Genesis 31
1AND Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons saying, Jacob hath taken all that belonged to our father, and with our father’s substance he hath acquired all this glory.
2And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and lo! it was not towards him as heretofore.
3Then the Lord said to Jacob, Return to thy father’s land and to thy kindred and I will be with thee.
4Thereupon Jacob sent for Leia and Rachel to the field where the flocks were
5and said to them, I see that the countenance of your father is not towards me as heretofore. Though the God of my father was with me;
6and you also know that with all my ability I have served your father;
7yet your father hath dealt deceitfully with me, and at the ten lambings hath changed my wages. But God suffered him not to hurt me.
8When he said the speckled shall be thy wages, then all the cattle brought forth speckled. And when he said, The white shall be thy wages. Then all the cattle brought forth white.
9So the Lord hath taken all the cattle of your father and given them to me.
10Indeed when the flocks engendered I beheld with my eyes in a dream, and lo! the he-goats and the rams, which leaped upon the sheep and the goats were ring-streaked, spotted and ash-coloured.
11Moreover the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, What is the matter.
12And he said, Lift up thy eyes and behold the he-goats and the rams which are leaping on the sheep and the goats! They are ring-streaked, speckled and ash-coloured; for I have seen what Laban is doing to thee.
13I am the God who appeared to thee at the Place of God, where thou didst anoint for me a pillar and where thou didst make a vow. Now therefore arise and depart from this land and go to the land of thy nativity, and I will be with thee.
14In reply to which Rachel and Leia said to him, Have we any more a portion or an inheritance in our father’s house?
15Are we not accounted by him as strangers? For he hath sold us and spent the money he got for us.
16Now since all the riches and glory which God hath taken from our father shall be ours and our children’s, do then what God hath commanded thee.
17So Jacob arose and put his wives and his children on camels,
18and carried off all his substance, and all the goods which he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and all that belonged to him, to go to his father Iaaak in the land of Chanaan.
19Now Laban being gone to sheer his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s idols.
20And Jacob concealed his design from Laban the Syrian by not telling him that he was going away.
21And he departed with all that belonged to him and crossed the river and bent his course to mount Galaad.
22But on the third day news was brought to Laban the Syrian, that Jacob was fled.
23Whereupon taking with him his brethren he pursued him seven days journey and overtook him at mount Galaad.
24But God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him, Take care that thou speak not evil to Jacob.
25Now when Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent on the mount. So Laban halted his brethren at mount Galaad.
26And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done?
27Why didst thou flee away secretly, and steal off without my knowledge, and carry away my daughters as if captivated by the sword? Hadst thou told me I might have sent thee away with joy and music, with timbrels and the kithara.
28But I have not been thought worthy to kiss my children and my daughters. Now therefore thou hast acted foolishly;
29and it is now in my power to punish thee. But the God of thy father spoke to me last night saying, Take care that thou speak not evil to Jacob.
30Now grant that thou hast gone because thou hadst a longing desire to return to thy father’s house, yet why hast thou stolen my Gods?
31In reply to this Jacob said to Laban, I was afraid; for I thought that thou perhaps wouldst take from me thy daughters and all that are mine: but said Jacob,
32with whomsoever thou findest thy Gods, let him not live. In the presence of our brethren, examine what there is of thine with me and take it. He knew of nothing with him. Now Jacob did not know that his wife Rachel had stolen them.
33So when Laban had gone in and searched Leia’s tent and found them not; and from Leia’s tent had gone and searched the tent of Jacob and in the tent of the two handmaids but did not find them. Then he went in also to Rachel’s tent.
34Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the camel’s furniture and sat upon them,
35and she said to her father, Be not offended my lord, I cannot rise before thee, for the custom of women is upon me. So when Laban had searched the whole tent but did not find the idols,
36Jacob was inflamed with resentment and remonstrated against Laban.
37And Jacob addressing Laban said, What is my crime, and what my offence that thou hast pursued me? And that thou hast searched all the goods of my house? What hast thou found of all the goods of thy house? Set it here before thy brethren and my brethren and let them judge between us both.
38These twenty years that I have been with thee, thy sheep and thy goats have not cast their young; nor have I devoured the rams of thy flock.
39What was torn by wild beasts I brought not to thee. I made up at my own expence the loss of what was stolen by day or by night.
40I have borne the sultry heat of the day and the frost of the night, and sleep departed from my eyes.
41I have been in thy family these twenty years. I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters; and six years for thy flocks; though thou didst change my wages at the ten lambings.
42Had not the God of my father Abraham and the fear of Isaak been with me, thou wouldst now have sent me away empty. God hath seen my affliction and the labour of my hands, therefore he rebuked thee last night.
43In reply to this Laban said to Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the cattle are my cattle. Even all that thou seest are mine and my daughters. What now can I do to them and their children whom they have born?
44Now therefore come and let us make a covenant, both I and thou. And let it be for a memorial between me and thee. And he said to him, Behold there is none with us; God a witness between me and thee hath seen.
45Then Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar.
46And Jacob said to his brethren, Collect stones. And when they had collected stones and made a heap, they eat thereon.
47Then Laban said to him, This heap is this day a witness between me and thee; so Laban called it, The heap of witness; but Jacob called it Heap witness.
48And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap and this pillar which I have set between me and thee! This heap witnesseth and this pillar witnesseth
49(for this cause its name was called Heap witnesseth and the sight, Which, said he, God would see between me and thee, because we shall be separated one from the other)
50if thou afflict my daughters, if thou take other wives besides my daughters, look! though there be none with us to see, God is a witness between me and thee.
51Moreover Laban said to Jacob, Behold;
52this heap is a witness and this pillar also, that if I pass not to thee neither shalt thou pass to me beyond this heap and this pillar for harm.
53The God of Abraham and the God of Nachor judge between us. And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaak.
54Then he offered a sacrifice upon the mount and invited his brethren and they ate and darnk and slept on the mount.
55And in the morning Laban arose and kissed his daughters and blessed them.