Gen 31
1
And he heard the words of Laban`s sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was
our father`s; and of that which was our father`s has he gotten all this glory.
2
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime.
3
And YHWH said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to your kindred; and
I will be with you.
4
And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,
5
and said to them, I see your father`s countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime;
but the God of my father has been with me.
6
And you know that will all my power I have served your father.
7
And your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered
him not to hurt me.
8
If he said thus, The speckled shall be your wages; then all the flock bare speckled:
and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be your wages; then bare all the flock
ringstreaked.
9
Thus God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
10
And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up mine eyes,
and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked,
speckled, and grizzled.
11
And the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here am I.
12
And he said, Lift up now your eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the
flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban does
to you.
13
I am the God of Beth-el, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me:
now arise, get you out from this land, and return to the land of your nativity.
14
And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance
for us in our father`s house?
15
Are we not accounted by him as foreigners? for he has sold us, and has also quite
devoured our money.
16
For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our
children`s: now then, whatever God has said to you, do.
17
Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;
18
and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the
cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father
to the land of Canaan.
19
Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her
father`s.
20
And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he
fled.
21
So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River, and set
his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
22
And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
23
And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days` journey; and
he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
24
And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, Take heed
to yourself that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
25
And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and
Laban with his brethren encamped in the mountain of Gilead.
26
And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done, that you have stolen away unawares to
me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?
27
Wherefore did you flee secretly, and steal away from me, and did not tell me, that
I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp;
28
and did not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? now have you done foolishly.
29
It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spoke to
me yesternight, saying, Take heed to yourself that you speak not to Jacob either good
or bad.
30
And now, [though] you would needs be gone, because you sore longed after your father`s
house, [yet] wherefore have you stolen my gods?
31
And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest you should
take your daughters from me by force.
32
With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live: before our brethren discern you
what is yours with me, and take it to you. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen
them.
33
And Laban went into Jacob`s tent, and into Leah`s tent, and into the tent of the two
maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah`s tent, and entered
into Rachel`s tent.
34
Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel`s saddle, and sat upon
them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not.
35
And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before
you; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the teraphim.
36
And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What
is my trespass? what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?
37
Whereas you have felt about all my stuff, what have you found of all your household
stuff? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between
us two.
38
These twenty years have I been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not cast
their young, and the rams of your flocks have I not eaten.
39
That which was torn of beasts I brought not to you; I bare the loss of it; of my hand
did you require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40
Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep
fled from mine eyes.
41
These twenty years have I been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your
two daughters, and six years for your flock: and you have changed my wages ten times.
42
Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been with
me, surely now had you sent me away empty. God has seen mine affliction and the labor
of my hands, and rebuked you yesternight.
43
And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the children
are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what
can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?
44
And now come, let us make a covenant, I and you; and let it be for a witness between
me and you.
45
And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
46
And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap:
and they did eat there by the heap.
47
And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.
48
And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and you this day. Therefore was the
name of it called Galeed:
49
and Mizpah, for he said, YHWH watch between me and you, when we are absent one from
another.
50
If you shall afflict my daughters, and if you shall take wives besides my daughters,
no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and you.
51
And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set
between me and you.
52
This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap
to you, and that you shall not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53
The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.
And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
54
And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread:
and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain.
55
And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and
blessed them: and Laban departed and returned to his place.