Genesis 31

1He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

2And Jacob saw Laban’s face, and behold, it was not toward him as before.

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

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

5And he said to them, “I see that your father's face is not toward me as before, but the God of my father has been with me.”

6And you yourselves know that I have served your father with all my strength.

7Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to harm me.

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

9So God took away your father's livestock and gave it to me.

10And it happened at the time when the flock was mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats that were mounting 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.’

12And he said, “Please lift up your eyes and see: all the male goats that are mating with the flock are striped, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.”

13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.

14Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house?”

15Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has indeed completely consumed our money.

16For all the wealth that God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now, whatever God has said to you, do.

17Then Jacob arose and put his sons and his wives on the camels.

18And he drove all his livestock and all his possessions that he had acquired—the livestock he had acquired in Paddan-aram—to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

19Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father.

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

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

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

23And he took his kinsmen with him, and pursued him for a journey of 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 speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

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

26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have stolen my heart and driven my daughters away like captives of the sword?”

27Why did you hide yourself to flee and steal away from me, and not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with tambourine and lyre?

28And you did not let me kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have acted foolishly.

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

30And now, you have indeed gone away, because you longed greatly for your father's house. Why did you steal my gods?

31Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’”

32Whoever is found with your gods shall not live. In the presence of our brothers, identify what of yours is with me, and take it for yourself.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

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

34Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle cushion, and sat on them. Laban felt through the whole tent, but did not find them.

35And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry in my sight that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched, but did not find the household idols.

36Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have pursued me?”

37Since you have searched through all my goods, what have you found of all the goods of your house? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers, and let them judge 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 to you an animal torn by beasts; I myself bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40By day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

41These 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 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, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands, and he judged last night.

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

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

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

46Then Jacob said to his brothers, “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.

48And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between me and you today.” Therefore he called its name Galeed.

49And Mizpah, because he said, “May Yahweh watch between me and you when we are hidden from each other.”

50If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters—though no man is with us—see, God is witness between me and you.

51Then Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this mound, and look at the pillar that I have set up between me and you.”

52This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap toward you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar toward me for harm.

53May 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.

54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brothers to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.