Genesis 31:1–16

Jacob Flees with Family and Flocks

³¹Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s; he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” ²And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as favorably as he did before. ³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”^{* 4}So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me as favorably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.^{* 6}You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me.^{* 8}If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled, and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.^{* 9}Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰“During the mating of the flock I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats that leaped upon the flock were striped, speckled, and mottled. ¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’^{* 12}And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the goats that leap on the flock are striped, speckled, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and return to the land of your birth.’ ”^{* 14}Then Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?^{* 15}Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us. ¹⁶All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”