Genesis 31:1-21

New American Standard Bible

Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Now ^[a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ^[b]wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^[c]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “^(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and ^(B)I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and said to them, “^(C)I see your father’s ^[d]attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but ^(D)the God of my father has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has ^(F)cheated me and ^(G)changed my wages ten times; however, ^(H)God did not allow him to do me harm. ⁸ If ^(I)he said this: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered speckled; and if he said this: ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered striped. ⁹ So God has ^(J)taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ And it came about at the time when the flock was breeding that I raised my eyes and saw in a dream—and behold—the male goats that were ^[e]mating were striped, speckled, or mottled. ¹¹ Then ^(K)the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are ^[f]mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for ^(L)I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am ^(M)the God of Bethel, where you ^(N)anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ^[g]leave this land, and ^(O)return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(P)he has sold us, and has also ^[h]entirely consumed our ^[i]purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he possessed which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, ^(Q)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the ^[j](R)household idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[k]deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set ^[l]out for the hill country of ^(S)Gilead.