Genesis 31:22–44

Laban Pursues Jacob

22 On the third dayk Laban was told that Jacob had fled.l 23 Taking his relativesm 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 Arameanp in a dream at night and said to him,q “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”r

25 Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gileads when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 26 Then 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 timbrelsx and harps?y 28 You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye.z You have done a foolish thing. 29 I have the power to harm you;a but last night the God of your fatherb 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 steale my gods?f”

31 Jacob 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

33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tentj 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. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household godsm and put them inside her camel’s saddlen and was sitting on them. Laban searchedo through everything in the tent but found nothing.

35 Rachel 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

36 Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wrongeds 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 relativesv 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. 39 I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolenz 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 yearsc I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughtersd and six years for your flocks,e and you changed my wagesf 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”

43 Laban 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? 44 Come now, let’s make a covenant,o you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”p