Genesis 31:22-55
Amplified Bible
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25 Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban with his relatives camped on the same hill of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword? 27 Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not allow me to kiss my [a]grandchildren and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have done a foolish thing [in behaving like this]. 29 It is in my power to harm you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you [b]were homesick for your father’s house and family; but why did you steal my [household] [c]gods?” 31 Jacob answered Laban, “[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32 The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [search my possessions and] point out whatever you find that belongs to you and take it.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban searched through all her tent, but did not find them. 35 So Rachel said to her father, “Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell.” He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.
36 Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. And he said to Laban, “What is my fault? What is my sin that you pursued me like this? 37 Although you have searched through all my possessions, what have you found of your household goods? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide [who has done right] between the two of us. 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not lost their young, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 I did not bring you the torn carcasses [of the animals attacked by predators]; I [personally] took the loss. You required of me [to make good] everything that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or night. 40 This was my situation: by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and [d]I could not sleep. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for [my share of] your flocks, and you have [e]changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and [the Feared One] of Isaac, had not been with me, most certainly you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [exhausting] labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment and rebuked you last night.”
The Covenant of Mizpah
43 Laban answered Jacob, “These [f]women [that you married] are my daughters, these children are my [g]grandchildren, these flocks are [from] my flocks, and all that you see [here] is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children to whom they have given birth? 44 So come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a [memorial] pillar. 46 Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound [of stones], and they ate [a ceremonial meal together] there on the mound [of stones].(A) 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha (stone monument of testimony in [h]Aramaic), but Jacob called it [i]Galeed. 48 Laban said, “This mound [of stones] is a witness [a reminder of the oath taken] today between you and me.” Therefore he [also] called the name Galeed, 49 and Mizpah ([j]watchtower), for Laban said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another. 50 If you should mistreat (humiliate, oppress) my daughters, or if you should take other wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us [as a witness], see and remember, God is witness between you and me.” 51 Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this mound [of stones] and look at this pillar which I have set up between you and me. 52 This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this mound to harm you, and that you will not pass by this mound and this pillar to harm me. 53 The God of Abraham [your father] and the God of Nahor [my father], and the [k]god [the image of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolater], judge between us.” But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Fear of his father Isaac.(B) 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice [to the Lord] on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate food and spent the night on the mountain. 55 Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his [l]grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 31:28 Lit sons.
- Genesis 31:30 Lit longed greatly.
- Genesis 31:30 Laban was upset because possession of the father’s household gods played an important role in inheritance. In the region where Laban lived, a son-in-law who possessed the family gods could appear before a judge and make a claim to the estate of his father-in-law. Since Jacob’s possession of the household gods implied the right to inherit Laban’s wealth, one can understand why he followed Jacob to recover the idols.
- Genesis 31:40 Lit sleep fled from my eyes.
- Genesis 31:41 I.e. cheated me as often as possible.
- Genesis 31:43 Lit daughters.
- Genesis 31:43 Lit children.
- Genesis 31:47 The language of Laban, who was an Aramean (v 20). The two names chosen by Laban and Jacob were equivalent.
- Genesis 31:47 Heb heap of witness.
- Genesis 31:49 The stone mound evidently was tall enough to be considered a place from which one could see at a distance. The thought behind it was that the Lord would watch them when they could not watch each other, and He would see and deal with any mistreatment committed by either of them (see v 50).
- Genesis 31:53 Here “god” is put in lowercase because Joshua later declared that Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, was an idolater, serving “other gods” (Josh 24:2). The wording of the Hebrew here indicates that Laban equated the God of Abraham and Nahor with the god of Terah. Whether Laban actually made no distinction in his mind between the true God and false gods, or simply committed an oversight, is not clear. Jacob evidently recognized the ambiguity in Laban’s statement as well, so to avoid any possibility of swearing allegiance to a false god, he swore his own oath by the God of Isaac.
- Genesis 31:55 Lit sons.
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