1 But Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob took everything our father had and gathered all his wealth at our father's expense."
Adverts
2 And Jacob realized that Laban's attitude toward him was no longer the same as before.
3 And the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4 Then Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where their flocks were,
5 and said to them, “I see that your father's attitude toward me is no longer the same, but my father's God has been with me.
Adverts
6 You know I worked for your father with all my might,
7 but he has made a fool of me by changing my salary ten times. However, God did not allow him to harm me.
8 If he said, 'The speckled offspring will be your wages,' all the flocks produced speckled offspring; and if he said, 'Those with stripes will be your wages,' all the flocks gave birth to young with stripes.
9 This is how God took your father's flocks and gave them to me.
10 “During mating time, I had a dream in which I looked and saw that the males that fertilized the herd had stripes, were speckled and spotted.
11 The angel of God said to me in the dream: 'Jacob! ' I replied: 'Here I am! '
12 Then he said, 'Look and see that all the males that fertilize the flock have stripes, are speckled and spotted, for I have seen everything that Laban did to him.
13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Leave this land now and return to your homeland.'
14 Rachel and Leah said to Jacob, “Do we still have a share in the inheritance of our father’s possessions?
15 Doesn't he treat us like foreigners? Not only did he sell it to us, but he also spent everything we paid for it!
16 All the wealth that God took from our father is ours and our children's. Therefore, do everything that God has commanded you.”
17 Then Jacob helped his sons and their wives mount the camels,
18 and he led all his flock, together with all the goods that he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan, to the house of his father Isaac.
19 While Laban had gone out to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the clan's idols from her father.
20 This is how Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by running away without telling him anything.
21 He fled with everything he had and crossed the Euphrates to the mountains of Gilead.
22 Three days later, Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.
23 Taking the men of his family with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the mountains of Gilead.
24 Then, at night, God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him: “Be careful! Don’t say anything to Jacob, don’t make promises or threats to him.”
25 Laban caught up with Jacob, who was camped in the mountains of Gilead. So Laban and the men camped there too.
26 He asked Jacob, “What have you done? Not only did he deceive me, he also kidnapped my daughters as if they were prisoners of war.
27 Why did you deceive me by running away in secret without warning me? I would have celebrated your departure with joy and songs, to the sound of tambourines and harps.
28 You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters to say goodbye to them. You were foolish.
29 I have the power to harm them; but last night the God of your father warned me: 'Be careful! Don't say anything to Jacob, don't make promises or threats to him.'
30 Now, if you left because you missed your father's house, why did you steal my gods? “
31 Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
32 As for their gods, whoever is found with them will not remain alive. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether anything that belongs to you is here with me, and if so, take it back.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 Then Laban entered Jacob's tent and the tents of Leah and her two servants, but he found nothing. After leaving Leah's tent, he entered Rachel's tent.
34 Rachel had placed the idols inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on top. Laban searched the entire tent, but found nothing.
35 Rachel said to her father: “Do not be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence, for I am in the flow of women.” He looked for the idols, but he did not find them.
36 Jacob became angry and complained to Laban, “What was my crime? What sin have I committed that you furiously pursue me?
37 You've already searched everything that belongs to me. Did you find something that belongs to you? So put everything here in front of my relatives and yours, and let them judge between the two of us.
38 “Twenty years I was with you. His sheep and goats never miscarried, and I never ate a single ram from his flock.
39 I never brought you animals torn to pieces by wild beasts; I took the loss myself. And you asked for an account of every animal stolen day or night.
40 The heat consumed me during the day, and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
41 It was like that for the twenty years I stayed at your house. I worked for you fourteen years in exchange for your two daughters and six years for your herds, and ten times you altered my salary.
42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my suffering and the work of my hands, and last night he made his decision known.”
43 Laban answered Jacob, “The women are my daughters, the sons are mine, the livestock are mine. Everything you see is mine. What can I do for these daughters of mine or for the children born to them?
44 Let us now, you and I, make an agreement that will serve as a testimony between the two of us.”
45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
46 And he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” They picked up stones and piled them up. Then they ate there, next to the pile of stones.
47 Laban called him Jegar-Saaduta, and Jacob called him Galeede.
48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness between you and me this day.” That's why it was called Galeede.
49 He was also called Mizpah because he declared: “May the Lord watch over you and me when we are separated from each other.
50 If you mistreat my daughters or belittle them by taking other women besides them, even if no one knows, remember that God is witness between me and you.”
51 Laban said to Jacob, “Here are this pile of stones and this pillar that I have placed between you and me.
52 They are witnesses that I will not cross over to harm you, nor will you cross over to harm me.
53 May the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac.
54 He offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his relatives there for a meal. After eating, they spent the night there.
55 The next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them, and then returned to his homeland.
