C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on Genesis 31:31-32

Gen 31:31-32

The first, Jacob met by pleading his fear lest Laban should take away his daughters (keep them back by force). “For I said:” equivalent to “for I thought.” But Jacob knew nothing of the theft; hence he declared, that with whomsoever he might find the gods he should be put to death, and told Laban to make the strictest search among all the things that he had with him. “Before our brethren,” i.e., the relations who had come with Laban, as being impartial witnesses (cf. Gen 31:37); not, as Knobel thinks, before Jacob’s horde of male and female slaves, of women and of children.