Genesis 31
31
Jacob Separates from Laban
1Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same as before.
3The Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your family, and I will be with you.” # 31:3 Gn 28:15; 32:10
4Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were. 5He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same as before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that with all my strength I have served your father # 31:6 Gn 30:29 7and that he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not let him harm me. 8If he said, ‘The spotted sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, ‘The streaked sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born streaked. # 31:8 Gn 30:32 9God has taken away your father’s herds and given them to me.
10“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. 11In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob! ’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12And he said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. # 31:12 Gn 30:37–40; Ex 3:7 13I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. # 31:13 Gn 28:18–19 Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’ ”
14Then Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we have any portion or inheritance in our father’s family? 15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? For he has sold us # 31:15 Gn 29:19–30 and has certainly spent our purchase price. 16In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”
17So Jacob got up and put his children and wives on the camels. 18He took all the livestock and possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, and he drove his herds to go to the land of Canaan, to his father Isaac. 19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. # 31:19 Jdg 17:5; 1Sm 15:23; 19:13; Ezk 21:21; Hs 3:4; Zch 10:2 20And Jacob deceived # 31:20 Lit And he stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, not telling him that he was fleeing. 21He fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for # 31:21 Lit and set his face to the hill country of Gilead.
Laban Overtakes Jacob
22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself! ” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” # 31:24 Gn 24:50; 31:29; 2Sm 13:22
25When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his relatives also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war! 27Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres, 28but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly. 29I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Watch yourself! Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s family #— #but why have you stolen my gods? ” # 31:30 Gn 31:19; Jos 24:2; Jdg 18:24
31Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. 32If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! # 31:32 Gn 44:9 Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two concubines, # 31:33 Lit servants but he found nothing. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.
35She said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; # 31:35 Lv 19:32 I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.
Jacob’s Covenant with Laban
36Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime? ” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me? 37You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? # 31:37 Lit What have you found from all of the possessions of your house? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us. 38I’ve been with you these twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock. 39I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night. 40There I was #— #the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41For twenty years in your household I served you #— #fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks # 31:41 Gn 29:27,30 #— #and you have changed my wages ten times! 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, # 31:42 Lit and the work of my hands and he issued his verdict last night.”
43Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the children, my children; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne? 44Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. # 31:44 Gn 21:27,32; 26:28 Let it be a witness between the two of us.”
45So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker. # 31:45 Jos 24:26–27 46Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound. 47Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. # 31:47 Jegar-sahadutha is Aramaic, and Galeed is Hb; both names = Mound of Witness
48Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed 49and also Mizpah, # 31:49 = Watchtower,# 31:49 Jdg 11:29; 1Sm 7:5–6 for he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. 50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.” # 31:50 Jdg 11:10; 1Sm 12:5; Jb 16:19; Jr 42:5; Mc 1:2 51Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me. 52This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm. 53The God of Abraham, and the gods # 31:53 Jos 24:2 of Nahor #— #the gods of their father # 31:53 Two Hb mss, LXX omit the gods of their father #— #will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.
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Genesis 31: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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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