Laban Overtakes Jacob

²² On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him at Mount Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night. “Watch yourself!” God warned him. “Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”^(A)

²⁵ When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken my daughters away like prisoners of war! ²⁷ Why did you secretly flee from me, deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and lyres, ²⁸ but you didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly. ²⁹ I could do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me: ‘Watch yourself. Don’t say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰ Now you have gone off because you long for your father—but why have you stolen my gods?”^(B)

³¹ Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. ³² If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live!^(C) Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

³⁵ She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence;^(D) I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

³⁶ Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me? ³⁷ You’ve searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us. ³⁸ I’ve been with you these 20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock. ³⁹ I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night. ⁴⁰ There I was—the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ For 20 years I have worked in your household—14 years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks^(E)—and you have changed my wages 10 times! ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work,^[a] and He issued His verdict last night.”