Genesis 31
Jacob Leaves While Laban Is Gone
31Then 1Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this 2wealth.” 2And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. 3Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and bI will be with you.” 4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5and he said to them, “aI see your father’s face, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but bthe God of my father has been with me. 6“aYou also know that I have served your father with all my power. 7“Yet your father has acheated me and bchanged my wages ten times; however, cGod did not allow him to harm me. 8“If ahe spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. 9“Thus God has adelivered your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10“Now it happened at the time when the flock were 1mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were 2mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11“Then athe angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12“He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are 1mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for aI have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13‘I am athe God of Bethel, where you banointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, 1leave this land, and creturn to the land of your kin.’” 14Then Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? 15“Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For ahe has sold us and has also 1entirely consumed 2our purchase price. 16“Surely all the riches which God has delivered over to us from our father belong to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”
17Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; 18and he drove away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had accumulated, his acquired livestock which he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, in order ato go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the 1,ahousehold idols that were her father’s. 20And Jacob 1deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the 1River and set his face toward the hill country of aGilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22Then it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled; 23so he took his 1relatives with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24aAnd God came to Laban the Aramean in a bdream of the night and said to him, “1,cBeware lest you speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his 1relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done 1by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27“Why did you flee secretly and 1deceive me and not tell me—so that I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with atambourine and with blyre— 28and not allow me ato kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly. 29“It is in my hand to do evil against you, but athe God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘1,bBeware of speaking either good or evil to Jacob.’ 30“So now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal amy gods?” 31Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, because I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ 32“aThe one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our 1relatives recognize what is yours 2among my belongings and take it for yourself.” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the 1household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. 35And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot arise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the 1,bhousehold idols.
36Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? 37“Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Place it here before my 1relatives and your 2relatives, that they may decide between us two. 38“These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39“That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40“Thus I was: by day the 1heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41“These twenty years I have been in your house; aI served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you bchanged my wages ten times. 42“If athe God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the dread of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. bGod has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He crendered the decision last night.”
The Covenant at Mizpah
43Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and athe flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children whom they have borne? 44“So now come, let us acut a covenant, 1you and I, and blet it be a witness between 2you and me.” 45Then Jacob took aa stone and raised it up as a pillar. 46And Jacob said to his 1relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47And Laban acalled it 1Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it 2Galeed. 48Then Laban said, “aThis heap is a witness between 1you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49and 1,aMizpah, for he said, “May Yahweh watch between 2you and me when we are 3absent one from the other. 50“If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, aGod is witness between 1you and me.” 51And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between 1you and me. 52“This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me for harm. 53“aThe God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, bjudge between us.” So Jacob swore by cthe dread of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob aoffered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his 1relatives to eat a 2meal; and they ate 3the meal and spent the night on the mountain. 551And Laban arose early in the morning and akissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.