34:3 ) .

Genesis 31:38 In-Context

36 Then Jacob became angry and quarreled with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, "What [is] my offense? What [is] my sin that you pursued after me?

37 For you have searched all my possessions and what did you find among all the possessions of my household? Set it before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between the two of us!

38 These twenty years I [was] with you; your ewes and your female goats did not miscarry, and the rams of your flocks I did not eat.

39 I brought no mangled carcass to you--I bore its loss. From my hand you sought it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 [There] I was, during the day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.