Chapter 31

Chapter 31

1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, 'Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has made all this wealth.'

2 Jacob observed the expression of Laban, and it was not toward him as it had been yesterday and the day before.

3 The Self-Existent said to Jacob, 'Return to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and I will be with you.'

4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,

5 and he said to them, 'I see the expression of your father, that it is not toward me as it was yesterday and the day before; but The All-Powerful One of my father has been with me.

6 You know that with all my power I have served your father.

7 Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; but The All-Powerful One did not allow him to hurt me.

8 If he said, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he said, 'The streaked shall be your wages,' then all the flock brought forth streaked.

9 Thus The All-Powerful One has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

10 And it happened at the time when the flock were mating, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream that the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were streaked, speckled, and mottled.

11 The Messenger of The All-Powerful One said to me in the dream, 'Jacob!' and I said, 'Here I am.'

12 He said, 'Lift your eyes now and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are streaked, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

13 I am The All-Powerful One of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'

14 Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, 'Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

15 Are we not considered foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also completely consumed our money.

16 For all the wealth which The All-Powerful One has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, do all that The All-Powerful One has said to you.'

17 Then Jacob arose and set his children and his wives on camels;

18 and he drove away all his livestock and all the property which he had acquired, the livestock of his acquisition which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

19 Now Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s.

20 Jacob deceived the heart of Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he was fleeing.

21 So he fled with all that he had; he arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

22 When Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled,

23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for a seven days' journey; he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

24 The All-Powerful One came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, 'Be careful not to speak to Jacob either good or bad.'

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

26 Laban said to Jacob, 'What have you done, that you have deceived my heart and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

27 Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

28 and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly.

29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the All-Powerful One of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful not to speak to Jacob either good or bad.'

30 And now you have indeed gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why did you steal my household idols?'

31 Jacob answered and said to Laban, 'Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you take your daughters from me by force.'

32 The one with whom you find your household idols shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen, point out what is yours among my things and take it.' Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. He went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat upon them. Laban felt through all the tent but found nothing.

35 She said to her father, 'Let not my master be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.' So he searched but did not find the household idols.

36 Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. Jacob said to Laban, 'What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

37 Although you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household items? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may judge between the two of us.

38 These 20 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.

39 That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

41 These 20 years I have been in your house; I served you 14 years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages 10 times.

42 If The All-Powerful One of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. The All-Powerful One has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and He rebuked you last night.'

43 Laban answered and said to Jacob, 'The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?

44 So now, come, let us establish a binding agreement, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.'

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

46 Jacob said to his kinsmen, 'Gather stones.' And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

47 Laban named it Jegar-sahadutha (Heap of Witness), but Jacob named it Galeed (Heap of Witness).

48 Laban said, 'This heap is a witness between you and me this day.' Therefore it was named Galeed—

49 and Mizpah (Watchtower), for he said, 'May The Self-Existent watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.

50 If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other women besides my daughters, see—no man is with us; look, The All-Powerful One is witness between you and me.'

51 Laban said to Jacob, 'Look, this heap and the memorial pillar which I have set between you and me.

52 This heap is witness, and the memorial pillar is witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this memorial pillar to me, for harm.

53 The All-Powerful One of Abraham and the All-Powerful One of Nahor, the All-Powerful One of their father, judge between us.' Then Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

54 Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his kinsmen to eat bread; and they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

55 Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his sons and his daughters and bestowed the power of life upon them; then Laban departed and returned to his own place.