Genesis 31
1 But after that he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying: Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s, and being enriched by his substance is become great:
Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”
2 And perceiving also that Laban’s countenance was not towards him as yesterday and the other day,
And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.
3 Especially the Lord saying to him: Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.
Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
4 He sent, and called Rachel and Lia into the field, where he fed the flocks,
So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were,
5 And said to them: I see your father’s countenance is not towards me as yesterday and the other day: but the God of my father hath been with me.
and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.
6 And you know that I have served your father to the uttermost of my power.
You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
7 Yea, your father also hath overreached me, and hath changed my wages ten times: and yet God hath not suffered him to hurt me.
And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
8 If at any time he said: The speckled shall be thy wages: all the sheep brought forth speckled: but when he said on the contrary: Thou shalt take all the white ones for thy wages: all the flocks brought forth white ones.
If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.
9 And God hath taken your father’s substance, and given it to me.
Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
10 For after that time came of the ewes conceiving, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in my sleep that the males which leaped upon the females were of divers colours, and spotted, and speckled.
When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.
11 And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob? And I answered: Here I am.
In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’
12 And he said: Lift up thy eyes, and see that all the males leaping upon the females, are of divers colours, spotted, and speckled. For I have seen all that Laban hath done to thee.
‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.
13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou didst anoint the stone, and make a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and go out of this land, and return into thy native country.
I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”
14 And Rachel and Lia answered: Have we any thing left among the goods and inheritance of our father’s house?
And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house?
15 Hath he not counted us as strangers and sold us, and eaten up the price of us?
Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
16 But God hath taken our father’s riches, and delivered them to us, and to our children: wherefore do all that God hath commanded thee.
Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
17 Then Jacob rose up, and having set his children and wives upon camels, went his way.
Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,
18 And he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went forward to Isaac his father to the land of Chanaan.
and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.
19 At that time Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole away her father’s idols.
Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
20 And Jacob would not confess to his father in law that he was flying away.
Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.
21 And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad,
So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.
22 It was told Laban on the third day that Jacob fled.
On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.
23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days; and overtook him in the mount of Galaad.
So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
24 And he saw in a dream God saying to him: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.
But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25 Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and when he with his brethren had overtaken him, he pitched his tent in the same mount of Galaad.
Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well.
26 And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away, without my knowledge, my daughters, as captives taken with the sword.
Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!
27 Why wouldst thou run away privately and not acquaint me, that I might have brought thee on the way with joy, and with songs, and with timbrels, and with harps?
Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.
28 Thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and daughters: thou hast done foolishly: and now, indeed,
But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing.
29 It is in my power to return thee evil: but the God of your father said to me yesterday: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.
I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
30 Suppose thou didst desire to go to thy friends, and hadst a longing after thy father’s house: why hast thou stolen away my gods?
Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
31 Jacob answered: That I departed unknown to thee, it was for fear lest thou wouldst take away thy daughters by force.
“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
32 But whereas thou chargest me with theft: with whomsoever thou shalt find thy gods, let him be slain before our brethren. Search, and if thou find any of thy things with me, take them away. Now when he said this, he knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.
If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33 So Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and of Lia, and of both the handmaids, and found them not. And when he was entered into Rachel’s tent,
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34 She in haste hid the idols under the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them: and when he had searched all the tent, and found nothing,
Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.
35 She said: Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee, because it has now happened to me, according to the custom of women, So his careful search was in vain.
Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.
36 And Jacob being angry, said in a chiding manner: For what fault of mine, and for what offence on my part hast thou so hotly pursued me,
Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me?
37 And searched all my household stuff? What hast thou found of all the substance of thy house? lay it here before my brethren, and thy brethren, and let them judge between me and thee.
You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us.
38 Have I therefore been with thee twenty years? thy ewes and goats were not barren, the rams of thy flocks I did not eat:
I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.
39 Neither did I show thee that which the beast had torn, I made good all the damage: whatsoever was lost by theft, thou didst exact it of me:
I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.
40 Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep departed from my eyes.
As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
41 And in this manner have I served thee in thy house twenty years, fourteen for thy daughters, and six for thy flocks: thou hast changed also my wages ten times.
Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
42 Unless the God of my father Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had stood by me, peradventure now thou hadst sent me away naked: God beheld my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesterday.
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”
43 Laban answered him: The daughters are mine and the children, and thy flocks, and all things that thou seest are mine: what can I do to my children, and grandchildren?
But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?
44 Come therefore, let us enter into a league: that it may be for a testimony between me and thee.
Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”
45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a title:
So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,
46 And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it.
and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate.
47 And Laban called it The witness heap: and Jacob, The hillock of testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.
Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
48 And Laban said: This heap shall be a witness between me and thee this day, and therefore the name thereof was called Galaad, that is, The witness heap.
Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.
49 The Lord behold and judge between us when we shall be gone one from the other.
It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.
50 If thou afflict my daughters, and if thou bring in other wives over them: none is witness of our speech but God, who is present and beholdeth.
If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
51 And he said again to Jacob: Behold, this heap, and the stone which I have set up between me and thee,
Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.
52 Shall be a witness: this heap, I say, and the stone, be they for a testimony, if either I shall pass beyond it going towards thee, or thou shalt pass beyond it, thinking harm to me.
This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me.
53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nachor, the God of their father, judge between us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
54 And after he had offered sacrifices in the mountain, he called his brethren to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there:
Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.
55 But Laban arose in the night, and kissed his sons, and daughters, and blessed them: and returned to his place.
Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.
