Genesis 31

1Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned, and he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”

2And Jacob saw that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been before.

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

4So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where his flock was,

5and he said to them, “I can see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before. But the God of my father has been with me.

6You know that I have worked for your father with all my strength,

7yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not allow him to harm me.

8If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled young. And if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked young.

9So God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

10Once, at the time when the flock was mating, I looked up and saw in a dream that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and mottled.

11The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

12He said, ‘Look up and see: all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, and mottled, for I have seen everything Laban has been doing to you.

13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now get up, leave this land, and go back to the land of your birth.’ ”

14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left for us in our father’s house?

15Does he not regard us as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has used up all the money paid for us.

16All the wealth God has taken away from our father really belongs to us and to our children. So now do whatever God has told you.”

17Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,

18and he drove off all his livestock and all the property he had gained, the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.

20And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.

21So he fled with all that he had. He set out and crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

23So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

25Laban caught up with Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead.

26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives taken in war.

27Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, instead of telling me? I would have sent you off with joy and songs, with tambourines and lyres.

28You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have acted foolishly.

29It is in my power to harm you, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

30Now you have gone off because you longed so much for your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?”

31Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.

32But if you find your gods with anyone here, that person will not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if there is anything of yours with me, and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two servant women, but he did not find them. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent.

34Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban felt all through the tent but did not find them.

35Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence, for I am having my period.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

36Then Jacob became angry and took Laban to task. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my crime? What is my sin, that you have chased after me so hotly?

37You have felt through all my goods. What have you found of all your household goods? Put it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, and let them decide between the two of us.

38These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.

39I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. You demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or stolen by night.

40This is how it was with me: the heat consumed me by day and the cold by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

41These twenty years I have been in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.

42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed by now. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he gave his verdict.”

43Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and everything you see is mine. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?

44So come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

46Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

48Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was named Galeed,

49and also Mizpah, because he said, “May Yahweh keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.

50If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”

51Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.

52This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to you, and you will not go past this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.

53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and invited his relatives to share the meal. They ate the meal and spent the night in the hill country.

55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home.