1 Now 1Lit heJacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this 2Lit glorywealth.” 2 Jacob saw the 1Lit faceattitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. 3 Then the Loʀᴅ said to Jacob, “AGen 32:9Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and BGen 28:15I will be with you.” 4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5 and said to them, “AGen 31:2I see your father’s 1Lit faceattitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but BGen 21:22; 28:13, 15; 31:29, 42, 53; Is 41:10; Heb 13:5the God of my father has been with me. 6  “AGen 30:29You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7  “Yet your father has AGen 29:25cheated me and BGen 31:41changed my wages ten times; however, CGen 15:1; 31:29God did not allow him to hurt me. 8  “If AGen 30:32he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped. 9  “Thus God has AGen 31:1, 16taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10  “And it came about at the time when the flock were 1Or conceivingmating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were 2Lit leaping upon the flockmating were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11  “Then AGen 16:7-11; 22:11, 15; 31:13; 48:16the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12  “He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are 1Lit leaping upon the flockmating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for AEx 3:7I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13  ‘I am AGen 28:13, 19the God of Bethel, where you BGen 28:18, 20anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, 1Lit go out fromleave this land, and CGen 28:15; 32:9return to the land of your birth.’ ” 14 Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? 15  “Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For AGen 29:20, 23, 27he has sold us, and has also 1I.e. enjoyed the benefit ofentirely consumed 2Lit our moneyour purchase price. 16  “Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”

17 Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; 18 and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, AGen 35:27to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the 1Heb teraphimAGen 31:30, 34; 35:2; Judg 17:5; 1 Sam 19:13; Hos 3:4household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob 1Lit stole the heart ofdeceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of AGen 37:25Gilead.

22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 then he took his 1Lit brotherskinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 AGen 20:3; 31:29God came to Laban the Aramean in a BGen 20:3, 6; 31:11dream of the night and said to him, “1Lit Take heed to yourselfCGen 24:50; 31:7, 29Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his 1Lit brotherskinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done 1Lit and you have stolen my heartby deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27  “Why did you flee secretly and 1Lit steal medeceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with AEx 15:20timbrel and with BGen 4:21lyre; 28 and did not allow me AGen 31:55to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29  “It is in 1Lit the power of my handmy power to do you harm, but AGen 31:5, 24, 42, 53the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘2Lit Take heed to yourselfBGen 31:24Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ 30  “Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal AGen 31:19; Josh 24:2; Judg 18:24my gods?” 31 Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32  “AGen 44:9The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our 1Lit brotherskinsmen 2Lit recognizepoint out what is yours 3Lit with meamong my belongings and take it for yourself.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the 1Heb teraphimhousehold idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. 35 She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ALev 19:32rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the 1Heb teraphimBGen 31:19household idols.

36 Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? 37  “Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my 1Lit brotherskinsmen and your 1Lit brotherskinsmen, that they may decide between us two. 38  “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39  “That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40  “Thus I was: by day the 1Or droughtheat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41  “These twenty years I have been in your house; AGen 29:27, 30I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you BGen 31:7changed my wages ten times. 42  “If AGen 31:5, 29, 53the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. BGen 29:32; Ex 3:7God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He CGen 31:24, 29rendered judgment last night.”

43 Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and AGen 31:1the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? 44  “So now come, let us AGen 21:27, 32; 26:28make a covenant, 1Lit I and youyou and I, and BJosh 24:27let it be a witness between 2Lit me and youyou and me.” 45 Then Jacob took AGen 28:18; Josh 24:26, 27a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Jacob said to his 1Lit brotherskinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Now Laban AJosh 22:34called it 1I.e. the heap of witness, in AramJegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it 2I.e. the heap of witness, in HebGaleed. 48 Laban said, “AJosh 24:27This heap is a witness between 1Lit me and youyou and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49 and 1Lit the Mizpah; i.e. the watchtowerAJudg 11:29; 1 Sam 7:5, 6Mizpah, for he said, “May the Loʀᴅ watch between 2Lit me and youyou and me when we are 3Lit hiddenabsent one from the other. 50  “If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, AJer 29:23; 42:5God is witness between 1Lit me and youyou and me.” 51 Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between 1Lit me and youyou and me. 52  “This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53  “AGen 28:13The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, BGen 16:5judge between us.” So Jacob swore by CGen 31:42the fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob AEx 18:12offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his 1Lit brotherskinsmen to 2Lit eat breadthe meal; and they ate 3Lit breadthe meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55 1Ch 32:1 in HebEarly in the morning Laban arose, and AGen 31:28, 43kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.