Genesis 31:1-13

Contemporary English Version

Jacob Runs from Laban

31 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were complaining, “Jacob is now a rich man, and he got everything he owns from our father.” ² Jacob also noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been before. ³ One day the Lord said, “Jacob, go back to your relatives in the land of your ancestors, and I will be with you.”

⁴ Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him in the pasture where he kept his sheep, ⁵ and he told them:

Your father isn't as friendly with me as he used to be, but the God my ancestors worshiped has been on my side. ⁶ You know that I have worked hard for your father ⁷ and that he keeps cheating me by changing my wages time after time. But God has protected me. ⁸ When your father said the speckled sheep would be my wages, all of them were speckled. And when he said the spotted ones would be mine, all of them were spotted. ⁹ That's how God has taken sheep and goats from your father and given them to me.

¹⁰ Once, when the flocks were mating, I dreamed that all the rams were either spotted or speckled. ¹¹ Then God's angel called me by name. I answered, ¹² and he said, “Notice that all the rams are either spotted or speckled. I know everything Laban is doing to you, ^13 (A) and I am the God you worshiped at Bethel,^[a] when you poured olive oil on a rock and made a promise to me. Leave here at once and return to the land where you were born.”