Genesis 31:1–16

Jacob Flees from Laban

31Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” ²And Jacob saw ^athat Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^b“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵and said to them, ^c“I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father ^dhas been with me. ^6eYou know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ^ften times. But God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸If he said, ^g‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹Thus God has ^htaken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. ¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ ¹²And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for ⁱI have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, ^jwhere you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now ^karise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’ ” ¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there ^lany portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^mhe has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. ¹⁶All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”