Genesis 31
New American Standard Bible
Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan
31 Now [a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this [b]wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw the [c]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and (B)I will be with you.” 4 So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5 and said to them, “(C)I see your father’s [d]attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but (D)the God of my father has been with me. 6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7 Yet your father has (F)cheated me and (G)changed my wages ten times; however, (H)God did not allow him to do me harm. 8 If (I)he said this: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered speckled; and if he said this: ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered striped. 9 So God has (J)taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10 And it came about at the time when the flock was breeding that I raised my eyes and saw in a dream—and behold—the male goats that were [e]mating were striped, speckled, or mottled. 11 Then (K)the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are [f]mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for (L)I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am (M)the God of Bethel, where you (N)anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, [g]leave this land, and (O)return to the land of your birth.’” 14 Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house? 15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For (P)he has sold us, and has also [h]entirely consumed our [i]purchase price. 16 Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has told you.”
17 Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels; 18 and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he possessed which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, (Q)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the [j](R)household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob [k]deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set [l]out for the hill country of (S)Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 When Laban was informed on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 However, (T)God came to Laban the Aramean in a (U)dream of the night and said to him, “[m](V)Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25 And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done [n]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and [o]deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with (W)tambourine and with (X)lyre; 28 and did not allow me (Y)to kiss my [p]grandchildren and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in [q]my power to do you harm, but (Z)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘[r](AA)Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ 30 Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal (AB)my gods?” 31 Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 (AC)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives [s]point out what is yours [t]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave women, 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 [u]household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. So Laban searched through all the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “May my lord not be angry that I cannot (AD)stand in your presence, because the [v]way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the [w](AE)household idols.
36 Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? 37 Though you have searched through all my property, what have you found of all your household property? Set it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide between the two of us. 38 For these twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 I did not even bring to you that which was torn by wild animals; I took the loss myself. You demanded it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 This is how I was: by day the [x]heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 For these twenty years I have been in your house; (AF)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you (AG)changed my wages ten times. 42 If (AH)the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. (AI)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, so He (AJ)rendered judgment last night.”
The Covenant of Mizpah
43 Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the [y]children are my [z]grandchildren, (AK)the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth? 44 So now come, let’s (AL)make a covenant, [aa]you and I, and (AM)it shall be a witness between [ab]you and me.” 45 Then Jacob took (AN)a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. 46 Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Now Laban (AO)called it [ac]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it [ad]Galeed. 48 Laban said, “(AP)This heap is a witness between [ae]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49 and [af](AQ)Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord keep watch between [ag]you and me when we are [ah]absent one from the other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, (AR)God is witness between [ai]you and me.” 51 Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between [aj]you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this memorial stone to me, for harm. 53 (AS)The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, (AT)judge between us.” So Jacob swore by (AU)the fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob (AV)offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to [ak]the meal; and they ate [al]the meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55 [am]Then early in the morning Laban got up, and (AW)kissed his [an]grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
Footnotes
- Genesis 31:1 Lit he
- Genesis 31:1 Lit glory
- Genesis 31:2 Lit face
- Genesis 31:5 Lit face
- Genesis 31:10 Lit leaping upon the flock
- Genesis 31:12 Lit leaping upon the flock
- Genesis 31:13 Lit Go out from
- Genesis 31:15 I.e., enjoyed the benefit of
- Genesis 31:15 Lit money
- Genesis 31:19 Heb teraphim
- Genesis 31:20 Lit stole the heart of
- Genesis 31:21 Lit his face
- Genesis 31:24 Lit Take heed to yourself
- Genesis 31:26 Lit and you have stolen my heart
- Genesis 31:27 Lit steal me
- Genesis 31:28 Lit sons
- Genesis 31:29 Lit the power of my hand
- Genesis 31:29 Lit Take heed to yourself
- Genesis 31:32 Lit recognize
- Genesis 31:32 Lit with me
- Genesis 31:34 Heb teraphim
- Genesis 31:35 I.e., menstruation
- Genesis 31:35 Heb teraphim
- Genesis 31:40 Or drought
- Genesis 31:43 Lit sons
- Genesis 31:43 Lit sons
- Genesis 31:44 Lit I and you
- Genesis 31:44 Lit me and you
- Genesis 31:47 I.e., the heap of witness, in Aram
- Genesis 31:47 I.e., the heap of witness, in Heb
- Genesis 31:48 Lit me and you
- Genesis 31:49 Lit the Mizpah; i.e., the watchtower
- Genesis 31:49 Lit me and you
- Genesis 31:49 Lit hidden
- Genesis 31:50 Lit me and you
- Genesis 31:51 Lit me and you
- Genesis 31:54 Lit eat bread
- Genesis 31:54 Lit bread
- Genesis 31:55 Ch 32:1 in Heb
- Genesis 31:55 Lit sons
Genesis 31
New Revised Standard Version Updated 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 favorably 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.”(A) 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 favorably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.(B) 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.(C) 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.(D) 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!’(E) 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, 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.’ ”(F) 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?(G) 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.(H) 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[a] and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.(I)
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.(J) 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.”(K)
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.(L) 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.(M) 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.’(N) 30 Even though you had to go because you longed greatly for your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?”(O) 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.[b](P)
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.(Q)
36 Then Jacob became angry and upbraided Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? 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.(R) 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 fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.(S) 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear[c] of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”(T)
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.”(U) 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.(V) 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,[d] but Jacob called it Galeed.[e] 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he called it Galeed(W) 49 and the pillar[f] Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other.(X) 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[g] judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,(Y) 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 [h]Early in the morning Laban rose up and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he departed and returned home.(Z)
Genesis 31
The Message
31 1-2 Jacob learned that Laban’s sons were talking behind his back: “Jacob has used our father’s wealth to make himself rich at our father’s expense.” At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn’t treating him the same.
3 That’s when God said to Jacob, “Go back home where you were born. I’ll go with you.”
4-9 So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, “I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn’t treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn’t changed; he’s still with me. You know how hard I’ve worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals’ the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals’ the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father’s livestock to reward me.
10-11 “Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates. In the dream an angel of God called out to me, ‘Jacob!’
“I said, ‘Yes?’
12-13 “He said, ‘Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban’s been doing to you. I’m the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.’”
14-16 Rachel and Leah said, “Has he treated us any better? Aren’t we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he’s spent all that. Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children’s. Go ahead. Do what God told you.”
17-18 Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camels and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19-21 Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead.
22-24 Three days later, Laban got the news: “Jacob’s run off.” Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, “Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.”
25 When Laban reached him, Jacob’s tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there, too.
26-30 “What do you mean,” said Laban, “by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn’t you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn’t permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.’ I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?”
31-32 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force. But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it.” Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen the gods.
33-35 Laban went through Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn’t find them. He went from Leah’s tent to Rachel’s. But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, “Don’t think I’m being disrespectful, my master, that I can’t stand before you, but I’m having my period.” So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn’t find the household gods.
36-37 Now it was Jacob’s turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: “So what’s my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You’ve ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that’s yours? Let’s see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us.
38-42 “In the twenty years I’ve worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I’ve done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict.”
43-44 Laban defended himself: “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they’ve had? So let’s settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us.”
45 Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.
46-47 Jacob called his family around, “Get stones!” They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).
48-50 Laban said, “This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me.” (That’s why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, “God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there’s no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us.”
51-53 Laban continued to Jacob, “This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won’t cross this line to hurt you and you won’t cross this line to hurt me. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us.”
53-55 Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain. Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.
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