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Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
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Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals.
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but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.
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Jacob Flees From Laban
Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”
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And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.
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And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
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When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
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Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away.
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Laban Pursues Jacob
On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
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Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
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Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too.
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Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You’ve deceived me, and you’ve carried off my daughters like captives in war.
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Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.
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So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.
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Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.
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Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down?
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Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne?
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Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
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Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why it was called Galeed.
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Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me.
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Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
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He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now.
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These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.
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These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.
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The Command to Leave Horeb
These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.
