Genesis 31

Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

1Now 1Jacob 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 2wealth.” 2Jacob saw the 3attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. 3Then the Lord said to Jacob, “4Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and 5I will be with you.” 4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5and said to them, “6I see your father’s 7attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but 8the God of my father has been with me. 69You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7Yet your father has 10cheated me and 11changed my wages ten times; however, 12God did not allow him to hurt me. 8If 13he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped. 9Thus God has 14taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10And it came about at the time when the flock were 15mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were 16mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11Then 17the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are 18mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for 19I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am 20the God of Bethel, where you 21anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, 22leave this land, and 23return to the land of your birth.’” 14Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? 15Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For 24he has sold us, and has also 25entirely consumed 26our purchase price. 16Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”

17Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; 18and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, 27to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the 2829household idols that were her father’s. 20And Jacob 30deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of 31Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

22When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23then he took his 32kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 2433God came to Laban the Aramean in a 34dream of the night and said to him, “3536Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

25Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his 37kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done 38by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27Why did you flee secretly and 39deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with 40timbrel and with 41lyre; 28and did not allow me 42to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29It is in 43my power to do you harm, but 44the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘4546Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ 30Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal 47my gods?” 31Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 3248The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our 49kinsmen 50point out what is yours 51among my belongings and take it for yourself.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the 52household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. 35She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot 53rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the 5455household idols.

36Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? 37Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my 56kinsmen and your 57kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. 38These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40Thus I was: by day the 58heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41These twenty years I have been in your house; 59I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you 60changed my wages ten times. 42If 61the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. 62God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He 63rendered judgment last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

43Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and 64the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? 44So now come, let us 65make a covenant, 66you and I, and 67let it be a witness between 68you and me.” 45Then Jacob took 69a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46Jacob said to his 70kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47Now Laban 71called it 72Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it 73Galeed. 48Laban said, “74This heap is a witness between 75you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49and 7677Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between 78you and me when we are 79absent one from the other. 50If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, 80God is witness between 81you and me.” 51Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between 82you and me. 52This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 5383The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, 84judge between us.” So Jacob swore by 85the fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob 86offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his 87kinsmen to 88the meal; and they ate 89the meal and spent the night on the mountain. 5590Early in the morning Laban arose, and 91kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.