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The Blue Letter Bible

Genesis 31 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

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Jacob Flees from Laban
Jacob Leaves Laban
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:1 - Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:2 - And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:3 - Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:4 - So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock,
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:5 - and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:6 - “And you know that with all my might I have served your father.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:7 - “Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:8 - “If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:9 - “So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:10 - “And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:11 - “Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:12 - “And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:13 - ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:14 - Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:15 - “Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:16 - “For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:17 - Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:18 - And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:19 - Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:20 - And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:21 - So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:22 - And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:23 - Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:24 - But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:25 - So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:26 - And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword?
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:27 - “Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp?
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:28 - “And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:29 - “It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:30 - “And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:31 - Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:32 - “With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:33 - And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:34 - Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:35 - And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the household idols.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:36 - Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:37 - “Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both!
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:38 - “These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:39 - “That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:40 - There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:41 - “Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:42 - “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
Laban’s Covenant with Jacob
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:43 - And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; 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?
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:44 - “Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:45 - So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:46 - Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:47 - Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,[fn] but Jacob called it Galeed.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:48 - And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed,
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:49 - also Mizpah,[fn] because he said, “May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:50 - “If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:51 - Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:52 - “This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:53 - “The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:54 - Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 31:55 - And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
NKJV Footnotes
Literally, in Aramaic, Heap of Witness
Literally, in Hebrew, Heap of Witness
Literally Watch
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

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Genesis Chapter 31 — Additional Translations: