Genesis 29:15
He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have.
Open Genesis 29:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- dixit ei : Num quia frater meus es, gratis servies mihi ? dic quid mercedis accipias.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- εἶπεν δὲ Λαβὰν τῷ Ἰακώβ Ὅτι γὰρ ἀδελφός μου εἶ, οὐ δουλεύσεις μοι δωρεάν· ἀπάγγειλόν μοι τίς ὁ μισθός σού ἐστιν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָבָן֙ לְיַעֲקֹ֔ב הֲכִי אָחִ֣י אַ֔תָּה וַעֲבַדְתַּ֖נִי חִנָּ֑ם הַגִּ֥ידָה לִּ֖י מַה מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּֽךָ
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter II. 12-21
2. “He went down,” as the evangelist says, “to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His brethren, and His disciples; and they continued there not many days.” Behold He has a mother, and brethren, and disciples: whence He has a mother, thence brethren. For our Scripture is wont to call them brethren, not only that are sprung from the same man and woman, or from the same mother, or from the same father, though by different mothers; or, in truth, that are of the same degree as cousins by the father’s or mother’s side: not these alone is our Scripture wont to call brethren. The Scripture must be understood as it speaks. It has its own language; one who does not know this language is perplexed and says, Whence had the Lord brethren? For surely Mary did not give birth a second time? Far from it! With her begins the dignity of virgins. …
St Jerome The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary
16. Now here we have the explanation of what I am endeavouring to show, how it is that the sons of Mary, the sister of our Lord’s mother, who though not formerly believers afterwards did believe, can be called brethren of the Lord. Possibly the case might be that one of the brethren believed immediately while the others did not believe until long after, and that one Mary was the mother of James and Joses, namely, “Mary of Clopas,” who is the same as the wife of Alphæus, the other, the mother of James the less. In any case, if she (the latter) had been the Lord’s mother S. John would have allowed her the title, as everywhere else, and would not by calling her the mother of other sons have given a wrong impression. …