Genesis 31:31-43

New King James Version

³¹ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was ^(A)afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ ³² With whomever you find your gods, ^(B)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 ^[a]household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban ^[b]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 ^(C)rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the ^[c]household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my ^[d]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 (D)That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. ^(E)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 ^(F)served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(G)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (H)Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and ^(I)the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(J)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and ^(K)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?