Jacob Flees from Laban

1And Jacob heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, “Jacob has taken away everything that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.” 2And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not with him as yesterday and the day before yesterday.

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

4And Jacob sent and called for Rachel and for Leah to the field, to his flock, 5and he said to them, “I can see the face of your⁺ father, that it is not toward me as yesterday and the day before yesterday; and the God of my father has been with me. 6And you⁺ know that with all my strength I have served your⁺ father. 7And your⁺ father has deceived me, and has changed my wage ten times; and God did not allow him to do evil with me. 8If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The striped shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore stripes. 9And God has snatched away the livestock of your⁺ father and gave them to me.

10And it came to pass at the time the flock was conceiving, that I lifted my eyes and saw in the dream, and behold, the male goats going up on the flock were striped, speckled, and spotted. 11And the angel† of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’

And I said, ‘Behold, it is I.’

12And He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see, all the he-goats going up on 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, where you vowed to Me a vow. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”

14And Rachel and Leah answered and they said to him, “Is there still for us a portion and an inheritance in the house of our father? 15Are we not considered by him strangers, for he has sold us and he has indeed eaten our silver. 16For all the riches that God has snatched away from our father are ours and our children’s. And now, all that God has said to you—do.”

17And Jacob rose and lifted his sons and his wives on the camels, 18and he drove all his livestock, and all his possessions that he had gotten, the livestock of his acquiring that he had gotten in Paddan-aram,† to go to Isaac his father, in the land of Canaan.

19And Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that belonged to her father. 20And Jacob stole the heart† of Laban the Aramaean, by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21And he fled—he and all that was unto him—and He rose and he passed over the River† and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. 22And it was told to Laban

Laban Pursues Jacob

on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him a journey of seven days, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24And God came to Laban the Aramaean in a dream of the night and said to him, “Guard yourself, lest you speak to Jacob from good to evil.”

25And Laban overtook Jacob. And Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban pitched his tent with his brothers in the hill country of Gilead. 26And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? And you have stolen my heart, and you have driven my daughters like captives of the sword! 27Why have you fled secretly and stolen from me and not told me? And I would have sent you away with joy and with songs, with tambourines and with harps? 28And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters! Now you have acted foolishly in doing this.

29It is in the power of my hand to do with you⁺ evil; but the God of your⁺ father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Guard yourself from speaking with Jacob from good to evil.’ 30And you have surely gone away because you have surely longed for the house of your father. Why did you steal my gods?”

31And Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said: Lest you take by force your daughters from me. 32With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live; before our brothers discern what of yours is with me, and take it with you.” And Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33And Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and into the tent of Leah, and into the tent of the two maidservants, and he did not find anything. And he went out of the tent of Leah and entered into the tent of Rachel. 34And Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the saddle of the camel, and sat on them. And Laban felt all about the tent, and he did not find them.

35And she said to her father, “Do not let it burn in the eyes of my lord that I am not able to rise before you, for the way of women is with me.” And he searched and he did not find the teraphim.

36And Jacob's anger burned, and he strove with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued after me? 37For you have felt about all my things, what have you found of all the things of your house? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers, that they may judge between the two of us.

38These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten. 39That which was torn I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40There I was: In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost in the night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

41This is my twentieth year in your house. I served you four and ten years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wage ten times. 42Unless 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 toil of my hands and He judged last night.”

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

43And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. And for my daughters, what can I do to these today, or to their sons whom they have borne? 44And now, come, let us cut a covenant, I and you; and let it be a witness between me and between you.”

45And Jacob took a stone and raised it up as a pillar. 46And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. 47And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.†

48And Laban said, “This is the heap—a witness between me and between you today.”

Upon thus he called its name Galeed, 49and Mizpah,† because he said, “May YHWH watch between me and between you when we are hidden one from another. 50If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see that God is witness between me and between you.”

And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold, this is the heap, and behold, the pillar that I have placed between me and between you. 52This heap is a witness, and the pillar is 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 evil. 53The 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.

54And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the mountain, and he called his brothers to eat bread, and they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain. 55And Laban rose early in the morning and kissed his sons and his daughters, and he blessed them. And Laban departed and returned to his place.