פירוש על בראשית 31:30

נכספתה means THOU DIDST LONG—It occurs many times in Scripture: (Psalms 89:3) “My soul yearneth (נכספה) yea, pineth”; (Job 14:15) “Thou wouldst have a desire (תכסוף) to the work of hands”.

ועתה Now that you have left without obtaining my permission and you misled me, I assume

ועתה הלוך הלכת, "When you left now, etc." Laban said: "since you have previously expressed your longing to see your father again, why did you choose to leave now in such a way that it looked like a flight?" Laban was leading up to what he expected Jacob's defence to be, namely that he was anxious to see his father. If so, he argued, why did you have to steal my תרפים, charms? Surely this makes your entire departure appear like a flight! You must have been afraid that the תרפים would reveal your where-abouts to me!

ועתה ...נכסף נכספתה, as per Onkelos, i.e. “even if you felt an overwhelming urge.” The word נכסוף with the vowel cholem is an infinitive mode in the passive conjugation, similar to Samuel I 20,21 נשאול נשאל.

כסף: sich nach etwas sehnen, daher wohl כֶסֶף: das, womit man alles ersehnt, alles erreichen kann.

Now you have gone. You must have run off in this manner because you so yearned for your father’s house.

אלוהי, he called his Teraphim “my gods,” as he and his kind of people relied on them just as we rely on the true G’d.

But why did you steal. Your yearning for your father’s house was no justification for stealing my gods.