John Chrysostom : What extraordinary folly—what kind of gods are these of yours that can be stolen? Aren't you ashamed to say, "Why did you steal my household gods?" See the extraordinary extent of Laban's selfdeception such that people endowed with reason should worship wood and stone. These gods of yours, Laban, could not prevent their being stolen. How could they, after all, being made out of stone? The God of this good man, on the contrary, even if the good man was unaware of it, checked your aggression. Are you ignorant of your own error while still charging the good man with theft? After all, why on earth would the good man bring himself to steal them when he despised them, or rather realized they were made of stone and had no feeling? Homilies on Genesis Augustine of Hippo : * (this story is not in the surviving works of Hippocrates) GENESIS CHAPTER 31 . THE GODS OF THE GENTILES NAMED FOR THE FIRST TIME. — Concerning what Laban says: Why have you stolen my gods? Perhaps you should think of the fact that he had said that he was making augury and that his daughter had spoken of good fortune. It should be noted that from the beginning of the book we find here for the first time the mention of the gods of the Gentiles. In the previous texts of the Scripture only God is mentioned. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 93 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)