Genesis 31 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Jacob Flees from Laban

Gen 31:1But 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.”

Gen 31:2

Gen 31:2And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.

Gen 31:3

Gen 31:3Then 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.”

Gen 31:4

Gen 31:4So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching his flock.

Gen 31:5

Gen 31:5He 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.

Gen 31:6

Gen 31:6You know how hard I have worked for your father,

Gen 31:7

Gen 31:7but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm.

Gen 31:8

Gen 31:8For 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.

Gen 31:9

Gen 31:9In this way, God has taken your father’s animals and given them to me.

Gen 31:10

Gen 31:10“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.

Gen 31:11

Gen 31:11Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’

Gen 31:12

Gen 31:12“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.

Gen 31:13

Gen 31:13I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel,[fn] the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’”

Gen 31:14

Gen 31:14Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway.

Gen 31:15

Gen 31:15He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.

Gen 31:16

Gen 31:16All 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.”

Gen 31:17

Gen 31:17So Jacob put his wives and children on camels,

Gen 31:18

Gen 31:18and 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.

Gen 31:19

Gen 31:19At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her.

Gen 31:20

Gen 31:20Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.

Gen 31:21

Gen 31:21So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River,[fn] heading for the hill country of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

Gen 31:22

Gen 31:22Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

Gen 31:23

Gen 31:23So 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.

Gen 31:24

Gen 31:24But the previous night God had appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you—leave Jacob alone!”

Gen 31:25

Gen 31:25Laban 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.

Gen 31:26

Gen 31:26“What do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war?

Gen 31:27

Gen 31:27Why 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.

Gen 31:28

Gen 31:28Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly!

Gen 31:29

Gen 31:29I could destroy you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’

Gen 31:30

Gen 31:30I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?”

Gen 31:31

Gen 31:31“I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

Gen 31:32

Gen 31:32But 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.

Gen 31:33

Gen 31:33Laban 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.

Gen 31:34

Gen 31:34But 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,

Gen 31:35

Gen 31:35she 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.

Gen 31:36

Gen 31:36Then 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?

Gen 31:37

Gen 31:37You 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!

Gen 31:38

Gen 31:38“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.

Gen 31:39

Gen 31:39If 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.

Gen 31:40

Gen 31:40“I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights.

Gen 31:41

Gen 31:41Yes, 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!

Gen 31:42

Gen 31:42In fact, if the God of my father had not been on my side—the God of Abraham and the fearsome God of Isaac[fn]—you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen your abuse and my hard work. That is why he appeared to you last night and rebuked you!”

Jacob’s Treaty with Laban

Gen 31:43

Gen 31:43Then 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?

Gen 31:44

Gen 31:44So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it will be a witness to our commitment.”

Gen 31:45

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

Gen 31:46

Gen 31:46Then 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.

Gen 31:47

Gen 31:47To 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).

Gen 31:48

Gen 31:48Then 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.”

Gen 31:49

Gen 31:49But 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.

Gen 31:50

Gen 31:50If 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.

Gen 31:51

Gen 31:51“See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I have set between us.

Gen 31:52

Gen 31:52They 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.

Gen 31:53

Gen 31:53I call on the God of our ancestors—the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Nahor—to serve as a judge between us.”
So Jacob took an oath before the fearsome God of his father, Isaac,[fn] to respect the boundary line.

Gen 31:54

Gen 31:54Then 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.

Gen 31:55

Gen 31:55 [fn]Laban got up early the next morning, and he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.