Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw ^(A)that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(B)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

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.

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.

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?

⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. ^(A)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(B)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (C)If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the ^(D)Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(E)God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and ^(F)rebuked you last night.”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ^52 (A)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 ^(B)Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^(C)his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.