Genesis 31:1-24

Complete Jewish Bible

31 But 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.” ² He also saw that Lavan regarded him differently than before. ³ Adonai said to Ya‘akov, “Return to the land of your ancestors, to your kinsmen; I will be with you.” ⁴ So Ya‘akov sent for Rachel and Le’ah and had them come to the field where his flock was. ⁵ He 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. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷ and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage. ⁸ If 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. ⁹ This is how God has taken away your father’s animals and given them to me. ¹⁰ Once, 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. ¹¹ Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Ya‘akov!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He 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. ¹³ I 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.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Le’ah answered him, “We no longer have any inheritance from our father’s possessions; ¹⁵ and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, 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) ¹⁷ Then Ya‘akov got up, put his sons and wives on the camels, ¹⁸ and 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.

¹⁹ Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father, ²⁰ and Ya‘akov outwitted Lavan the Arami by not telling him of his intended flight. ²¹ So he fled with everything he had: he departed, crossed the [Euphrates] River and set out for the hill-country of Gil‘ad. ²² Not until the third day was Lavan told that Ya‘akov had fled.

²³ Lavan took his kinsmen with him and spent the next seven days pursuing Ya‘akov, overtaking him in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. ²⁴ But 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.”