Jacob’s Agreement with Laban

²⁵ And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ^(A)“Send me away, that I may go to ^(B)my own place and to my country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children ^(C)for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”

²⁷ And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for ^(D)I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” ²⁸ Then he said, ^(E)“Name me your wages, and I will give it.”

²⁹ So Jacob said to him, ^(F)“You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. ³⁰ For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you ^[a]since my coming. And now, when shall I also ^(G)provide for my own house?”

³¹ So he said, “What shall I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: ³² Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and ^(H)these shall be my wages. ³³ So my ^(I)righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”

³⁴ And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” ³⁵ So he removed that day the male goats that were ^(J)speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶ Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Now ^(K)Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. ³⁸ And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

⁴¹ And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴² But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ Thus the man ^(L)became exceedingly prosperous, and ^(M)had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

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 ^(N)wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^(O)countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not ^(P)favorable toward him as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(Q)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will ^(R)be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, ⁵ and said to them, ^(S)“I see your father’s ^[b]countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father ^(T)has been with me. ⁶ And ^(U)you know that with all my might I have served your father. ⁷ Yet your father has deceived me and ^(V)changed my wages ^(W)ten times, but God ^(X)did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said thus: ^(Y)‘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 ^(Z)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 ^(AA)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 ^(AB)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, ^(AC)where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now ^(AD)arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ^(AE)“Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not considered strangers by him? For ^(AF)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.”