31:1 He heard Laban's sons saying:
Jacob
took away all our father had
and
gained his wealth from our father.
31:2 Then Jacob saw that Laban
did
not have the same attitude as before.
31:3 Then Yahweh spoke to Jacob:
Return
to the land of your fathers and relatives
and
I will be with you.
31:4 Then Jacob summoned
Rachel and Leah to the fields
where his flocks were.
31:5 He said to them:
I
understand your father's attitude
about
me is not what it was.
But
the God of my teacher
has
been with me.
31:6 You know I worked hard
for
your father with all my strength.
31:7 But your father deceived me
and
changed my wages ten times.
Yet
God allowed him to harm me not.
31:8 If he said the speckled ones
will
be your wages
then
the flocks bore speckled young.
If
he said the streaked ones
will
be your wages
then
the flocks bore streaked young.
31:9 So God took away the flocks
of
your father and gave them to me.
31:10 Once I had a dream
and
saw the male goats mating
with
the striped, speckled and spotted flock.
31:11 Then the angel of God
spoke
to me in the dream.
Jacob
and I answered:
Here
I am.
31:12 Then he said:
See
all the rams leaping
in
the flock that are striped
speckled
or spotted.
I
have seen what Laban
has
been doing to you.
31:13 I am the God of
where
you dedicated a monument
and
devoted yourself to Me.
Now
leave this land at once
and
go back to your home land.
31:14 Then Rachel and Leah replied:
Is
there anything inheritance left
for
us of our father's estate?
31:15 Are we not considered foreigners?
Surely
he sold us and spent
what
was paid for us.
31:16 For the wealth God took away
from
our father belongs to us
and
our children.
So
do whatever God has told you.
31:17 Then Jacob got up
and
put his sons and wives on camels.
31:18 Then he drove his flocks ahead
along
with all the things
he
got in Paddan
and
went to his teacher Isaac
in
the
31:19 When Laban went out
to
shear his sheep
Rachel
took her father's shrines.
31:20 Thus Jacob betrayed Laban the Syrian
without
his knowing
saying
nothing as he left.
31:21 Thus he fled with everything
crossed
over the river
and
headed for the hills of
31:22 This was told to Laban
on
the third day of Jacob’s fleeing.
31:23 He took his brothers with him
and
chased after him for seven days.
Then
they caught up to him
in
the hills of
31:24 God came to Laban the Aramean
in
a dream one night and said:
Take
care not to say anything to Jacob
either
good or bad.
31:25 Laban overtook Jacob
where
Jacob had set up camp
in
the hills of
Laban
and his brothers also camped there.
31:26 Laban asked Jacob:
What
are you doing?
You
have deceived me
and
have taken my daughters
like
captives under a sword.
31:27 Why did you run away
secretly
and deceive me?
Why
didn't you tell me
so
I could send you away joyfully
singing
to music of timbrels and harps?
31:28 You didn't let me kiss
my
sons and daughters?
You
have acted very foolishly.
31:29 I have the power to hurt you.
But
the God of your teacher told me last night:
Take
care not to say anything to Jacob
either
good or bad.
31:30 Now you’ve run off
because
you longed
for
your father's household.
But
why did you steal my shrines?
31:31 Jacob replied to Laban:
I
worried that you might
take
your daughters
away
from me.
31:32 But if you find
who
has your shrines
they
should not be protected.
In
the presence of our brothers
check
to see
if
we have anything of yours
if
so take it back.
(For
Jacob knew not
that
Rachel had taken the shrines.)
31:33 So Laban entered Jacob's tent
then
into Leah's tent
and
into the tent of the two maids
yet
he found nothing.
After
leaving Leah's tent
he
went into Rachel's tent.
31:34 Now Rachel had taken the shrines
and
put them in her camel's saddle
and
thus was sitting on them.
Laban
searched through the entire tent
and
found nothing.
31:35 Rachel said to her father:
Don't
be displeased, sir
that
I cannot rise in your presence
due
to the manner of women.
He
searched but found no shrines.
31:36 Then Jacob became angry
and
challenged Laban:
What
is my crime?
How
have I wronged you
such
that you are pursuing me?
31:37 Now that you have searched
through
all my things
what
have you found
that
belongs to your family?
Set
it down here before our brothers
and
let them judge between us.
31:38 For twenty years
have
I been with you.
Your
sheep and goats
have
not lost their young
nor
have I burnt rams
from
your flocks.
31:39 Those torn up by beasts
I
brought you not.
I
took those losses on myself.
And
you required payment from me
for
what was stolen by day or night.
31:40 This is what happened to me.
The
heat burned me in the daytime
and
the cold froze me at night.
And
my eyes saw little sleep.
31:41 This was what it was like
over
the twenty years in your home.
I
worked for you fourteen years
for
your two daughters
then
six years for your flocks.
And
you changed my wages ten times.
31:42 If the God of my teacher
the
God of Abraham
and
the reverence of Isaac
had
not been with me
certainly
would you have
dispatched
me with nothing.
But
God saw my hardship
and
the labor of my hands
and
last night did He rebuke you.
31:43 Then Laban replied to Jacob:
These
daughters are my daughters
the
children are my children
and
the flocks are my flocks
and
all you see is mine.
But
today what can I do
about
these daughters of mine
or
the children they have borne?
31:44 So let’s make a deal
you
and I
as
a witness between us.
31:45 Then Jacob took a stone
and
set it up as a monument.
31:46 He told his brothers:
Gather
some stones.
And
they gathered stones
and
piled them up in a mound
and
then ate there by the mound.
31:47 Laban called it Jegarsahadutha
(witness
mound in Aramaic)
and
Jacob called it Galeed
(witness
mound in Hebrew).
31:48 Then Laban said:
This
mound serves as a witness
between
you and me today.
Therefore
it is called Galeed.
31:49 Then also Mizpah said:
May
Yahweh watch over me and you
when
we are separated from each other.
31:50 If you harm my daughters
or
take other wives besides my daughters
even
though no one is with us
remember
that God is our witness.
31:51 Laban also said to Jacob:
Consider
this mound
and
consider this monument
set
up between you and I.
31:52 May this mound be our witness
and
this monument our witness
that
I will not go past this mound
on
your side to harm you
and
that you will not go past this mound
and
monument on my side to harm me.
31:53 May the God of Abraham
and
the God of Nahor
the
God of their teacher
judge
between us.
Then
Jacob made a promise
on
account of the reverence
of
his teacher Isaac.
31:54 Jacob then made an offering
there
on the mount
inviting
his brothers to a meal.
After
they had ate bread
they
spent the night on the mount.
31:55 Early the next morning
Laban
awoke and kissed his sons
and
daughters and blessed them.
Then he departed and returned home.
