Genesis 31
31
Jacob Secretly Leaves Laban
1Now Jacob heard the words Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belongs to our father, and from what belongs to our father he has made all these riches.”
2Then Jacob saw Laban’s face, and he noticed that his expression wasn’t the same as it was just a day or two before.
3Then Adonai said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4So Jacob sent and called for Rachel and Leah to come to the field, to his flock.
5He said to them, “I can see by your father’s face that his expression isn’t the same as it was just a day or two ago. But the God of my father has been with me.
6Now you yourselves know that I’ve served your father with all my strength.
7Yet your father has fooled around with me and has changed my salary ten times—but God hasn’t allowed him to harm me.
8If he would say, ‘the spotted ones will be your salary,’ then the flocks would give birth to spotted ones. Or if he would say, ‘the striped ones will be your salary,’ then all the flocks would give birth to striped ones.
9So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.
10Now it happened when the flocks were in heat that I lifted up my eyes and saw, in a dream, behold, the males going up to the flocks were striped, spotted and speckled.
11Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Hineni.’
12He said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see that all the males going up to the flocks are striped, spotted and speckled. For I have seen everything Laban has done to you.
13I am the God of Beth-El where you anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me. Get up now and leave this land, and return to the land of your relatives.’”
14Then Rachel answered along with Leah and they said to him, “Is there still a portion and inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15Aren’t we considered foreigners to him? For he has sold us and has also completely used up our bridal price.
16For all the riches that God has taken away from our father is for us and for our children. So now, everything God said to you, do it!”
17Then Jacob got up and put his children and wives on camels.
18He drove away all his livestock and all his possessions that he had acquired—the livestock in his possession that he acquired in Paddan-aram—to go to his father Isaac, to the land of Canaan.
19But while Laban went to shear his flocks, Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father,
20while Jacob stole the heart from Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.
21He himself fled with everything that belonged to him, and he got up and crossed the River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
Laban Confronts Jacob and Makes Covenant
22When Laban was told on the third day after Jacob had fled,
23he took his relatives with him and pursued him a seven days’ journey. Then he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Watch yourself—lest you say anything to Jacob, good or bad.”
25So Laban caught up to Jacob. (Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, so Laban and his brothers pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead as well).
26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you’ve stolen my heart and have driven my daughters away like captives of the sword?
27Why did you secretly flee away, and steal from me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and with songs, with tambourines and with lyres?
28And you didn’t even let me kiss my sons and daughters! “Now, you’ve behaved foolishly.
29It is in the power of my hand to do evil with you, but yesterday the God of your fathers spoke to me, saying, ‘Watch yourself—lest you say anything to Jacob, good or bad.’
30So now, when you up and left because you really missed your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?”
31In response, Jacob said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought, ‘Suppose you snatch your daughters away from me.’
32Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In front of our relatives, identify whatever is yours that is with me, and take it back.” (But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)
33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he found nothing. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34(Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them.) So Laban felt around the entire tent but did not find them.
35She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for I am having the way of women.” So he searched but did not find the idols.
36Then Jacob got angry and argued with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What’s my crime? What’s my sin that you’ve hotly pursued me?
37For you’ve felt through all my things. What did you find? Any of your household things? Put them here, in front of my relatives and yours—so they can decide between the two of us.
38These past twenty years I’ve been with you, your ewes and female goats have never miscarried, and I’ve never eaten the rams of your flock.
39I didn’t bring you animals torn by wild beasts. I myself would bear the loss. You would require it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40I was consumed by heat during the day, consumed by frost during the night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41This is how it’s been for me twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks—and you changed my salary ten times!
42Had I not had the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, you would have sent me away empty-handed now. But God saw my misery and the toil of my hands and last night He became the Judge.”
43In response Laban said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flocks are my flocks. Everything you see is mine. But what can I do for these, my daughters, today, or for their sons to whom they’ve given birth?
44So now, come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar,
46and Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took the stones and made a pile. Then they ate there on the pile.
47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha and Jacob called it Gal-ed.
48And Laban said, “This pile is a witness between me and you today.” That is why its name is Gal-ed,
49or Mizpah, for he said, “Let Adonai keep watch between you and me when we are out of one another’s sight.
50If you mistreat my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, though no one is with us, look! God is the witness between you and me.”
51Laban said further to Jacob, “Behold, this pile, and this pillar which I’ve set up between you and me:
52this pile serves as a witness, that I won’t pass by this pillar to go to you, and that you won’t pass by this pile and this pillar to go to me—with evil intent.
53May the God of Abraham and the gods of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob also made an oath by the fear of his father Isaac.
54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and he invited his relatives to eat bread. So they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.
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Genesis 31: TLV
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B'resheet (Gen) 31
31
1But then he heard what Lavan’s sons were saying: “Ya‘akov has taken away everything that our father once had. It’s from what used to belong to our father that he has gotten so rich.” 2He also saw that Lavan regarded him differently than before. 3Adonai said to Ya‘akov, “Return to the land of your ancestors, to your kinsmen; I will be with you.” 4So Ya‘akov sent for Rachel and Le’ah and had them come to the field where his flock was. 5He said to them, “I see by the way your father looks that he feels differently toward me than before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage. 8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the animals gave birth to streaked young. 9This is how God has taken away your father’s animals and given them to me. 10Once, when the animals were mating, I had a dream: I looked up and there in front of me the male goats which mated with the females were streaked, speckled and mottled. 11Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Ya‘akov!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am.’ 12He continued, ‘Raise your eyes now, and look: all the male goats mating with the females are streaked, speckled and mottled; for I have seen everything Lavan has been doing to you. 13I am the God of Beit-El, where you anointed a standing-stone with oil, where you vowed your vow to me. Now get up, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.’” 14Rachel and Le’ah answered him, “We no longer have any inheritance from our father’s possessions; 15and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us. 16Nevertheless, the wealth which God has taken away from our father has become ours and our children’s anyway; so whatever God has told you to do, do.”
(vi) 17Then Ya‘akov got up, put his sons and wives on the camels, 18and carried off all his livestock, along with all the riches he had accumulated, the livestock in his possession which he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, to go to Yitz’chak his father in the land of Kena‘an.
19Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father, 20and Ya‘akov outwitted Lavan the Arami by not telling him of his intended flight. 21So he fled with everything he had: he departed, crossed the [Euphrates] River and set out for the hill-country of Gil‘ad. 22Not until the third day was Lavan told that Ya‘akov had fled.
23Lavan took his kinsmen with him and spent the next seven days pursuing Ya‘akov, overtaking him in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. 24But God came to Lavan the Arami in a dream that night and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.”
25When Lavan caught up with Ya‘akov, Ya‘akov had set up camp in the hill-country; so Lavan and his kinsmen set up camp in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. 26Lavan said to Ya‘akov, “What do you mean by deceiving me and carrying off my daughters as if they were captives taken in war? 27Why did you flee in secret and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and lyres. 28You didn’t even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye! What a stupid thing to do! 29I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be careful that you don’t say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.’ 30Granted that you had to leave, because you longed so deeply for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” 31Ya‘akov answered Lavan, “Because I was afraid. I said, ‘Suppose you take your daughters away from me by force?’ 32But if you find your gods with someone, that person will not remain alive. So with our kinsmen to witness, if you spot anything that I have which belongs to you, take it back.” Ya‘akov did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 33Lavan went into Ya‘akov’s tent, then into Le’ah’s tent and into the tent of the two slave-girls; but he did not find them. He left Le’ah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the household gods, put them in the saddle of the camel and was sitting on them. Lavan felt all around the tent but did not find them. 35She said to her father, “Please don’t be angry that I’m not getting up in your presence, but it’s the time of my period.” So he searched, but he didn’t find the household gods.
36Then Ya‘akov became angry and started arguing with Lavan. “What have I done wrong?” he demanded. “What is my offense, that you have come after me in hot pursuit? 37You have felt around in all my stuff, but what have you found of all your household goods? Put it here, in front of my kinsmen and yours, so that they can render judgment between the two of us! 38I have been with you for these twenty years! Your female sheep and goats haven’t aborted their young, and I haven’t eaten the male animals in your flocks. 39If one of your flock was destroyed by a wild animal, I didn’t bring the carcass to you but bore the loss myself. You demanded that I compensate you for any animal stolen, whether by day or by night. 40Here’s how it was for me: during the day thirst consumed me, and at night the cold — my sleep fled from my eyes. 41These twenty years I’ve been in your house — I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock; and you changed my wages ten times! 42If the God of my father, the God of Avraham, the one whom Yitz’chak fears, had not been on my side, by now you would certainly have already sent me away with nothing! God has seen how distressed I’ve been and how hard I’ve worked, and last night he passed judgment in my favor.”
(vii) 43Lavan answered Ya‘akov, “The daughters are mine, the children are mine, the flocks are mine, and everything you see is mine! But what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? 44So now, come, let’s make a covenant, I and you; and let it stand as a testimony between me and you.” 45Ya‘akov took a stone and set it upright as a standing-stone. 46Then Ya‘akov said to his kinsmen, “Gather some stones”; and they took stones, made a pile of them and ate there by the pile of stones. 47Lavan called it Y’gar-Sahaduta [“pile of witness” in Aramaic], while Ya‘akov called it Gal-‘Ed [“pile of witness” in Hebrew].
48Lavan said, “This pile witnesses between me and you today.” This is why it is called Gal-‘Ed 49and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, “May Adonai watch between me and you when we are apart from each other. 50If you cause pain to my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, then, even if no one is there with us, still God is witness between me and you.” 51Lavan also said to Ya‘akov, “Here is this pile, and here is this standing-stone, which I have set up between me and you. 52May this pile be a witness, and may the standing-stone be a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile to you, and you will not pass beyond this pile and this standing-stone to me, to cause harm. 53May the God of Avraham and also the god of Nachor, the god of their father, judge between us.” But Ya‘akov swore by the One his father Yitz’chak feared. 54Ya‘akov offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to the meal. They ate the food and spent the whole night on the mountain.
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