Genesis 31
31
Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan
1Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken away everything that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this wealth and honor.” 2Jacob noticed [a change in] the #31:2 Lit face.attitude of Laban, and saw that it was not friendly toward him as before. 3Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your people, and I will be with you.” 4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5and he said to them, “I see [a change in] your father’s attitude, that he is not friendly toward me as [he was] before; but the God of my father [Isaac] has been with me. 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7Yet your father has cheated me [as often as possible] and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me. 8If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled [young]; and if he said, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked [young]. 9Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me. 10And it happened at the time when the flock conceived that I looked up and saw in a dream that the rams which mated [with the female goats] were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11And the #31:11 See note 16:7. Note especially Gen 31:13, where the Angel says, “I am the God of Bethel.”Angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12He said, ‘Look up and see, all the rams which are mating [with the flock] are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you made a vow to Me; now stand up, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’ ” 14Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For he sold us [to you in marriage], and has also entirely used up our purchase price. 16Surely all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has told you to do, do it.”
17Then Jacob stood [and took action] and put his children and his wives on camels; 18and he drove away all his livestock and [took along] all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel [went inside the house and] stole her father’s #31:19 Possession of these pagan figurines implied or conferred a right of inheritance.household gods. 20And Jacob #31:20 Lit stole the heart of.deceived Laban the Aramean (Syrian) by not telling him that he intended to leave and he slipped away secretly. 21So he fled with everything that he had, and got up and crossed the river [Euphrates], and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead [east of the Jordan River].
Laban Pursues Jacob
22On the third day [after his departure] Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban with his relatives camped on the same hill of Gilead. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What do you mean by deceiving me and leaving without my knowledge, and carrying off my daughters as if [they were] captives of the sword? 27Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre? 28And why did you not allow me to kiss my #31:28 Lit sons.grandchildren and my daughters [goodbye]? Now you have done a foolish thing [in behaving like this]. 29It is in my power to harm you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30Now [I suppose] you felt you must go because you #31:30 Lit longed greatly.were homesick for your father’s house and family; but why did you steal my [household] #31:30 Laban was upset because possession of the father’s household gods played an important role in inheritance. In the region where Laban lived, a son-in-law who possessed the family gods could appear before a judge and make a claim to the estate of his father-in-law. Since Jacob’s possession of the household gods implied the right to inherit Laban’s wealth, one can understand why he followed Jacob to recover the idols.gods?” 31Jacob answered Laban, “[I left secretly] because I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [search my possessions and] point out whatever you find that belongs to you and take it.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban searched through all her tent, but did not find them. 35So Rachel said to her father, “Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell.” He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.
36Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. And he said to Laban, “What is my fault? What is my sin that you pursued me like this? 37Although you have searched through all my possessions, what have you found of your household goods? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide [who has done right] between the two of us. 38These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not lost their young, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39I did not bring you the torn carcasses [of the animals attacked by predators]; I [personally] took the loss. You required of me [to make good] everything that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or night. 40This was my situation: by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and #31:40 Lit sleep fled from my eyes.I could not sleep. 41These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for [my share of] your flocks, and you have #31:41 I.e. cheated me as often as possible.changed my wages ten times. 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and [the Feared One] of Isaac, had not been with me, most certainly you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [exhausting] labor of my hands, so He rendered judgment and rebuked you last night.”
The Covenant of Mizpah
43Laban answered Jacob, “These #31:43 Lit daughters.women [that you married] are my daughters, these children are my #31:43 Lit children.grandchildren, these flocks are [from] my flocks, and all that you see [here] is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children to whom they have given birth? 44So come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” 45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a [memorial] pillar. 46Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound [of stones], and they ate [a ceremonial meal together] there on the mound [of stones]. [Prov 16:7] 47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha (stone monument of testimony in #31:47 The language of Laban, who was an Aramean (v 20). The two names chosen by Laban and Jacob were equivalent.Aramaic), but Jacob called it #31:47 Heb heap of witness.Galeed. 48Laban said, “This mound [of stones] is a witness [a reminder of the oath taken] today between you and me.” Therefore he [also] called the name Galeed, 49and Mizpah (#31:49 The stone mound evidently was tall enough to be considered a place from which one could see at a distance. The thought behind it was that the Lord would watch them when they could not watch each other, and He would see and deal with any mistreatment committed by either of them (see v 50).watchtower), for Laban said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from one another. 50If you should mistreat (humiliate, oppress) my daughters, or if you should take other wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us [as a witness], see and remember, God is witness between you and me.” 51Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this mound [of stones] and look at this pillar which I have set up between you and me. 52This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this mound to harm you, and that you will not pass by this mound and this pillar to harm me. 53The God of Abraham [your father] and the God of Nahor [my father], and the #31:53 Here “god” is put in lowercase because Joshua later declared that Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, was an idolater, serving “other gods” (Josh 24:2). The wording of the Hebrew here indicates that Laban equated the God of Abraham and Nahor with the god of Terah. Whether Laban actually made no distinction in his mind between the true God and false gods, or simply committed an oversight, is not clear. Jacob evidently recognized the ambiguity in Laban’s statement as well, so to avoid any possibility of swearing allegiance to a false god, he swore his own oath by the God of Isaac.god [the image of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolater], judge between us.” But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Fear of his father Isaac. [Josh 24:2] 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice [to the Lord] on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate food and spent the night on the mountain. 55Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his #31:55 Lit sons.grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.
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Genesis 31
31
Jacob ran away from Laban
1Laban’s sons talked to each other about Jacob. They said, “Jacob took everything that our father owned, and now it all belongs to Jacob, and he is rich.” And Jacob heard that Laban’s sons said those things. 2Jacob also saw that Laban wasn’t friendly to him any more.
3Then God talked to Jacob. God said, “Leave this place, and go back to your home country, and to your relatives. I will go with you, to take care of you.”
4Jacob wanted to talk about that with his wives, Rachel and Leah. So he sent somebody to get them, and he met them in the place where he kept his sheep and goats. 5Jacob said to them, “I can see that your father isn’t friendly to me any more. But God is still with me. He is the one that looked after my father Isaac, and he is with me. 6You both know that I worked really hard for your father. 7But your father kept cheating me. He promised to give me things for working for him, but then he kept changing his mind. He did that lots and lots of times. He wanted to give me trouble, but God didn’t let him. Yes, God looked after me. 8Sometimes your father promised to give me all the spotty sheep and goats, and then all the sheep and goats had babies with spots on their wool. And sometimes he promised to give me all the stripy sheep and goats, and then all the sheep and goats had babies with stripes on their wool. 9You know, God was the one that made those things happen. It’s like God took away your father’s animals and gave them to me.”
10Then Jacob said, “One time, I had a dream. It was the month when the male and female animals join together to make babies. In that dream, I saw male and female goats joining together, and all the male goats had black and white spots and stripes on their wool. 11Then in that dream there was an angel messenger from God, and he said, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am listening.’ 12And he said, ‘God says, “Look at the male goats that are joining together with the female goats. You can see that all those male goats have black and white spots on their wool. That shows that I am helping you to get sheep and goats for yourself, because I know that Laban is cheating you. 13I am God. A long time ago, I came to you at the place called Bethel. That’s the place where you poured olive oil on top of a stone to show that it was a special place, and you made promises to me. Now leave this country straight away, and go back to your home country.” ’ ”#Genesis 28:18-22
14Then Rachel and Leah said to Jacob, “We will go with you. We don’t want to live here with our father any more. He will never give us anything. 15He treats us like we are not part of his family. First, he got you to work for him so that you could marry us. It’s like he sold us to you. Then you worked really hard for our father, so that he got very rich. But our father still didn’t give us anything, even though we are his daughters. He cheated us, and he kept everything for himself. 16But God took away some of our father’s animals and gave them to you, and you got rich. So now all those animals and good things, they belong to us and our kids.”
Then Rachel and Leah said to Jacob, “Do whatever God told you to do.”
17-19So Jacob and his family got ready to leave. Laban wasn’t there at that time. He was cutting the wool off his sheep out in the grass lands, a long way away. So Laban didn’t know that Jacob was getting ready to leave. And while Jacob was getting ready, Rachel went into Laban’s tent, and she stole some little statues that belonged to Laban. Sometimes, Laban and his family used to pray to those statues and ask them for help. They thought that those statues were gods that had power.
Jacob went and got all his animals, and all the other things that he owned. You know, a long time before this, when Jacob came to Laban’s home, he didn’t own anything. But now he owned lots and lots of things. So Jacob took all those things that he owned, and he put them on camels. Then he helped his kids and his wives to get on camels, and he got his other animals to walk in front of him, and they all left quickly to go to Canaan country. That’s the country where Jacob’s father Isaac lived. 20But Jacob tricked Laban, he didn’t tell Laban that he left.
Laban belonged to the Aram tribe, and his country was called Paddan Aram. 21So Jacob left Paddan Aram country with his wives, his kids, his animals, and everything that he owned. They crossed over the Euphrates River, and then they started to go south, towards the hill country called Gilead.
Laban found Jacob
222 days later, somebody told Laban, “Jacob ran away.” 23As soon as Laban heard that, he took some of his relatives with him, and they started to go after Jacob. 7 days later, they almost caught up to Jacob in the hill country called Gilead. 24But that night, Laban had a dream, and he heard God talk to him in that dream. God said, “Be careful about the way you talk to Jacob. Don’t make trouble for him.”
25The next day, Laban and his relatives caught up to Jacob. Jacob and his mob were in that hill country. That’s where they set up their tents. So Laban and his relatives, they set up their tents in that place too.
26Then Laban went and talked to Jacob. Laban said, “You did a bad thing to me. You tricked me, and you took my daughters away. It’s like I’m your enemy and you came and stole my daughters from me. 27-28Why didn’t you tell me that you wanted to leave? You tricked me, and you ran away. That was a stupid thing to do. I didn’t get to say goodbye to you properly. I wanted to have a party for you, with people singing and playing music on drums and harps. You didn’t even let me kiss my daughters and my grand-kids and say goodbye to them.”
29Then Laban said to Jacob, “You know, I can hurt you and your family. But I will not do that. You see, last night, your father’s God talked to me. He said, ‘Be careful about how you talk to Jacob. Don’t make trouble for him.’ ”
30Laban kept on talking to Jacob. He said, “Look, I know that you want to see your father again, and that’s the reason why you left. But why did you steal my little statues from my tent?”
You see, Laban didn’t know that his daughter Rachel stole those statues. He thought that Jacob stole them.
31Then Jacob talked to Laban. First, he told Laban why he ran away. He said, “I ran away because I was frightened of you. I thought that if I say, ‘I want to leave,’ then you will fight me and take your daughters away from me.”
32After that, Jacob talked about those little statues that belonged to Laban. Jacob didn’t know that his wife Rachel stole those statues, so he said to Laban, “We didn’t take your little statues. You can look in our tents, and you can look at all our things. If you find those statues, then you can kill the person that stole them. And if you find anything else that belongs to you, then tell me, and show our relatives here, and you can have it back.”
33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and he looked all around. But he didn’t find those statues. Then he went into Leah’s tent and he looked all around there too. And then he went into the tent that belonged to those 2 women that worked for Rachel and Leah. Laban looked all around that tent too, but he didn’t find those statues. After that, Laban went into Rachel’s tent. 34He looked through everything in her tent, but he didn’t find those statues. You see, Rachel already hid those statues. She put them inside a soft seat, called a saddle, that she used to sit on when she rode her camel. Then she put that saddle on the ground, and she sat on it. 35When Rachel’s father Laban came into the tent, Rachel said to him, “Sir, I’m sorry, I can’t stand up to show you respect, because I am bleeding, like a woman does every month. Please don’t be angry with me.” So Laban looked all around Rachel’s tent, but he didn’t find those statues.
36Then Jacob got very angry, and he talked strongly to Laban. Jacob said, “Listen, I didn’t do anything wrong to you. I didn’t do any bad thing. You came after me for no reason. 37And you looked through all my things. If you found anything that belongs to you, then you can put those things here, in front of all our relatives. And they can say which one of us is right and which one is wrong. Did you find anything that belongs to you? No you didn’t. I didn’t take any of your things.”
38Then Jacob said to Laban, “I worked hard for you for 20 years, and I looked after your sheep and goats really well. They had lots of babies, and none of those babies died. And I never took any of your sheep for my food, not even your male sheep. 39And whenever a wild animal killed one of your sheep or goats, I always paid for it. I never showed you that dead sheep or goat, I never asked you to pay for it. You made me pay for every sheep or goat that somebody stole, even if that happened at night time. That’s not fair. 40And I had a really hard time when I worked for you. In the day time, it was really hot. And in the night time, it was really cold. It was so cold that I couldn’t sleep. 41I worked for you like that for 20 years. First, I worked for you for 14 years so that I could marry your 2 daughters. Then I worked for you for 6 years, so that you would give me some of your sheep and goats. You kept promising to give me things for working for you, but then you kept changing your mind. That’s not fair.”
42Then Jacob said to Laban, “I know that you wanted to send me away with nothing. But God was with me, and he helped me. He is the one that looked after my grand-father Abraham. And my father Isaac respected him properly too. Yes, God helped me. He saw that I worked very hard for you, and he saw that you gave me trouble. So last night, he talked strongly to you, and he showed you that you did the wrong thing.”
Jacob and Laban agreed to be good to each other
43Then Laban said, “Your wives are my daughters. Your kids are my grand-kids. All these animals here, they belong to me, and everything else here belongs to me too. But I can’t get my daughters and my grand-kids back now. I know that they will go with you to your home country, and I will go back to my home country. 44So before I go, let’s agree that we will be good to each other. And let’s put some stones in this place to show that we made that agreement.”
45So Jacob got a big stone, and he stood it up. 46Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Pick up some more stones.” So they picked up some more stones, and they piled those stones on top of each other. Then Jacob, and Laban, and all their relatives, they sat down beside that pile of stones, and they ate some food. 47Laban named that pile of stones Jegar Sahadutha. That name comes from Laban’s language. And Jacob named that pile of stones Gal-Ed. That name comes from Jacob’s language. Both those names mean a pile that shows we agreed with each other. 48And Laban said, “This pile of stones shows that we agreed with each other today.” So that place is called Gal-Ed.
49-50Then Laban said to Jacob, “Tomorrow, you will go to your home country, and I will go back to my home country, and we will not see each other any more. So I’m asking Yahweh your God to always watch both of us. If you treat my daughters badly, or if you marry any other women, remember that God will see you do those things. Even if nobody else sees you, God will see you.”
So that place is also called Mizpah. That name means place where he watches.
51Then Laban said to Jacob, “Look at this pile of stones, and this other big stone. We have put them here, between my country and your country. 52This pile of stones, and this other big stone, they show that we agreed to be good to each other. I will not go past these stones into your country, to hurt you. And you will not go past these stones into my country, to hurt me. 53I’m asking the gods of our grand-fathers to watch us and judge us. I’m asking the God of your grand-father Abraham, and the god of my grand-father Nahor and their father Terah. Those gods will keep on watching us, and they will know if one of us does the wrong thing.”
Then Jacob made a strong promise to Laban. He said, “I promise that I will not go past these stones into your country, to hurt you. I’m making this promise with God listening. He is the one that my father Isaac respected.”
54Then Jacob killed an animal and burned it, to show respect to God. He did that right there, in the hill country. Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Come and eat food with me.” So they all ate food, and then they spent the night in that place.
55Early the next morning, Laban got up. He kissed his grand-kids and his daughters, and he said goodbye to them. Then Laban and his relatives left that place, and they went back to their home country.
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