Genesis 31
31
CHAPTER 31
1After that, Jacob heard the words of the sons of Laban, that said, Jacob hath taken away all things that were our father’s, and of his chattel Jacob is made rich, and noble.
2Also Jacob perceived the face of Laban, that it was not against him as yesterday, and the third day ago,
3mostly for the Lord said to Jacob, Turn again into the land of thy fathers, and to thy generation, and I shall be with thee.
4Jacob sent, and called Rachel and Leah into the field, where he kept [the] flocks,
5and he said to them, I see the face of your father, that it is not against me as yesterday, and the third day ago; but God of my father was with me.
6And ye know that with all my strengths I have served your father;
7but and your father hath deceived me, and changed my meed ten times; and nevertheless God suffered not him to annoy me.
8If he said any time, Diversely-coloured sheep shall be thy meed, all the sheep brought forth diversely-coloured lambs; forsooth when he said, on the contrary, Thou shalt take all the white for thy meed, all the flocks brought forth white beasts;
9and God took away the substance of your father, and gave it to me.
10For after that the time of con-ceiving of sheep came, I raised [up] mine eyes, and saw in sleep males diverse, and spotty, and of diverse colours, going up on females.
11And the angel of the Lord said to me in sleep, Jacob! and I answered, I am ready.
12Which said, Raise [up] thine eyes, and see all [the] males that be diverse, [and] besprinkled, and spotty, going [up] on [the] females; for I have seen all things which Laban hath done to thee;
13I am God of Bethel, where thou anointedest a stone, and madest a vow to me. Now therefore rise thou, and go out of this land, and turn again into the land of thy birth.
14And Rachel and Leah answered, Whether we have anything residue, or left, in the chattels, and heritage of our father?
15Whether he areckoned not, or held, us as aliens, and sold us, and ate our price?
16But God took away the riches of our father, and gave those [or them] to us, and to our sons; wherefore do thou all things which God hath commanded to thee.
17Forsooth Jacob rose, and put his free children and wives on camels, and went forth;
18and he took all his cattle, flocks, and whatever thing he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went to Isaac, his father, into the land of Canaan.
19In that time Laban went to shear sheep, and Rachel stole the idols of her father.
20And Jacob would not acknowledge to the father of his wives, that he would flee;
21and when he had gone, as well he as all things that were of his right, and when he had passed [over] the water, and he went against the hill of Gilead,
22it was told to Laban, in the third day, that Jacob fled.
23And Laban took his brethren [with him], and pursued him seven days, and [over] took him in the hill of Gilead.
24And Laban saw in sleep the Lord saying to him, Beware that thou speak not anything sharply against Jacob.
25And then Jacob had stretched forth the tabernacle in the hill; and when Laban had pursued Jacob with his brethren, Laban set a tent in the same hill of Gilead;
26and he said to Jacob, Why hast thou done so, that the while I knew not, thou wouldest drive away my daughters as captives, either taken prisoners, by sword?
27Why wouldest thou flee the while I knew not, neither wouldest show to me, that I should pursue [or follow] thee with joy, and songs, and tympans, and harps?
28Thou sufferedest not that I should kiss my sons and daughters; thou hast wrought follily.
29And now soothly mine hand may yield evil to thee, but the God of thy father said to me yesterday, Beware that thou speak not any hard thing with Jacob.
30Suppose, if thou covetedest to go to thy kinsmen, and the house of thy father was in desire to thee, why hast thou stolen my gods?
31Jacob answered, That I went forth while thou knewest not, I dreaded lest thou wouldest take away thy daughters from me violently;
32soothly that thou reprovest me of theft, at whomever thou findest thy gods, be he slain before our brethren; seek thou, whatever thing of thine thou findest at me, and take it away. Jacob said these things, and knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33And so Laban entered into the tabernacles of Jacob, and of Leah, and of ever either menial, and he found not; and when Laban had entered into the tent of Rachel,
34she hasted, and hid the idols under the strewings of the camel, and she sat above.
35And she said to Laban, seeking throughout all the tent, and finding nothing, My lord, be not wroth that I may not rise before thee, for it befelled now to me by the custom of women; so the busyness of the seeker was scorned.
36And Jacob swelled, and said with strife, For what cause of me, and for what sin of me, hast thou come so fiercely after me,
37and hast sought through all the appurtenance of mine house? What hast thou found of all the chattel of thine household? Put thou here before my brethren and thy brethren, and deem they betwixt me and thee.
38Was I not with thee therefore twenty years? Thy sheep and goats were not barren, I ate not the rams of thy flock,
39neither I showed to thee anything taken of a beast; I yielded all [the] harm; whatever thing perished by theft, thou askedest of me;
40I was anguished in day and night with heat and frost, and sleep fled from mine eyes;
41so I served thee by twenty years in thine house, fourteen years for thy daughters, and six years for thy flocks; and thou changedest my meed ten times.
42But if [the] God of my father Abraham, and the dread of Isaac had not helped me, peradventure now thou haddest left me naked; the Lord hath beheld my tormenting and the travail of mine hands, and reproved thee yesterday.
43Laban answered to Jacob, The daughters, and the sons, and the flocks, and all things which thou seest, be mine; what may I do to my sons, and to the sons of my sons?
44Therefore come thou, and make we bond of peace, that it be a witnessing betwixt me and thee.
45And so Jacob took a stone, and raised it into a title, either a sign,
46and said to his brethren, Bring ye stones; which gathered, and made an heap, and ate on it.
47And Laban called it The heap of witness, and Jacob called it The heap of witnessing; ever either called it by the property of his language.
48And Laban said, This heap shall be witness betwixt me and thee today, and therefore the name thereof was called Galeed, that is, The heap of witness.
49And Laban added, The Lord behold, and deem betwixt us, when we shall go away from you;
50if thou shalt torment my daughters, and if thou shalt bring in other wives on them, none is witness of our word, except God, which is present, and beholdeth.
51And again Laban said to Jacob, Lo! this heap, and the stone, or the pillar, which I have raised betwixt me and thee,
52shall be witnesses; soothly this heap, and the stone be into witnessing, forsooth if I shall pass it, and go to thee, either thou shalt pass it, and think to do evil to me.
53God of Abraham, and God of Nahor, [the] God of the father of them, deem betwixt us. Therefore Jacob swore by the dread of his father Isaac;
54and when slain sacrifices were offered in the hill, Jacob called his brethren to eat bread, and when they had eaten, they dwelled there.
55Forsooth Laban rose by night, and kissed his sons, and daughters, and blessed them, and turned again into his place.
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Genesis 31: WBMS
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Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017
Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015
Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015
Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011
Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010
Genesis 31
31
Jacob Runs Away
1One day Jacob heard Laban’s sons talking. They said, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned. Jacob has become rich in this way.” 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. 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. He has changed my pay ten times. But God has not allowed your father to harm me. 8At one time Laban said, ‘You can have all the speckled goats as your pay.’ After that, all the animals gave birth to speckled young ones. But then Laban said, ‘You can have all the streaked goats as your pay.’ After that, all the animals gave birth to streaked babies. 9So God has taken the animals away from your father. And God has given them to me.
10“I had a dream during the season when the animals 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. He said, ‘Jacob!’ I answered, ‘Yes!’ 12The angel said, ‘Look! Only the streaked, speckled or spotted goats are mating. I have seen all the wrong things Laban does to you. 13I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel. There you poured olive oil on the stone you set up on end. There you made a promise to me. Now I want you to leave here. 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 you do whatever God told you to do.”
17So Jacob put his children and his wives on camels. 18Then they began their journey back to Isaac, his father. He lived 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.
19Laban was gone to cut the wool from his sheep. While he was gone, Rachel stole the idols of false gods that belonged to him. 20And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean. He did not tell Laban he was leaving. 21Jacob and his family left quickly. They crossed the Euphrates River and traveled toward the mountains of Gilead.
22Three days later Laban learned that Jacob had run away. 23So Laban gathered his relatives and began to chase Jacob. After seven days Laban found him in the mountains of Gilead. 24That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream. The Lord 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? Why did you trick me? You took my daughters as if you had captured them in a war. 27Why did you run away without telling me? Why did you trick me? Why didn’t you tell me? Then I could send you away with joy and singing. There would be 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. He 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! I thought you would take your daughters away from me. 32If you find anyone here who has taken your idols, he will be killed! Your relatives will be my witnesses. You may look for anything that belongs to you. Take anything that is yours.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s idols.)
33So Laban looked in Jacob’s tent and in Leah’s tent. He looked 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 she was sitting on them. Laban looked through the whole tent, but 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. I am having my monthly period.” So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find his idols.
36Then Jacob became very angry. He 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. Then let them decide which one of us is right. 38I have worked for you now for 20 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 a sheep was killed by wild animals, I did not bring it to you. I 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. At night I was cold and could not sleep. 41I worked like a slave for you for 20 years. For the first 14 years I worked to get your two daughters. The last 6 years I worked to earn your animals. And during that time you changed my pay ten times. 42But the God of my father was with me. He is the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. If God had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing. But he saw the trouble I had and the hard work I did. And last night God corrected you.”
Jacob and Laban’s Agreement
43Laban said to Jacob, “These girls are my daughters. Their children belong to me, and these animals 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. Let us set up a pile of stones to remind us of our agreement.”
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 of rocks. 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.# This name sounds like the Hebrew word for “watch.” This was because Laban said, “Let the Lord watch over us while we are separated from each other. 50Remember that God is our witness. This is true 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. 53The God of Abraham is the God of Nahor and the God of their ancestors. Let God punish either of us if we break this agreement.”
So Jacob made a promise in the name of God. This was the God of his father Isaac. 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. He blessed them, and then he left to return home.
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