Genesis 31

Jacob Flees From Laban

31Jacob heard that Laban’s sons^s were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”^{t 2}And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.^u

³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back^v to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”^w

⁴So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. ⁵He said to them, “I see that your father’s^x attitude toward me is not what it was before,^y but the God of my father has been with me.^{z 6}You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength,^{a 7}yet your father has cheated^b me by changing my wages^c ten times.^d However, God has not allowed him to harm me.^{e 8}If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’^f then all the flocks bore streaked young. ⁹So God has taken away your father’s livestock^g and has given them to me.^h

¹⁰“In breeding season I once had a dreamⁱ in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. ¹¹The angel of God^j said to me in the dream,^k ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’^{l 12}And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted,^m for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.^{n 13}I am the God of Bethel,^o where you anointed a pillar^p and where you made a vow^q to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.^r’ ”

¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we still have any share^s in the inheritance of our father’s estate? ¹⁵Does he not regard us as foreigners?^t Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us.^{u 16}Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children.^v So do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob put his children and his wives^w on camels,^{x 18}and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated^y in Paddan Aram,^az to go to his father Isaac^a in the land of Canaan.^b

¹⁹When Laban had gone to shear his sheep,^c Rachel stole her father’s household gods.^{d 20}Moreover, Jacob deceived^e Laban the Aramean^f by not telling him he was running away.^{g 21}So he fled^h with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River,ⁱ and headed for the hill country of Gilead.^j

Laban Pursues Jacob

²²On the third day^k Laban was told that Jacob had fled.^{l 23}Taking his relatives^m with himⁿ, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.^{o 24}Then God came to Laban the Aramean^p in a dream at night and said to him,^q “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”^r

²⁵Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead^s when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done?^t You’ve deceived me,^u and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war.^{v 27}Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me,^w so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels^x and harps?^{y 28}You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye.^z You have done a foolish thing. ²⁹I have the power to harm you;^a but last night the God of your father^b said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’^{c 30}Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household.^d But why did you steal^e my gods?^f”

³¹Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.^{g 32}But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live.^h In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.ⁱ

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent^j and into the tent of the two female servants,^k but he found nothing.^l After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household gods^m and put them inside her camel’s saddleⁿ and was sitting on them. Laban searched^o through everything in the tent but found nothing.

³⁵Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence;^p I’m having my period.^q” So he searched but could not find the household gods.^r

³⁶Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged^s you that you hunt me down?^{t 37}Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household?^u Put it here in front of your relatives^v and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.^w

³⁸“I have been with you for twenty years now.^x Your sheep and goats have not miscarried,^y nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. ³⁹I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen^z by day or night.^{a 40}This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.^{b 41}It was like this for the twenty years^c I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters^d and six years for your flocks,^e and you changed my wages^f ten times.^{g 42}If the God of my father,^h the God of Abrahamⁱ and the Fear of Isaac,^j had not been with me,^k you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands,^l and last night he rebuked you.^m”

⁴³Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks.ⁿ All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now, let’s make a covenant,^o you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”^p

⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.^{q 46}He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap,^r and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.^bs

⁴⁸Laban said, “This heap^t is a witness between you and me today.”^u That is why it was called Galeed. ⁴⁹It was also called Mizpah,^cv because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. ⁵⁰If you mistreat^w my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness^x between you and me.”^y

⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap,^z and here is this pillar^a I have set up between you and me. ⁵²This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness,^b that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap^c and pillar to my side to harm me.^{d 53}May the God of Abraham^e and the God of Nahor,^f the God of their father, judge between us.”^g

So Jacob took an oath^h in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.^{i 54}He offered a sacrifice^j there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal.^k After they had eaten, they spent the night there.

⁵⁵Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters^l and blessed^m them. Then he left and returned home.^dn