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.” 2And Jacob saw the 3attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before. 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 word 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 it was before, 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 do me harm. 8If 13he 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. 9So God has 14taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10And 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 15mating were striped, speckled, or mottled. 11Then 16the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are 17mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for 18I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am 19the God of Bethel, where you 20anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, 21leave this land, and 22return to the land of your birth.’” 14Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house? 15Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For 23he has sold us, and has also 24entirely consumed our 25purchase 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 told you.”

17Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels; 18and 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, 26to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the 2728household idols that were her father’s. 20And Jacob 29deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set 30out for the hill country of 31Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

22When Laban was informed on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24However, 32God came to Laban the Aramean in a 33dream of the night and said to him, “3435Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

25And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done 36by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27Why did you flee secretly and 37deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with 38tambourine and with 39lyre; 28and did not allow me 40to kiss my 41grandchildren and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29It is in 42my power to do you harm, but 43the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘4445Be 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 46my gods?” 31Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 3247The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives 48point out what is yours 49among my belongings and take it for yourself.” Now 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 slave women, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the 50household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. So Laban searched through all the tent, but did not find them. 35And she said to her father, “May my lord not be angry that I cannot 51stand in your presence, because the 52way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the 5354household idols.

36Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? 37Though you have searched through all my property, what have you found of all your household property? Set it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide between the two of us. 38For these 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. 39I did not even bring to you that which was torn by wild animals; I took the loss myself. You demanded it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40This is how I was: by day the 55heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41For these twenty years I have been in your house; 56I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you 57changed my wages ten times. 42If 58the 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. 59God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, so He 60rendered judgment last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

43Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the 61children are my 62grandchildren, 63the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth? 44So now come, let’s 64make a covenant, 65you and I, and 66it shall be a witness between 67you and me.” 45Then Jacob took 68a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. 46Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47Now Laban 69called it 70Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it 71Galeed. 48Laban said, “72This heap is a witness between 73you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49and 7475Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord keep watch between 76you and me when we are 77absent one from the other. 50If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, 78God is witness between 79you and me.” 51Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between 80you and me. 52This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone 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 memorial stone to me, for harm. 5381The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, 82judge between us.” So Jacob swore by 83the fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob 84offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to 85the meal; and they ate 86the meal and spent the night on the mountain. 5587Then early in the morning Laban got up, and 88kissed his 89grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.