Genesis 31 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Jacob Flees from Laban

Jacob Leaves Laban

Gen 31:1Now 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.”

Gen 31:2

Gen 31:2And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before.

Gen 31:3

Gen 31:3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

Gen 31:4

Gen 31:4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock,

Gen 31:5

Gen 31:5and 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.

Gen 31:6

Gen 31:6“And you know that with all my might I have served your father.

Gen 31:7

Gen 31:7“Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.

Gen 31:8

Gen 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.

Gen 31:9

Gen 31:9“So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

Gen 31:10

Gen 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.

Gen 31:11

Gen 31:11“Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’

Gen 31:12

Gen 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.

Gen 31:13

Gen 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.’ ”

Gen 31:14

Gen 31:14Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

Gen 31:15

Gen 31:15“Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money.

Gen 31:16

Gen 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.”

Gen 31:17

Gen 31:17Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels.

Gen 31:18

Gen 31:18And 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.

Gen 31:19

Gen 31:19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father’s.

Gen 31:20

Gen 31:20And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.

Gen 31:21

Gen 31:21So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

Gen 31:22

Gen 31:22And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.

Gen 31:23

Gen 31:23Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead.

Gen 31:24

Gen 31:24But 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.”

Gen 31:25

Gen 31:25So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.

Gen 31:26

Gen 31:26And 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?

Gen 31:27

Gen 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?

Gen 31:28

Gen 31:28“And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing.

Gen 31:29

Gen 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.’

Gen 31:30

Gen 31:30“And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”

Gen 31:31

Gen 31:31Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’

Gen 31:32

Gen 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.

Gen 31:33

Gen 31:33And 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.

Gen 31:34

Gen 31:34Now 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.

Gen 31:35

Gen 31:35And 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.

Gen 31:36

Gen 31:36Then 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?

Gen 31:37

Gen 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!

Gen 31:38

Gen 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.

Gen 31:39

Gen 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.

Gen 31:40

Gen 31:40“There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.

Gen 31:41

Gen 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.

Gen 31:42

Gen 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

Gen 31:43

Gen 31:43And 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?

Gen 31:44

Gen 31:44“Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

Gen 31:45

Gen 31:45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

Gen 31:46

Gen 31:46Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

Gen 31:47

Gen 31:47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,[fn] but Jacob called it Galeed.[fn]

Gen 31:48

Gen 31:48And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed,

Gen 31:49

Gen 31:49also Mizpah,[fn] because he said, “May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.

Gen 31:50

Gen 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!”

Gen 31:51

Gen 31:51Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me.

Gen 31:52

Gen 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.

Gen 31:53

Gen 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.

Gen 31:54

Gen 31:54Then 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.

Gen 31:55

Gen 31:55And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(31:47)

Literally, in Aramaic, Heap of Witness

(31:47)

Literally, in Hebrew, Heap of Witness

(31:49)

Literally Watch

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