Genesis 31:17-32:12

English Standard Version

¹⁷ So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in ^(A)Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's ^(B)household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[a] Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the ^(C)Euphrates,^[b] and ^(D)set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²² When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean ^(E)in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(F)either good or bad.”

²⁵ And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have ^(G)tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly ^(H)and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? ²⁸ And why did you not permit me ^(I)to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is ^(J)in my power to do you harm. But the ^(K)God of your^[c] father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(L)either good or bad.’ ³⁰ And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house, but why did you ^(M)steal my gods?” ³¹ Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (N)Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^(O)rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and ^(P)your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. ^(Q)From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. ^(R)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(S)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (T)If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the ^(U)Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(V)God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and ^(W)rebuked you last night.”

⁴³ Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Come now, ^(X)let us make a covenant, you and I. ^(Y)And let it be a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(Z)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,^[d] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[e] 48} Laban said, ^(AA)“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, ^49 (AB)and Mizpah,^[f] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. ⁵⁰ If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(AC)God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ^52 (AD)This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^(AE)Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^(AF)his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

^55 [g] Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed ^(AG)his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's ^(AH)camp!” So he called the name of that place ^(AI)Mahanaim.^[h]

³ And Jacob sent^[i] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of ^(AJ)Seir, the country of Edom, ⁴ instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that ^(AK)I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(AL)he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(AM)greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸ thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, ^(AN)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ^(AO)said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ^10 (AP)I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ^(AQ)I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But ^(AR)you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”