Genesis 31:1-28 ▼

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.’”

14 Rachel and Leah answered him: “Do we still have an heir’s portion in our father’s house?

15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us!

16 All the wealth that God took away from our father really belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.”

17 Jacob proceeded to put his children and wives on camels,

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

19 Now Laban was away shearing his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father’s household images.

20 Jacob had hoodwinked Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was going to flee.

21 Thus he fled with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.

22 On the third day, word came to Laban that Jacob had fled.

23 Taking his kinsmen with him, he pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

24 But that night God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said to him: Take care not to say anything to Jacob.

25 When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob’s tents were pitched in the hill country; Laban also pitched his tents in the hill country of Gilead.

26 Laban said to Jacob, “How could you hoodwink me and carry off my daughters like prisoners of war?

27 Why did you dupe me by stealing away secretly? You did not tell me! I would have sent you off with joyful singing to the sound of tambourines and harps.

28 You did not even allow me a parting kiss to my daughters and grandchildren! Now what you have done makes no sense.