Genesis 31:8-41

8If 1he 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 2taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10And it came about at the time when the flock were 3mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were 4mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11Then 5the 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 6mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for 7I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am 8the God of Bethel, where you 9anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, 10leave this land, and 11return 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 12he has sold us, and has also 13entirely consumed 14our 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, 15to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the 1617household idols that were her father’s. 20And Jacob 18deceived 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 19Gilead.

22When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23then he took his 20kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 2421God came to Laban the Aramean in a 22dream of the night and said to him, “2324Be 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 25kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done 26by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27Why did you flee secretly and 27deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with 28timbrel and with 29lyre; 28and did not allow me 30to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29It is in 31my power to do you harm, but 32the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘3334Be 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 35my gods?” 31Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 3236The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our 37kinsmen 38point out what is yours 39among 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 40household 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 41rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the 4243household 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 44kinsmen and your 45kinsmen, 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 46heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41These twenty years I have been in your house; 47I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you 48changed my wages ten times.