Genesis 31

1 Someone told Jacob that Laban’s sons were complaining and saying, “Jacob has become very rich by taking everything [HYP] that belonged to our father.”

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:

2 And Jacob noticed that Laban was not acting friendly toward him as he had done before.

And perceiving also that Laban’s countenance was not towards him as yesterday and the other day,

3 Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will help you there.”

Especially the Lord saying to him: Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.

4 So Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah, telling them to come out to the pastures where his flocks of sheep and goats were.

He sent, and called Rachel and Lia into the field, where he fed the flocks,

5 When they arrived, he said to them, “I see that your father does not act friendly toward me as he did previously. But God, whom my father worshiped, has helped me.

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.

6 You two know that I have worked very hard for your father,

And you know that I have served your father to the uttermost of my power.

7 but many times [HYP] he has cheated me by decreasing my wages. But God has not allowed him to harm me.

Yea, your father also hath overreached me, and hath changed my wages ten times: and yet God hath not suffered him to hurt me.

8 When Laban said, ‘The speckled animals are the ones that I will give you to be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to young ones that were speckled. When he changed and said, ‘The ones that have black and white stripes on them will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to young ones that were striped.

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.

9 In that way, God has taken away the livestock that belonged to your father and has given them to me.

And God hath taken your father’s substance, and given it to me.

10 “One time, when the animals were mating, I had a dream. In my dream I [looked up and was surprised to] see that some of the male goats that were mating with the female goats had black and white stripes on them, some were speckled, and some were spotted.

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.

11 An angel who was sent by God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ I replied, ‘I am here!’

And the angel of God said to me in my sleep: Jacob? And I answered: Here I am.

12 He said to me, ‘Look up and you will see that all the male goats that are mating have black and white stripes on them, or are speckled or spotted. This is happening because I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

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.

13 I am God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you set up a stone to show that the place was holy, and you poured [olive] oil on the stone and made a solemn promise to me. So now leave this land immediately, and return to the land where you were born.’”

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.

14 Rachel and Leah replied, “Our father will not give us anything more when he dies [RHQ].

And Rachel and Lia answered: Have we any thing left among the goods and inheritance of our father’s house?

15 He treats us as though we were foreigners [RHQ]! [Your working for him all these years was like a payment] that you gave him as a price for us, but we will not inherit any of that money that he got as a price for us. He has spent it all!

Hath he not counted us as strangers and sold us, and eaten up the price of us?

16 Surely all of the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you to do!”

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.

17 Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels.

Then Jacob rose up, and having set his children and wives upon camels, went his way.

18 He made all his livestock go ahead of him. Besides the livestock, he took along all the other things that he had acquired while living in Paddan-Aram. And they prepared to return to his father Isaac, in the Canaan region.

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.

19 Before they left, while Laban was shearing his sheep, Rachel stole the [small wooden] idols [that were in her father’s tent].

At that time Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole away her father’s idols.

20 Furthermore, Jacob deceived Laban, who belonged to the Aram people-group, by not telling him that they were planning to leave.

And Jacob would not confess to his father in law that he was flying away.

21 So Jacob and his family fled with all their possessions, and they crossed the Euphrates River, and then started traveling south toward the hilly Gilead region.

And when he was gone, together with all that belonged to him, and having passed the river, was going on towards mount Galaad,

22 On the third day after they left, someone told Laban that Jacob and his family had left.

It was told Laban on the third day that Jacob fled.

23 So he took some of his relatives with him and started to pursue Jacob. They continued walking for seven days.

And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days; and overtook him in the mount of Galaad.

24 Then God appeared to Laban in a dream at night, and said to him, “When you catch up to Jacob, be sure that you do not say anything at all [HYP] to him in an angry manner!”

And he saw in a dream God saying to him: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.

25 The next day, by the time Laban caught up with Jacob, Jacob and his household had set up their tents in the hilly Gilead region. So Laban and his relatives set up their tents there, too.

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.

26 Then Laban went to Jacob and said to him, “Why have you done this? You have deceived me by carrying away my daughters as though you had captured them in a war [MTY]!

And he said to Jacob: Why hast thou done thus, to carry away, without my knowledge, my daughters, as captives taken with the sword.

27 Why did you run away and deceive me? Why did you not tell me that you were going to leave, so that we could have rejoiced and sung while people played music on tambourines and harps before I said ‘goodbye’ to you?

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?

28 (You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye before they left!/Why did you not allow me to kiss my grandchildren and daughters goodbye before they left?) [RHQ] What you have done was foolish!

Thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and daughters: thou hast done foolishly: and now, indeed,

29 My relatives and I have the power to harm you, but last night the God whom your father worships said to me in a dream, ‘Be sure that you do not say anything at all to Jacob in an angry way.’

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.

30 Now, I know you have left because you long to go back home. But why did you steal my [wooden] idols?”

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?

31 Jacob replied to Laban, saying, “I did not tell you that we were planning to leave, because I was afraid. I thought that [if I told you], you would forcefully take your daughters away from me.

Jacob answered: That I departed unknown to thee, it was for fear lest thou wouldst take away thy daughters by force.

32 But if you find anyone here who has your wooden idols, we will execute that person. While our relatives are watching, search for yourself to see if there is anything that belongs to you that is here with me. If you find anything, you can take it!” When Jacob said that, he did not know that Rachel had stolen the wooden idols.

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.

33 Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and then into Leah’s tent, and then into the tents of the two female slaves and searched for the idols, but he did not find them. After he left their tents, he entered Rachel’s tent.

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,

34 But Rachel had previously taken the idols and put them in the saddle of a camel, and she was sitting on the saddle. So when Laban searched all over for them inside Rachel’s tent, he did not find them.

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,

35 Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry with me, sir, but I cannot get up in your presence [to show respect for you], because I am having my monthly menstrual period. [EUP]” So when Laban searched some more, he did not find the [wooden] idols.

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.

36 Then Jacob became angry. He rebuked Laban, saying, “What crime did I commit? For what sin that I committed have you pursued me?

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,

37 Now you have searched through all my possessions, and what did you find from all these possessions that belongs to you? Put it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they can decide who is right, you or me!

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.

38 I was with you for 20 years. In all that time, your sheep and goats have (not miscarried/always given birth to animals safely). I have not [killed and] eaten any rams from your flocks.

Have I therefore been with thee twenty years? thy ewes and goats were not barren, the rams of thy flocks I did not eat:

39 When one of your animals was attacked and mauled/killed by a wild animal, I did not bring it to you. I replaced the dead animal with a living one of my own animals. Whenever one of your animals was stolen, during the day or during the night, you demanded that I replace it with one of my own animals.

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:

40 I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was often not even able to sleep [PRS]!

Day and night was I parched with heat, and with frost, and sleep departed from my eyes.

41 I lived in your household for 20 years. I worked for you for 14 years to buy your two daughters, and for six more years to buy some of your sheep and goats. During that time, you changed and reduced my wages many times [HYP].

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.

42 If God, the one whom my grandfather Abraham worshiped and before whom my father Isaac trembled in fear, had not been with me and helped me, you would have sent me away (with nothing in my hands/owning nothing)! But God saw how much I was suffering and how hard I was working, so last night he told you that what you have done to me was wrong.”

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.

43 Laban replied, “These two women are my daughters, and their children are my grandchildren, and the animals are my animals. Everything you see here is mine [HYP]! But what can I do today to keep my daughters or the children they have given birth to [RHQ]?

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?

44 I cannot do anything in order to keep them, so hey, we should make a peace agreement, you and I, and do something that will remind us about our agreement.”

Come therefore, let us enter into a league: that it may be for a testimony between me and thee.

45 So Jacob took a [large] stone and set it on its end.

And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a title:

46 Then Jacob said to his relatives, “You also gather some stones.” So they gathered some rocks and put them in a heap, and they ate some food there near the heap.

And he said to his brethren: Bring hither stones. And they gathering stones together, made a heap, and they ate upon it.

47 Laban gave the heap the Aramaic name Jegar-Sahadutha, [which means ‘rock-pile to remind us’, ] but Jacob gave the rock-pile the Hebrew name Galeed, [which has the same meaning].

And Laban called it The witness heap: and Jacob, The hillock of testimony: each of them according to the propriety of his language.

48 Laban said to Jacob, “This pile of rocks we have put here today will help us to remember our agreement.” That is why Jacob called it Galeed.

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.

49 They also named the place Mizpah, [which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘watchtower’, ] because Laban said, “We will ask Yahweh to watch you and me while we are separated from each other, [so that we do not try to harm each other].

The Lord behold and judge between us when we shall be gone one from the other.

50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take other women to be your wives, even if no one tells me about it, don’t forget that God sees what you and I are doing!”

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.

51 Laban also said to Jacob, “You see this large stone and this pile of rocks that we have set up to be between us.

And he said again to Jacob: Behold, this heap, and the stone which I have set up between me and thee,

52 Both this pile of rocks and this large stone will remind us, that I will not go past these rocks to harm you, and you will not go past these rocks to harm me.

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.

53 We will ask the God whom [your grandfather] Abraham and [his father] Nahor worshiped to punish [MTY] either one of us, [if we harm the other one].” So Jacob solemnly promised to do what they said in their peace agreement. And he asked God, the one before whom his father Isaac trembled, to listen to what they promised.

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.

54 He offered a sacrifice to God there in the hilly area, and he invited his relatives to eat with him. After they had eaten, they slept there that night.

And after he had offered sacrifices in the mountain, he called his brethren to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there:

55 The next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and asked God to bless them. Then he [and his men] left them and returned home.

But Laban arose in the night, and kissed his sons, and daughters, and blessed them: and returned to his place.