Genesis 31:39-55 ▼

39 I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.

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

41 Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!

42 If the God {Elohe} of my father, the God of Abraham (father of many) and the Fear of Isaac (he laughs), had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”

43 But Laban (white) answered Jacob (he grasps the heel), “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?

44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”

45 So Jacob (he grasps the heel) picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,

46 and he (he grasps the heel) said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate.

47 Laban (white) called it Jegar-sahadutha (heap of witnesses), and Jacob (he grasps the heel) called it Galeed.

48 Then Laban (white) declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed (heap of witnesses).

49 It was also called Mizpah (watchtower), because Laban said, “May the LORD {YHWH} keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

50 If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God {Elohim} is a witness between you and me.”

51 Laban (white) also said to Jacob (he grasps the heel), “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.

52 This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me.

53 May the God {Elohe} of Abraham (father of many) and the God of Nahor (snorting), the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob (he grasps the heel) swore by the Fear of his father Isaac (he laughs).

54 Then Jacob (he grasps the heel) offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

55 Early the next morning, Laban (white) got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.