Chapter 31
1 Jacob heard Laban ’s sons ’ words , saying , " Jacob has taken away all that was our father ’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father ’s."
2 Jacob saw the expression on Laban ’s face , and , behold , it was not towards him as before .
3 The LORD said to Jacob , " Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives , and I will be with you ."
4 Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock ,
5 and said to them , " I see the expression on your father’s face , that it is not towards me as before ; but the God of my father has been with me .
6 You know that I have served your father with all of my strength .
7 Your father has deceived me , and changed my wages ten times , but God didn’t allow him to hurt me .
8 If he said, ‘ The speckled will be your wages ,’ then all the flock bore speckled . If he said, ‘ The streaked will be your wages ,’ then all the flock bore streaked.
9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock , and given them to me .
10 During mating season , I lifted up my eyes , and saw in a dream , and behold , the male goats which leapt on the flock were streaked, speckled , and grizzled.
11 The angel of God said to me in the dream , ‘ Jacob ,’ and I said, ‘ Here I am.’
12 He said, ‘ Now lift up your eyes , and behold , all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled , and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you .
13 I am the God of Bethel , where you anointed a pillar , where you vowed a vow to me . Now arise , get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth .’"
14 Rachel and Leah answered him , " Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house ?
15 Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him ? For he has sold us , and has also used up our money .
16 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are 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 on the camels ,
18 and he took away all his livestock , and all his possessions which he had gathered , including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram , to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan .
19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep ; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
20 Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away .
21 So he fled with all that he had . He rose up , passed over the River , and set his face towards the mountain of Gilead .
22 Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled .
23 He took his relatives with him , and pursued him seven days ’ journey . He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead .
24 God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night , and said to him , " Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad ."
25 Laban caught up with Jacob . Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain , and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead .
26 Laban said to Jacob , " What have you done , that you have deceived me , and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword ?
27 Why did you flee secretly , and deceive me , and didn’t tell me , that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs , with tambourine and with harp ;
28 and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters ? Now you have done foolishly .
29 It is in the power of my hand to hurt you , but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying , ‘ Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad .’
30 Now , you want to be gone , because you greatly longed for your father’s house , but why have you stolen my gods ?"
31 Jacob answered Laban , " Because I was afraid , for I said , ‘ Lest you should take your daughters from me by force .’
32 Anyone you find your gods with shall not live . Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me , and take it ." For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them .
33 Laban went into Jacob ’s tent, into Leah ’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them . He went out of Leah ’s tent, and entered into Rachel ’s tent.
34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim , put them in the camel ’s saddle , and sat on them . Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them .
35 She said to her father, "Don’t let my lord be angry that I can ’t rise up before you ; for I ’m having my period." He searched , but didn’t find the teraphim .
36 Jacob was angry , and argued with Laban . Jacob answered Laban , " What is my trespass ? What is my sin , that you have hotly pursued me ?
37 Now that you have felt around in all my stuff , what have you found of all your household stuff ? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two .
38 " These twenty years I have been with you . Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young , and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks .
39 That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you . I bore its loss . Of my hand you required it , whether stolen by day or stolen by night .
40 This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me , and the frost by night ; and my sleep fled from my eyes .
41 These twenty years I have 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 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac , had been with me , surely now you would have sent me away empty . God has seen my affliction and the labour of my hands , and rebuked you last night."
43 Laban answered Jacob , " The daughters are my daughters , the children are my children , the flocks are my flocks , and all that you see is mine ! What can I do today to these my daughters , or to their children whom they have borne ?
44 Now come , let ’s make a covenant , you and I . Let it be for a witness between me and you ."
45 Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar .
46 Jacob said to his relatives, " Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap . They ate there by the heap .
47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed .
48 Laban said , " This heap is witness between me and you today ." Therefore it was named Galeed
49 and Mizpah , for he said, " The LORD watch between me and you , when we are absent one from another .
50 If you afflict my daughters , or if you take wives in addition to my daughters , no man is with us ; behold , God is witness between me and you ."
51 Laban said to Jacob , " See this heap , and see the pillar , which I have set between me and you .
52 May this heap be a witness , and the pillar be a witness , that I will not pass over this heap to you , and that you will 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 ." Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac .
54 Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain , and called his relatives to eat bread . They ate bread , and stayed all night in the mountain .
55 Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.