创世记 31
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
雅各思念故乡
31 雅各听见拉班的众子谈论，说：“雅各把我们父亲所有的都夺去了，他这一切财物，都是从我们父亲的财产那里得来的。” 2 雅各也注意到拉班的脸色，对自己不像从前那样了。 3 那时，耶和华对雅各说：“你要回到你列祖之地，到你的亲族那里去，我必与你同在。” 4 雅各就派人把拉结和利亚叫到田间的羊群那里去， 5 对她们说：“我注意到你们父亲的脸色，对我不像从前那样了；但是我父亲的 神与我同在。 6 我尽了我的力量来服事你们的父亲，这是你们知道的； 7 你们的父亲却欺骗了我，十次更改了我的工资；但 神不容许他伤害我。 8 如果他说：‘有斑点的算是你的工资’，羊群所生的全部都有斑点；如果他说：‘有条纹的算是你的工资’，羊群所生的全部有条纹。 9 这样， 神把你们父亲的牲畜夺来，赐给我了。 10 有一次，羊群交配的时候，我在梦中举目观看，看见爬在母羊身上的公山羊，都是有条纹、有斑点和有花斑的。 11 神的使者在梦中对我说：‘雅各。’我说：‘我在这里。’ 12 他说：‘你举目观看，所有爬在母羊身上的公山羊，都是有条纹、有斑点和有花斑的，因为拉班向你所作的一切，我都看见了。 13 我就是伯特利的 神，你曾经在那里用油膏过石柱，又在那里向我许过愿。现在你要起程，离开这地，回到你的亲族那里去吧。’” 14 拉结和利亚回答雅各，说：“在我们父亲的家里，我们还有可得的分和产业吗？ 15 他不是把我们看作外人吗？因为他把我们卖了，吞没了我们的身价。 16 神从我们父亲夺回来的一切财物，都是属于我们和我们的儿女的。现在 神吩咐你的一切，你只管作吧。”
雅各不辞而别
17 于是雅各起来，叫他的儿女和妻子们都骑上骆驼。 18 又赶着他所有的牲畜，带着他所得的一切财物，就是他在巴旦．亚兰所得的一切牲畜，要到迦南地，他父亲以撒那里去。 19 当时拉班剪羊毛去了，拉结就偷了他父亲的神像。 20 雅各瞒着亚兰人拉班（“瞒着亚兰人拉班”直译是“偷了亚兰人拉班的心”），没有告诉拉班他将要逃走。 21 于是，雅各带着他所有的一切逃走了。他起程渡过了大河，面对着基列山走去。
拉班追赶雅各
22 到了第三天，有人告诉拉班说雅各逃走了。 23 拉班就带着自己的众兄弟追赶他，追了七日的路程，才在基列山把他们追上了。 24 当天晚上， 神在梦中来到亚兰人拉班那里，对他说：“你要小心，不可与雅各说甚么。” 25 拉班追上了雅各。当时雅各已经在山上支搭了帐棚；拉班和他的众兄弟，也在基列山上支搭了帐棚。 26 拉班对雅各说：“你作的是甚么事呢？你瞒着我，把我的女儿们当作战俘一样带走了。 27 你为甚么暗中逃走，瞒着我不让我知道，使我可以欢欢喜喜地唱歌、击鼓、弹琴给你送行呢？ 28 你又不让我与我的外孙和女儿亲吻。你所作的太糊涂了！ 29 我本来有能力可以伤害你，但昨天晚上，你们父亲的 神对我说：‘你要小心，不可与雅各说甚么。’ 30 现在你既然渴想你的父家，一定要回去，为甚么又偷我的神像呢？” 31 雅各回答拉班，说：“我逃走，是因为我害怕，我心里想：恐怕你会把你的女儿们从我的手中抢走。 32 至于你的神像，你在谁身上搜出来，那人就不该活着；你当着我们众兄弟面前查一查，如果在我这里有甚么东西是你的，你只管拿去。”原来雅各不知拉结偷了神像。
33 拉班进了雅各的帐棚、利亚的帐棚和两个婢女的帐棚，都没有搜出甚么，于是从利亚的帐棚出来，进了拉结的帐棚。 34 拉结已经把神像放在骆驼的鞍下，自己坐在上面。拉班搜遍了帐棚，但没有搜出甚么。 35 拉结对她父亲说：“求我主不要生气，我不能在你面前起来，因为我正有女人的经期。”这样，拉班彻底搜查了，也搜不出那神像来。
36 雅各就生气，与拉班争吵起来。雅各责问拉班说：“我到底有甚么过犯，有甚么罪恶，你竟这样急速地追赶我呢？ 37 你已经搜遍了我所有的家具，你有找到你家的东西没有？可以把它放在这里，在你我的众兄弟面前，让他们可以在你我中间判断一下。 38 这二十年来，我与你在一起；你的母绵羊和母山羊没掉过胎，你羊群中的公羊，我没有吃过。 39 被野兽撕裂的，我没有给你带回来，都是由我自己赔偿；无论白天偷去的，或是黑夜偷的，你都要我负责。 40 我白天受尽炎热，黑夜受尽寒霜，不能入睡；我经常是这样。 41 我这二十年在你的家里，为你的两个女儿服事了你十四年；为你的羊群服事了你六年；你又十次改了我的工资。 42 如果不是我父亲的 神，就是亚伯拉罕的 神，以撒所敬畏的 神，与我同在，你现在必定打发我空手回去。但 神看见了我的苦情和我手中的辛劳，所以他昨天晚上责备了你。”
雅各与拉班立约
43 拉班回答雅各，说：“这些女儿是我的女儿；这些孩子是我的孩子；这些羊群也是我的羊群。其实你眼所见的一切都是我的。但我今日向我的女儿和她们所生的孩子，能作甚么呢？ 44 来吧，现在我和你可以立约，作为你我之间的证据。” 45 雅各就拿了一块石头，立作石柱。 46 雅各又对自己的众兄弟说：“你们把石头堆聚起来。”他们就把石头拿来，堆成了一堆。他们又在石堆旁边吃喝。 47 拉班称那石堆为伊迦尔．撒哈杜他，雅各却称那石堆为迦累得。 48 拉班说：“今天这堆石头是你我之间的证据。”因此它名叫迦累得， 49 又名叫米斯巴，因为拉班说：“我们彼此分离以后，愿耶和华在你我中间鉴察。 50 你若苦待我的女儿，或在我的女儿以外，另娶妻子，虽然没有人在我们中间作证，但你要注意， 神就是你我之间的见证人。” 51 拉班又对雅各说：“你看这堆石头，看我在你我之间所竖立的石柱。 52 这堆石头就是证据，这石柱也是证据：我决不越过这石堆到你那里去，你也决不可越过这石堆和石柱，到我这里来害我。 53 但愿亚伯拉罕的 神、拿鹤的 神，就是他们父亲的 神，在我们中间判断。”雅各就指着他父亲以撒所敬畏的 神起誓。 54 雅各又在山上献祭，叫了自己的众兄弟来吃饭。他们吃了饭，就在山上过夜。 55 拉班清早起来，与他的外孙和女儿亲吻，给他们祝福。然后拉班离开那里，回自己的地方去了。（本节在《马索拉文本》为32:1）
Genesis 31
Living Bible
31 But Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling, “He owes everything he owns to our father. All his wealth is at our father’s expense.” 2 Soon Jacob noticed a considerable cooling in Laban’s attitude toward him.
3 Jehovah now spoke to Jacob and told him, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives there; and I will be with you.”
4 So one day Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come out to the field where he was with the flocks, 5 to talk things over with them.
“Your father has turned against me,” he told them, “and now the God of my fathers has come and spoken to me. 6 You know how hard I’ve worked for your father, 7 but he has been completely unscrupulous and has broken his wage contract with me again and again and again. But God has not permitted him to do me any harm! 8 For if he said the speckled animals would be mine, then all the flock produced speckled; and when he changed and said I could have the streaked ones, then all the lambs were streaked! 9 In this way God has made me wealthy at your father’s expense.
10 “And at the mating season, I had a dream, and saw that the he-goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and mottled. 11 Then, in my dream, the Angel of God called to me 12 and told me that I should mate the white female goats with streaked, speckled, and mottled male goats.[a] ‘For I have seen all that Laban has done to you,’ the Angel said. 13 ‘I am the God you met at Bethel,’ he continued, ‘the place where you anointed the pillar and made a vow to serve me. Now leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’”
14 Rachel and Leah replied, “That’s fine with us! There’s nothing for us here—none of our father’s wealth will come to us anyway! 15 He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women; he sold us, and what he received for us has disappeared. 16 The riches God has given you from our father were legally ours and our children’s to begin with! So go ahead and do whatever God has told you to.”
17-20 So one day while Laban was out shearing sheep, Jacob set his wives and sons on camels, and fled without telling Laban his intentions. He drove the flocks before him—Jacob’s flocks he had gotten there at Paddan-aram—and took everything he owned and started out to return to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. 21 So he fled with all of his possessions (and Rachel stole her father’s household gods and took them with her) and crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the territory of Gilead.
22 Laban didn’t learn of their flight for three days. 23 Then, taking several men with him, he set out in hot pursuit and caught up with them seven days later, at Mount Gilead. 24 That night God appeared to Laban in a dream.
“Watch out what you say to Jacob,” he was told. “Don’t give him your blessing and don’t curse him.” 25 Laban finally caught up with Jacob as he was camped at the top of a ridge; Laban, meanwhile, camped below him in the mountains.
26 “What do you mean by sneaking off like this?” Laban demanded. “Are my daughters prisoners, captured in a battle, that you have rushed them away like this? 27 Why didn’t you give me a chance to have a farewell party, with singing and orchestra and harp? 28 Why didn’t you let me kiss my grandchildren and tell them good-bye? This is a strange way to act. 29 I could crush you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and told me, ‘Be careful not to be too hard on Jacob!’ 30 But see here—though you feel you must go, and long so intensely for your childhood home—why have you stolen my idols?”
31 “I sneaked away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I said to myself, ‘He’ll take his daughters from me by force.’ 32 But as for your household idols, a curse upon anyone who took them. Let him die! If you find a single thing we’ve stolen from you, I swear before all these men, I’ll give it back without question.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had taken them.
33 Laban went first into Jacob’s tent to search there, then into Leah’s, and then searched the two tents of the concubines, but didn’t find them. Finally he went into Rachel’s tent. 34 Rachel, remember, was the one who had stolen the idols; she had stuffed them into her camel saddle and now was sitting on them! So although Laban searched the tents thoroughly, he didn’t find them.
35 “Forgive my not getting up, Father,” Rachel explained, “but I’m having my monthly period.”[b] So Laban didn’t find them.
36-37 Now Jacob got mad. “What did you find?” he demanded of Laban. “What is my crime? You have come rushing after me as though you were chasing a criminal and have searched through everything. Now put everything I stole out here in front of us, before your men and mine, for all to see and to decide whose it is! 38 Twenty years I’ve been with you, and all that time I cared for your ewes and goats so that they produced healthy offspring, and I never touched one ram of yours for food. 39 If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, did I show them to you and ask you to reduce the count of your flock? No, I took the loss. You made me pay for every animal stolen from the flocks, whether I could help it or not.[c] 40 I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day, and through the cold and sleepless nights. 41 Yes, twenty years—fourteen of them earning your two daughters, and six years to get the flock! And you have reduced my wages ten times! 42 In fact, except for the grace of God—the God of my grandfather Abraham, even the glorious God of Isaac, my father—you would have sent me off without a penny to my name. But God has seen your cruelty and my hard work, and that is why he appeared to you last night.”
43 Laban replied, “These women are my daughters, and these children are mine, and these flocks and all that you have—all are mine. So how could I harm my own daughters and grandchildren? 44 Come now and we will sign a peace pact, you and I, and will live by its terms.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument, 46 and told his men to gather stones and make a heap, and Jacob and Laban ate together beside the pile of rocks. 47-48 They named it “The Witness Pile”—“Jegar-sahadutha,” in Laban’s language, and “Galeed” in Jacob’s.
“This pile of stones will stand as a witness against us if either of us trespasses across this line,[d]” Laban said. 49 So it was also called “The Watchtower” (Mizpah). For Laban said, “May the Lord see to it that we keep this bargain when we are out of each other’s sight. 50 And if you are harsh to my daughters, or take other wives, I won’t know, but God will see it. 51-52 This heap,” Laban continued, “stands between us as a witness of our vows that I will not cross this line to attack you and you will not cross it to attack me. 53 I call upon the God of Abraham and Nahor, and of their father, to destroy either one of us who does.”
So Jacob took oath before the mighty God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line. 54 Then Jacob presented a sacrifice to God there at the top of the mountain, and invited his companions to a feast, and afterwards spent the night with them on the mountain. 55 Laban was up early the next morning and kissed his daughters and grandchildren, and blessed them, and returned home.
Footnotes
- Genesis 31:12 and told me that I should mate the white female goats with streaked, speckled, and mottled male goats, implied; literally, “notice that all the mating males are speckled, streaked, and mottled.”
- Genesis 31:35 but I’m having my monthly period, implied; literally, “The manner of women is upon me.” She was pregnant with Benjamin, but was falsely claiming her menstrual period, which, under the later Mosaic law, caused ceremonial defilement of all that she sat upon. See Leviticus 15.
- Genesis 31:39 stolen . . . whether I could help it or not, literally, “stolen by day or by night.”
- Genesis 31:47 if either of us trespasses across this line, implied.
Genesis 31
New King James Version
Jacob Flees from Laban
31 Now 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 (A)wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw the (B)countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not (C)favorable toward him as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, (D)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will (E)be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, 5 and said to them, (F)“I see your father’s [a]countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father (G)has been with me. 6 And (H)you know that with all my might I have served your father. 7 Yet your father has deceived me and (I)changed my wages (J)ten times, but God (K)did not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said thus: (L)‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. 9 So God has (M)taken 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. 11 Then (N)the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for (O)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, (P)where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now (Q)arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, (R)“Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not considered strangers by him? For (S)he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. 16 For 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.”
17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 And 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 (T)Canaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the (U)household[b] idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and (V)headed[c] toward the mountains of Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 Then he took (W)his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 But God (X)had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you (Y)speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
25 So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
26 And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and (Z)carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? 27 Why 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? 28 And you did not allow me (AA)to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now (AB)you have done foolishly in so doing. 29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the (AC)God of your father spoke to me (AD)last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ 30 And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you (AE)steal my gods?”
31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was (AF)afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ 32 With whomever you find your gods, (AG)do 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.
33 And 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. 34 Now Rachel had taken the [d]household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban [e]searched all about the tent but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot (AH)rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the [f]household idols.
36 Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my [g]trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? 37 Although 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! 38 These 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 (AI)That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. (AJ)You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. 41 Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I (AK)served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and (AL)you have changed my wages ten times. 42 (AM)Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and (AN)the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. (AO)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and (AP)rebuked you last night.”
Laban’s Covenant with Jacob
43 And 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? 44 Now therefore, come, (AQ)let us make a [h]covenant, (AR)you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
45 So Jacob (AS)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. 47 Laban called it [i]Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it [j]Galeed. 48 And Laban said, (AT)“This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, 49 also (AU)Mizpah,[k] because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. 50 If 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!”
51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. 52 This 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. 53 The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father (AV)judge between us.” And Jacob (AW)swore by (AX)the [l]Fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then 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. 55 And early in the morning Laban arose, and (AY)kissed his sons and daughters and (AZ)blessed them. Then Laban departed and (BA)returned to his place.
Footnotes
- Genesis 31:5 Lit. face
- Genesis 31:19 Heb. teraphim
- Genesis 31:21 Lit. set his face toward
- Genesis 31:34 Heb. teraphim
- Genesis 31:34 Lit. felt
- Genesis 31:35 Heb. teraphim
- Genesis 31:36 transgression
- Genesis 31:44 treaty
- Genesis 31:47 Lit., in Aram., Heap of Witness
- Genesis 31:47 Lit., in Heb., Heap of Witness
- Genesis 31:49 Lit. Watch
- Genesis 31:53 A reference to God
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
