Genesis 31
31
Jacob Runs Away
1One day Jacob heard Laban’s sons talking. They said, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned, and in this way he has become rich.” 2Then Jacob noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been before. 3The Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land where your ancestors lived, and I will be with you.”
4So Jacob told Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where he kept his flocks. 5He said to them, “I have seen that your father is not as friendly with me as he used to be, but the God of my father has been with me. 6You both know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father, 7but he cheated me and changed my pay ten times. But God has not allowed your father to harm me. 8When Laban said, ‘You can have all the speckled animals as your pay,’ all the animals gave birth to speckled young ones. But when he said, ‘You can have all the streaked animals as your pay,’ all the flocks gave birth to streaked babies. 9So God has taken the animals away from your father and has given them to me.
10“I had a dream during the season when the flocks were mating. I saw that the only male goats who were mating were streaked, speckled, or spotted. 11The angel of God spoke to me in that dream and said, ‘Jacob!’ I answered, ‘Yes!’ 12The angel said, ‘Look! Only the streaked, speckled, or spotted male goats are mating. I have seen all the wrong things Laban has been doing to you. 13I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you poured olive oil on the stone you set up on end and where you made a promise to me. Now I want you to leave here and go back to the land where you were born.’ ”
14Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, “Our father has nothing to give us when he dies. 15He has treated us like strangers. He sold us to you, and then he spent all of the money you paid for us. 16God took all this wealth from our father, and now it belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you to do.”
17So Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18and they began their journey back to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. All the flocks of animals that Jacob owned walked ahead of them. He carried everything with him that he had gotten while he lived in Northwest Mesopotamia.
19While Laban was gone to cut the wool from his sheep, Rachel stole the idols that belonged to him. 20And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving. 21Jacob and his family left quickly, crossed the Euphrates River, and traveled toward the mountains of Gilead.
22Three days later Laban learned that Jacob had run away, 23so he gathered his relatives and began to chase him. After seven days Laban found him in the mountains of Gilead. 24That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, “Be careful! Do not say anything to Jacob, good or bad.”
The Search for the Stolen Idols
25So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had made his camp in the mountains, so Laban and his relatives set up their camp in the mountains of Gilead. 26Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You cheated me and took my daughters as if you had captured them in a war. 27Why did you run away secretly and trick me? Why didn’t you tell me? Then I could have sent you away with joy and singing and with the music of tambourines and harps. 28You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. You were very foolish to do this! 29I have the power to harm you, but last night the God of your father spoke to me and warned me not to say anything to you, good or bad. 30I know you want to go back to your home, but why did you steal my idols?”
31Jacob answered Laban, “I left without telling you, because I was afraid you would take your daughters away from me. 32If you find anyone here who has taken your idols, that person will be killed! Your relatives will be my witnesses. You may look for anything that belongs to you and take anything that is yours.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s idols.)
33So Laban looked in Jacob’s tent, in Leah’s tent, and in the tent where the two slave women stayed, but he did not find his idols. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent. 34Rachel had hidden the idols inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Although Laban looked through the whole tent, he did not find them.
35Rachel said to her father, “Father, don’t be angry with me. I am not able to stand up before you because I am having my monthly period.” So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find his idols.
36Then Jacob became very angry and said, “What wrong have I done? What law have I broken to cause you to chase me? 37You have looked through everything I own, but you have found nothing that belongs to you. If you have found anything, show it to everyone. Put it in front of your relatives and my relatives, and let them decide which one of us is right. 38I have worked for you now for twenty years. During all that time none of the lambs and kids died during birth, and I have not eaten any of the male sheep from your flocks. 39Any time an animal was killed by wild beasts, I did not bring it to you, but made up for the loss myself. You made me pay for any animal that was stolen during the day or night. 40In the daytime the sun took away my strength, and at night I was cold and could not sleep. 41I worked like a slave for you for twenty years—the first fourteen to get your two daughters and the last six to earn your flocks. During that time you changed my pay ten times. 42But the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, was with me. Otherwise, you would have sent me away with nothing. But he saw the trouble I had and the hard work I did, and last night he corrected you.”
Jacob and Laban’s Agreement
43Laban said to Jacob, “These girls are my daughters. Their children belong to me, and these flocks are mine. Everything you see here belongs to me, but I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children. 44Let us make an agreement, and let us set up a pile of stones to remind us of it.”
45So Jacob took a large rock and set it up on its end. 46He told his relatives to gather rocks, so they took the rocks and piled them up; then they ate beside the pile. 47Laban named that place in his language A Pile to Remind Us, and Jacob gave the place the same name in Hebrew.
48Laban said to Jacob, “This pile of rocks will remind us of the agreement between us.” That is why the place was called A Pile to Remind Us. 49It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “Let the Lord watch over us while we are separated from each other. 50Remember that God is our witness even if no one else is around us. He will know if you harm my daughters or marry other women. 51Here is the pile of rocks that I have put between us and here is the rock I set up on end. 52This pile of rocks and this rock set on end will remind us of our agreement. I will never go past this pile to hurt you, and you must never come to my side of them to hurt me. 53Let the God of Abraham, who is the God of Nahor and the God of their ancestors, punish either of us if we break this agreement.”
So Jacob made a promise in the name of the God whom his father Isaac worshiped. 54Then Jacob killed an animal and offered it as a sacrifice on the mountain, and he invited his relatives to share in the meal. After they finished eating, they spent the night on the mountain. 55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them, and then he left to return home.
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Genesis 31: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 31
31
Jacob Flees from Laban
1Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this #Ps. 49:16wealth.” 2And Jacob saw the #Gen. 4:5countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not #Deut. 28:54favorable toward him as before. 3Then the Lord said to Jacob, #Gen. 28:15, 20, 21; 32:9“Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will #Gen. 46:4be with you.”
4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, 5and said to them, #Gen. 31:2, 3“I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father #Gen. 21:22; 28:13, 15; 31:29, 42, 53; Is. 41:10; Heb. 13:5has been with me. 6And #Gen. 30:29; 31:38–41you know that with all my might I have served your father. 7Yet your father has deceived me and #Gen. 29:25; 31:41changed my wages #Num. 14:22; Neh. 4:12; Job 19:3; Zech. 8:23ten times, but God #Gen. 15:1; 20:6; 31:29; Job 1:10; Ps. 37:28; 105:14did not allow him to hurt me. 8If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: #Gen. 30:32‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. 9So God has #Gen. 31:1, 16taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
10“And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. 11Then #Gen. 16:7–11; 22:11, 15; 31:13; 48:16the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for #Gen. 31:42; Ex. 3:7; Ps. 139:3; Eccl. 5:8I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, #Gen. 28:16–22; 35:1, 6, 15where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now #Gen. 31:3; 32:9arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”
14Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, #Gen. 2:24“Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15Are we not considered strangers by him? For #Gen. 29:15, 20, 23, 27; Neh. 5:8he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. 16For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
17Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of #Gen. 17:8; 33:18; 35:27Canaan. 19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the #Gen. 31:30, 34; 35:2; Judg. 17:5; 1 Sam. 19:13; Hos. 3:4household idols that were her father’s. 20And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and #Gen. 46:28; 2 Kin. 12:17; Luke 9:51, 53headed toward the mountains of Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23Then he took #Gen. 13:8his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24But God #Gen. 20:3; 31:29; 46:2–4; Job 33:15; Matt. 1:20had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you #Gen. 24:50; 31:7, 29speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
25So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
26And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and #1 Sam. 30:2carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? 27Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? 28And you did not allow me #Gen. 31:55; Ruth 1:9, 14; 1 Kin. 19:20; Acts 20:37to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now #1 Sam. 13:13you have done foolishly in so doing. 29It is in my power to do you harm, but the #Gen. 28:13; 31:5, 24, 42, 53God of your father spoke to me #Gen. 31:24last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ 30And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you #Gen. 31:19; Josh. 24:2; Judg. 17:5; 18:24steal my gods?”
31Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was #Gen. 26:7; 32:7, 11afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ 32With whomever you find your gods, #Gen. 44:9do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. 35And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot #Ex. 20:12; Lev. 19:32rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the household idols.
36Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? 37Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! 38These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. 39#Ex. 22:10That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. #Ex. 22:10–13You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. 41Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I #Gen. 29:20, 27–30served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and #Gen. 31:7you have changed my wages ten times. 42#Gen. 31:5, 29, 53; Ps. 124:1, 2Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and #Gen. 31:53; Is. 8:13the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. #Gen. 29:32; Ex. 3:7God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and #Gen. 31:24, 29; 1 Chr. 12:17rebuked you last night.”
Laban’s Covenant with Jacob
43And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? 44Now therefore, come, #Gen. 21:27, 32; 26:28let us make a covenant, #Josh. 24:27you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
45So Jacob #Gen. 28:18; 35:14; Josh. 24:26, 27took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. 47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48And Laban said, #Josh. 24:27“This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, 49also #Judg. 10:17; 11:29; 1 Sam. 7:5, 6Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. 50If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”
51Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. 52This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father #Gen. 16:5judge between us.” And Jacob #Gen. 21:23swore by #Gen. 31:42the Fear of his father Isaac. 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. 55And early in the morning Laban arose, and #Gen. 29:11, 13; 31:28, 43kissed his sons and daughters and #Gen. 28:1blessed them. Then Laban departed and #Gen. 18:33; 30:25; Num. 24:25returned to his place.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.