Genesis 31
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
Jacob Flees with Family and Flocks
31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, ‘Jacob has taken all that was our father’s; he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.’ 2 And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as favourably as he did before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you.’ 4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was, 5 and said to them, ‘I see that your father does not regard me as favourably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength; 7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me. 8 If he said, “The speckled shall be your wages”, then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said, “The striped shall be your wages”, then all the flock bore striped. 9 Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father, and given them to me.
10 ‘During the mating of the flock I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats that leaped upon the flock were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, “Jacob,” and I said, “Here I am!” 12 And he said, “Look up and see that all the goats that leap on the flock are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel,[a] where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and return to the land of your birth.”’ 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him, ‘Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us. 16 All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.’
17 So Jacob arose, and set his children and his wives on camels; 18 and he drove away all his livestock, all the property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. 20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had; starting out he crossed the Euphrates,[b] and set his face towards the hill country of Gilead.
Laban Overtakes Jacob
22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 So he took his kinsfolk with him and pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad.’
25 Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsfolk camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Laban said to Jacob, ‘What have you done? You have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword. 27 Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre. 28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? What you have done is foolish. 29 It is in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, “Take heed that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.” 30 Even though you had to go because you longed greatly for your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?’ 31 Jacob answered Laban, ‘Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsfolk, point out what I have that is yours, and take it.’ Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.[c]
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt all about in the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, ‘Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.’ So he searched, but did not find the household gods.
36 Then Jacob became angry, and upbraided Laban. Jacob said to Laban, ‘What is my offence? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 Although you have felt about through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsfolk and your kinsfolk, so that they may decide between us two. 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 That which was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself; of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 It was like this with me: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you for fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear[d] of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked you last night.’
Laban and Jacob Make a Covenant
43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, ‘The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about their children whom they have borne? 44 Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be a witness between you and me.’ 45 So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsfolk, ‘Gather stones,’ and they took stones, and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha:[e] but Jacob called it Galeed.[f] 48 Laban said, ‘This heap is a witness between you and me today.’ Therefore he called it Galeed, 49 and the pillar[g] Mizpah,[h] for he said, ‘The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other. 50 If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, though no one else is with us, remember that God is witness between you and me.’
51 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘See this heap and see the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and the 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 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor’—the God of their father—‘judge between us.’ So Jacob swore by the Fear[i] of his father Isaac, 54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice on the height and called his kinsfolk to eat bread; and they ate bread and tarried all night in the hill country.
55 [j] Early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he departed and returned home.
Footnotes
- Genesis 31:13 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- Genesis 31:21 Heb the river
- Genesis 31:32 Heb them
- Genesis 31:42 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- Genesis 31:47 In Aramaic The heap of witness
- Genesis 31:47 In Hebrew The heap of witness
- Genesis 31:49 Compare Sam: MT lacks the pillar
- Genesis 31:49 That is Watchpost
- Genesis 31:53 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- Genesis 31:55 Ch 32.1 in Heb
Genesis 31
Revised Geneva Translation
31 Now he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and he has gotten all this honor from our father’s goods.”
2 Also Jacob beheld the face of Laban, that it was not towards him as in times past.
3 And the LORD said to Jacob, “Return into the land of your fathers, and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
4 Therefore, Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock.
5 Then he said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not towards me as it used to be. But the God of my father has been with me.
6 “And you know that I have served your father with all my might.
7 “But your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times. Yet God did not allow him to hurt me.
8 “If he said thus: ‘The spotted shall be your wages’, then all the sheep bore spotted. And if he said thus: ‘The parti-colored shall be your reward’, then all the sheep bore parti-colored.
9 “Thus has God taken away your father’s substance and given it to me.
10 “For in breeding time, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats lept upon the female goats that were parti-colored with little and great spots spotted.
11 “And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I answered, ‘Lo, I am here.’
12 “And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes, now, and see all the male goats leaping upon the female goats that are parti-colored, spotted with little and great spots. For I have seen all that Laban does to you.
13 ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this country and return to the land where you were born.’”
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered, and said to him, “Do we have any more portion and inheritance in our father’s house?
15 “Does he not count us as strangers? For he has sold us and has eaten up and consumed our money.
16 “Therefore, all the riches which God has taken from our father is ours and our children’s. Now, then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
17 Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon camels.
18 And he carried away all his flocks, and all his substance which he had gotten (his riches which he had gotten in Padan Aram) to go to Isaac, his father, to the land of Canaan.
19 When Laban was gone to sheer his sheep, then Rachel stole her father’s idols.
20 Thus, Jacob stole away the heart of Laban the Aramite. For he did not tell him that he fled.
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and passed the river and set his face toward Mount Gilead.
22 And three days later, Laban was told that Jacob fled.
23 Then he took his brothers with him and followed after him seven days’ journey and overtook him at Mount Gilead.
24 And God came to Laban the Aramite in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
25 Then Laban overtook Jacob; and Jacob had pitched his tent on the Mount. And Laban, with his brothers, pitched upon Mount Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have even stolen away my heart and carried away my daughters, as though they had been taken captives with the sword.
27 “Why did you flee so secretly and steal away from me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you forth with mirth and with songs, with timbrel and with harp?
28 “But you have not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now, you have done foolishly in doing so.
29 “I am able to do you evil. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak neither good nor bad to Jacob.’
30 “Now, you went your way because you greatly longed after your father’s house. Yet why have you stolen my gods?”
31 Then Jacob answered, and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid and thought that you would have taken your daughters from me.
32 “With whomever you find your gods, let him not live. Search what I have in the presence of my brothers and take what is yours, (but Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)
33 Then Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maid’s tents, but did not find them. So, he went out of Leah’s tent and entered into Rachel’s tent
34 (now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the camel’s straw and sat down upon them). And Laban searched the entire tent but did not find them.
35 Then she said to her father, “My Lord, do not be angry but I cannot rise up before you. For the custom of women is upon me.” So, he searched but did not find the idols.
36 Then Jacob was angry and argued with Laban. Jacob also answered and said to Laban, “What have I trespassed? What have I offended, that you have pursued after me?
37 “Seeing you have searched all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Put it here before my brothers and your brothers, so that they may judge between us both.
38 “This past twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your goats have not miscarried their young; and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
39 “Whatever was torn by beasts I did not bring to you but made it good myself. Of my hand did you require it, were it stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 “I was consumed with heat in the day, and with frost in the night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.
41 “Thus have I been in your house twenty years. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your sheep; and you have changed my wages ten times.
42 “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely you would have sent me away now empty. But God beheld my tribulation, and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
43 Then Laban answered, and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these sons are my sons, and these sheep are my sheep, and all that you see is mine. And what can I do this day to these, my daughters, or to their sons which they have borne?
44 “Now, therefore, come let us make a covenant, you and I, which may be a witness between me and you.”
45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar:
46 And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” Who brought stones and made a heap; and they ate there upon the heap.
47 And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha; and Jacob called it Galeed.
48 For Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you this day.” Therefore, he called the name of it Galeed.
49 He also called it Mizpah, because he said, “The LORD keep watch between me and him, when we shall be departed one from another.
50 “If you shall afflict my daughters, or shall take wives beside my daughters, though no man with us, behold, God is witness between me and you.”
51 Moreover, Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set between me and you.
52 “This heap shall be witness, and the pillar shall be witness, so that I will not come over this heap to you, and so that you shall not pass over this heap and this pillar to me for evil.
53 “The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father be judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.
54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the Mount, and called his brothers to eat bread; and they ate bread and stayed on the Mount all night.
55 And early in the morning, Laban rose up and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban, departing, returned to his place.
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