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Jacob Flees from Laban
But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.”
But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.”
Jacob Flees from Laban
Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.”
Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.”
And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.
And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.
Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.”
Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching his flock.
So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was
He said to them, “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But the God of my father has been with me.
and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.
You know how hard I have worked for your father,
You know that I have served your father with all my strength,
but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm.
yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.
For if he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the whole flock began to produce speckled young. And when he changed his mind and said, ‘The striped animals will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped young.
If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.
In this way, God has taken your father’s animals and given them to me.
Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
“One time during the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.
Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’
Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’
“The angel said, ‘Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you.
And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”
Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway.
Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?
He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.
Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.
All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you.”
All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”
So Jacob put his wives and children on camels,
So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.
and he drove all his livestock in front of him. He packed all the belongings he had acquired in Paddan-aram and set out for the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived.
He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.
At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her.
Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.
Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.
Laban Pursues Jacob
Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,
So he gathered a group of his relatives and set out in hot pursuit. He caught up with Jacob seven days later in the hill country of Gilead.
he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead.
But the previous night God had appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you — leave Jacob alone!”
But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead, and he set up his camp not far from Jacob’s.
And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.
“What do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war?
And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?
Why did you slip away secretly? Why did you deceive me? And why didn’t you say you wanted to leave? I would have given you a farewell feast, with singing and music, accompanied by tambourines and harps.
Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre?
Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly!
And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly.
I could destroy you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’
I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?”
And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
“I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.
But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols.
Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
Laban went first into Jacob’s tent to search there, then into Leah’s, and then the tents of the two servant wives — but he found nothing. Finally, he went into Rachel’s tent.
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.
But Rachel had taken the household idols and hidden them in her camel saddle, and now she was sitting on them. When Laban had thoroughly searched her tent without finding them,
Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them.
she said to her father, “Please, sir, forgive me if I don’t get up for you. I’m having my monthly period.” So Laban continued his search, but he could not find the household idols.
And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.
Then Jacob became very angry, and he challenged Laban. “What’s my crime?” he demanded. “What have I done wrong to make you chase after me as though I were a criminal?
Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?
You have rummaged through everything I own. Now show me what you found that belongs to you! Set it out here in front of us, before our relatives, for all to see. Let them judge between us!
For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.
“For twenty years I have been with you, caring for your flocks. In all that time your sheep and goats never miscarried. In all those years I never used a single ram of yours for food.
These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.
If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, I never showed you the carcass and asked you to reduce the count of your flock. No, I took the loss myself! You made me pay for every stolen animal, whether it was taken in broad daylight or in the dark of night.
What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
“I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights.
There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for fourteen years earning your two daughters, and then six more years for your flock. And you changed my wages ten times!
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.
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”
Jacob’s Treaty with Laban
Then Laban replied to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks — in fact, everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and their children?
Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne?
So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it will be a witness to our commitment.”
Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.”
So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument.
So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
Then he told his family members, “Gather some stones.” So they gathered stones and piled them in a heap. Then Jacob and Laban sat down beside the pile of stones to eat a covenant meal.
And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.
To commemorate the event, Laban called the place Jegar-sahadutha (which means “witness pile” in Aramaic), and Jacob called it Galeed (which means “witness pile” in Hebrew).
Then Laban declared, “This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of the covenant we have made today.” This explains why it was called Galeed — “Witness Pile.”
Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed,
But it was also called Mizpah (which means “watchtower”), for Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between us to make sure that we keep this covenant when we are out of each other’s sight.
If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other wives, God will see it even if no one else does. He is a witness to this covenant between us.
If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
“See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I have set between us.
Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me.
They stand between us as witnesses of our vows. I will never pass this pile of stones to harm you, and you must never pass these stones or this monument to harm me.
This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.
The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,
Then Jacob offered a sacrifice to God there on the mountain and invited everyone to a covenant feast. After they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.
and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.