Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Heth

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.”

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^[a] that belonged to her father. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[b] 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^[c] 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^[d] 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^[e] and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you hide your intention to flee and trick me,^[f] 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^[g] and my daughters goodbye? Now you have behaved foolishly by doing this. ²⁹ It is in my power^[h] to do harm to you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, ‘Take care^[i] 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^[j] are my grandsons,^[k] 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^[l] 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,^[m] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[n] 48} Then Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness between me and you today.” Therefore its name is called Galeed,^{[o] 49} and Mizpah,^[p] because he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you when we are out of sight of each other.^{[q] 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.”

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ Take care that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no one growing up like a root of bitterness causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one be a sexually immoral or totally worldly person like Esau, who for one meal traded his own birthright.