Genesis 31:11-55 ▼

11 And the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ And I said, ‘Behold, it is I.’

12 And 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.

13 I 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.’”

14 And 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?

15 Are we not considered by him strangers, for he has sold us and he has indeed eaten our silver.

16 For 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.”

17 And Jacob rose and lifted his sons and his wives on the camels,

18 and 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.

19 And Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that belonged to her father.

20 And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramaean, by not telling him that he was fleeing.

21 And 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.

22 And it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

23 And 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.

24 And 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.”

25 And 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.

26 And 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!

27 Why 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?

28 And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters! Now you have acted foolishly in doing this.

29 It 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.’

30 And you have surely gone away because you have surely longed for the house of your father. Why did you steal my gods?”

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

32 With 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.

33 And 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.

34 And 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.

35 And 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.

36 And 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?

37 For 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.

38 These 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.

39 That 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.

40 There I was: In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost in the night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

41 This 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.

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 toil of my hands and He judged last night.”

43 And 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?

44 And now, come, let us cut a covenant, I and you; and let it be a witness between me and between you.”

45 And Jacob took a stone and raised it up as a pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

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

49 and Mizpah, because he said, “May YHWH watch between me and between you when we are hidden one from another.

50 If 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.”

51 And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold, this is the heap, and behold, the pillar that I have placed between me and between you.

52 This 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.

53 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.

54 And 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.

55 And 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.