Genesis 31-33

Lexham English Bible

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now he^[a] heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, “Jacob has taken all that our father has,” and “From that which was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” ² Then Jacob saw the face of Laban and, behold, it was not like it had been in the past.^{[b] 3} And Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your ancestors^[c] and to your family, and I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flocks, ⁵ and he said to them, “Look, I see the face of your father, that it is not like it has been toward me in the past.^[d] But the God of my father is with me. ⁶ Now you yourselves know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷ and your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸ If thus he said, ‘Speckled shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore speckled. And if he said, ‘Streaked shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore streaked. ⁹ God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ Now it happened that at the time of the mating of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams mounting the flock were streaked, speckled, and dappled. ¹¹ Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see—all the rams mounting the flock are streaked, speckled, and dappled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a stone pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now get up, go out from this land and return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there yet a portion for us, and an inheritance in the house of our father? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded as foreigners by him, because he has sold us and completely consumed our money? ¹⁶ For all the wealth that God has taken away from our father, it belongs to us and to our sons. So now, all that God has said to you, do.” ¹⁷ Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on the camels. ¹⁸ And he drove all his livestock and his possessions that he had acquired, the livestock of his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, in order to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the idols^[e] that belonged to her father. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[f] Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ Then he fled with all that he had, and arose and crossed the Euphrates^[g] and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. ²² And on the third day it was told to Laban that Jacob had fled. ²³ Then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued after him, a seven-day journey, and he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Take care^[h] that you not speak with Jacob, whether good or evil.” ²⁵ And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his kinsmen pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done that you tricked me^[i] and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you hide your intention to flee and trick me,^[j] and did not tell me so that I would have sent you away with joy and song and tambourine and lyre? ²⁸ And why did you not give me opportunity to kiss my grandsons^[k] and my daughters goodbye? Now you have behaved foolishly by doing this. ²⁹ It is in my power^[l] to do harm to you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, ‘Take care^[m] from speaking with Jacob, whether good or evil.’ ³⁰ Now, you have surely gone because you desperately longed for the house of your father, but why did you steal my gods?” ³¹ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ ³² But with whomever you find your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of your kinsmen now identify what is with me that is yours and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. ³³ Then Laban went into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tent of the two female servants and did not find his gods. And he came out of Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the saddle bag of the camel and sat on them. And Jacob searched the whole tent thoroughly but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let there not be anger in the eyes of my lord, for I am not able to rise before you, for the way of women is with me. And he searched carefully and did not find the idols. ³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and quarreled with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you pursued after me? ³⁷ For you have searched all my possessions and what did you find among all the possessions of my household? Set it before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between the two of us! ³⁸ These twenty years I was with you; your ewes and your female goats did not miscarry, and the rams of your flocks I did not eat. ³⁹ I brought no mangled carcass to you—I bore its loss. From my hand you sought it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was, during the 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 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 of Isaac had not been with me, indeed now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my misery and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.” ⁴³ Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters and the grandsons^[n] are my grandsons,^[o] and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see, it is mine. Now, what can I do for these my daughters today, or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ So now, come, let us make^[p] a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between me and you.” ⁴⁵ And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a stone pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a pile of stones, and they ate there by the pile of stones. ⁴⁷ And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,^[q] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[r] 48} Then Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness between me and you today.” Therefore its name is called Galeed,^{[s] 49} and Mizpah,^[t] because he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you when we are out of sight of each other.^{[u] 50} If you mistreat my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, when there is no man with us, see—God is a witness between me and you.” ⁵¹ And Laban said to Jacob, “See, this pile of stones, and see the pillar that I have set up between me and you. ⁵² This pile of stones is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile of stones to you, and that you will not pass beyond this pile of stones and this pillar to me intending harm. ⁵³ May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father^[v] judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the hill, and he called his kinsmen to eat the meal.^[w] And they ate the meal^[x] and spent the night on the hill. ^55 [y] And Laban arose early in the morning and kissed his grandsons^[z] and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his homeland.

Jacob Fears Esau

32 And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him. ² And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is the camp of God!” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the territory of Edom. ⁴ And he instructed them, saying, “Thus you must say to my lord, to Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, I have dwelled as an alien with Laban, and I have remained there until now. ⁵ And I have acquired cattle, male donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.’” ⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was very frightened and distressed. So he divided the people, flocks, cattle, and camels that were with him into two companies. ⁸ And he thought, “If Esau comes to one company and destroys it, the remaining company will be able to escape.” ⁹ Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your family, and I will deal well with you.’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy^[aa] of all the loyal love and all the faithfulness that you have shown^[ab] your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack mother and children alike. ¹² Now you yourself said, ‘I will surely deal well with you and make your offspring as the sand of the sea that cannot be counted for abundance.’”

¹³ And he lodged there that night. Then he took from what he had with him^[ac] a gift for Esau his brother: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ And he put them under the hand of his servants, herd by herd,^[ad] and said to his servants, “Cross on ahead before me, and put some distance between herds.^{[ae] 17} And he instructed the foremost, saying, “When Esau my brother comes upon you and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you and where are you going? To whom do these animals belong ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ Then you must say, ‘To your servant, to Jacob. It is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. Now behold, he is also coming after us.’” ¹⁹ And he also instructed the second servant and the third, and everyone else who was behind the herds, saying, “You must speak to Esau according to this word when you find him. ²⁰ And moreover, you shall say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “Let me appease him^[af] with the gift going before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will show me favor.”^{[ag] 21} So the gift passed on before him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²² That night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ And he took them and sent them across the stream. Then he sent across all his possessions. ²⁴ And Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the dawn. ²⁵ And when he^[ah] saw that he could not prevail against him, he struck his hip socket, so that Jacob’s hip socket was sprained as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he^[ai] said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ Then he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[aj] for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked and said, “Please tell me your name.” And he said, “Why do you ask this—for my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰ Then Jacob called the name of the place Peniel which means “I have seen God face to face and my life was spared.” ³¹ Then the sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore the Israelites^[ak] do not eat the sinew of the sciatic nerve that is upon the socket of the hip unto this day, because he struck the socket of the thigh of Jacob at the sinew of the sciatic nerve.

Jacob Meets Esau and Settles at Shechem

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, Esau was coming and four hundred men were with him. And he^[al] divided the children among Leah and among Rachel, and among the two of his female servants. ² And he put the female slaves and their children first, then Leah and her children next, then Rachel with Joseph last. ³ And he himself passed on before them and bowed down to the ground seven times until he came to his brother. ⁴ But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ Then Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “Who are these with you?” And he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the female servants drew near, they and their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ Then Leah and her children drew near and bowed down, and afterward Joseph and Rachel drew near and they bowed down. ⁸ And he^[am] said, “What do you mean by^[an] all this company that I have met?” Then he said, “To find favor in the eyes of my lord.” ⁹ Then Esau said, “I have enough^[ao] my brother; keep what you have.”^{[ap] 10} And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your eyes, you must take my gift from my hand, for then I have seen your face which is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me. ¹¹ Please take my gift which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.”^[aq] And he urged him, so he took it. ¹² Then he^[ar] said, “Let us journey and go on, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³ But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and the flocks and the cattle which are nursing are a concern to me. Now if they drove them hard for a day all the flocks would die. ¹⁴ Let my lord pass on before his servant and I will move along slowly at the pace^[as] of the livestock that are ahead of me, and at the pace^[at] of the children until I come to my lord in Seir.” ¹⁵ And Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.” But he said, “What need is there?^[au] Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau turned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob traveled on to Succoth, and he built for himself a house, and he made shelters for his livestock. Therefore he called the name of the place Succoth. ¹⁸ And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan, on his way^[av] from Paddan-Aram. And he camped before the city. ¹⁹ And he bought a piece of land where he pitched his tent for one hundred pieces of money^[aw] from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem. ²⁰ And there he erected an altar and called it “El Elohe Israel.”^[ax]