Genesis 31
Revised Geneva Translation
31 Now he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and he has gotten all this honor from our father’s goods.”
2 Also Jacob beheld the face of Laban, that it was not towards him as in times past.
3 And the LORD said to Jacob, “Return into the land of your fathers, and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
4 Therefore, Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock.
5 Then he said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not towards me as it used to be. But the God of my father has been with me.
6 “And you know that I have served your father with all my might.
7 “But your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times. Yet God did not allow him to hurt me.
8 “If he said thus: ‘The spotted shall be your wages’, then all the sheep bore spotted. And if he said thus: ‘The parti-colored shall be your reward’, then all the sheep bore parti-colored.
9 “Thus has God taken away your father’s substance and given it to me.
10 “For in breeding time, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats lept upon the female goats that were parti-colored with little and great spots spotted.
11 “And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I answered, ‘Lo, I am here.’
12 “And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes, now, and see all the male goats leaping upon the female goats that are parti-colored, spotted with little and great spots. For I have seen all that Laban does to you.
13 ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this country and return to the land where you were born.’”
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered, and said to him, “Do we have any more portion and inheritance in our father’s house?
15 “Does he not count us as strangers? For he has sold us and has eaten up and consumed our money.
16 “Therefore, all the riches which God has taken from our father is ours and our children’s. Now, then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
17 Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels.
18 And he carried away all his flocks, and all his substance which he had gotten (his riches which he had gotten in Padan Aram) to go to Isaac, his father, to the land of Canaan.
19 When Laban was gone to sheer his sheep, then Rachel stole her father’s idols.
20 Thus, Jacob stole away the heart of Laban the Aramite. For he did not tell him that he fled.
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and passed the river and set his face toward Mount Gilead.
22 And three days later, Laban was told that Jacob fled.
23 Then he took his brothers with him and followed after him seven days’ journey and overtook him at Mount Gilead.
24 And God came to Laban the Aramite in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
25 Then Laban overtook Jacob; and Jacob had pitched his tent on the Mount. And Laban, with his brothers, pitched upon Mount Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have even stolen away my heart and carried away my daughters, as though they had been taken captives with the sword.
27 “Why did you flee so secretly and steal away from me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you forth with mirth and with songs, with timbrel and with harp?
28 “But you have not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now, you have done foolishly in doing so.
29 “I am able to do you evil. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak neither good nor bad to Jacob.’
30 “Now, you went your way because you greatly longed after your father’s house. Yet why have you stolen my gods?”
31 Then Jacob answered, and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid and thought that you would have taken your daughters from me.
32 “With whomever you find your gods, let him not live. Search what I have in the presence of my brothers and take what is yours, (but Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)
33 Then Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maid’s tents, but did not find them. So, he went out of Leah’s tent and entered into Rachel’s tent
34 (now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the camel’s straw and sat down upon them). And Laban searched the entire tent but did not find them.
35 Then she said to her father, “My Lord, do not be angry but I cannot rise up before you. For the custom of women is upon me.” So, he searched but did not find the idols.
36 Then Jacob was angry and argued with Laban. Jacob also answered and said to Laban, “What have I trespassed? What have I offended, that you have pursued after me?
37 “Seeing you have searched all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Put it here before my brothers and your brothers, so that they may judge between us both.
38 “This past twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your goats have not miscarried their young; and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
39 “Whatever was torn by beasts I did not bring to you but made it good myself. Of my hand did you require it, were it stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 “I was consumed with heat in the day, and with frost in the night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.
41 “Thus have I been in your house twenty years. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your sheep; and you have changed my wages ten times.
42 “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely you would have sent me away now empty. But God beheld my tribulation, and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
43 Then Laban answered, and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these sons are my sons, and these sheep are my sheep, and all that you see is mine. And what can I do this day to these, my daughters, or to their sons which they have borne?
44 “Now, therefore, come let us make a covenant, you and I, which may be a witness between me and you.”
45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar:
46 And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” Who brought stones and made a heap; and they ate there upon the heap.
47 And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha; and Jacob called it Galeed.
48 For Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you this day.” Therefore, he called the name of it Galeed.
49 He also called it Mizpah, because he said, “The LORD keep watch between me and him, when we shall be departed one from another.
50 “If you shall afflict my daughters, or shall take wives beside my daughters, though no man with us, behold, God is witness between me and you.”
51 Moreover, Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set between me and you.
52 “This heap shall be witness, and the pillar shall be witness, so that I will not come over this heap to you, and so that you shall 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 be judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.
54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the Mount, and called his brothers to eat bread; and they ate bread and stayed on the Mount all night.
55 And early in the morning, Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban, departing, returned to his place.
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