Genesis 31:1-13 ▼

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

2 Jacob perceived, too, that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had previously been.

3 Then the LORD said to Jacob: Return to the land of your ancestors, where you were born, and I will be with you.

4 So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flock was.

5 There he said to them: “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me.

6 You know well that with all my strength I served your father;

7 yet your father cheated me and changed my wages ten times. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.

8 Whenever your father said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wages,’ the entire flock would bear streaked young.

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

10 Once, during the flock’s mating season, I had a dream in which I saw he-goats mating that were streaked, speckled and mottled.

11 In the dream God’s angel said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am!’

12 Then he said: ‘Look up and see. All the he-goats that are mating are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you.

13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a sacred pillar and made a vow to me. Get up now! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.’”