31
Jacob ran away from Laban
1 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were grumbling about him. They said, “Jacob's animals are really our father's animals. He has stolen them and that is why he is so rich!” 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he was before. 3 The Lord said to Jacob, “It is time for you to go back home. Go back to the land of your father and grandfather. Remember, I will be with you and help you all the way.” 4 So Jacob sent someone to bring Rachel and Leah out into the paddock where their animals lived. 5 He said to them, “I can see that your father does not like me anymore but my father's God has been with me all the time. 6-8 You both know that I have worked really hard for your father. And you know that he has cheated me and changed what he owes me 10 times, but God has stopped him from hurting me. Your father said, ‘You can have all the spotty animals as your pay.’ And that is what happened, all the mother animals had babies with spots. Then your father changed his mind and said, ‘You can have all the animals that have stripes for your pay.’ And again, that is what happened, all the mother animals had babies with stripes. 9 So you see God has taken your father's animals away from him and given them to me.
10 I had a dream one night when the animals were mating. I saw that it was only the boy goats with different coloured skins that were mating. 11 While I was looking, God's angel spoke to me in that dream. He said, ‘Jacob.’
And I answered, ‘Yes I am listening.’ 12 The angel said, ‘Look. Can you see that it is only the boy goats with different coloured skins that are mating? And that none of the goats with only one colour are mating? I saw how badly Laban has cheated you and that is why I have made his goats stop mating. 13 I am the God who spoke to you at Bethel, the place where you put up the stone and poured olive oil all over it. That was where you made a promise to me. Now I want you to leave this country and go back home to the country where you were born.’ ”
14-16 Rachel and Leah said to Jacob, “We think you should do what God said to you. Our father did not respect us. He treated us like we were strangers and sold us to you like we were animals. You worked hard for him to pay for us, and you made a lot of money for him. But he has sold all those animals and spent the money and so now he has nothing to give us when he dies. We know that God has taken everything away from our father and given it to us and to our children.”
This is how Jacob tricked his uncle Laban
17-21 Jacob did not tell Laban that he was leaving Harran and taking his family to Canaan to live with his father Isaac. Jacob sent all his animals ahead of his family. He put his wives and children and everything they owned onto camels and they left Laban's country very quickly. They crossed the big river called You-Fray-tees and walked towards the hill country called Gilead. But before they left, Rachel waited until her father was away in his sheep paddock cutting the wool off his sheep. She went into her father's house and stole his special ceremony things.
Laban chased Jacob
22 Three days later Laban found out that Jacob and his family had gone. 23-25 He called some of his relations to help him to go and catch Jacob. Seven days later Laban and his relations found Jacob's camp in the hill country called Gilead, and they made their camp nearby.
That night before Laban could speak to Jacob, God spoke to Laban in a dream.+ He said “Laban, be very careful how you speak to Jacob. Do not speak angry words to him.” 26-27 The next morning, Laban said to Jacob, “Why did you sneak away like a thief. You have taken my daughters like they are prisoners of war. Why did you trick me and not tell me that you wanted to go? If you had told me, I would have given you a party with lots of food and music, and I would have been happy to say goodbye to all of you. 28 You did not even let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren to say goodbye. You have done a stupid thing! 29 I have a lot of fighting men with me and I could really hurt you, but last night, the God that your father respects said to me, ‘Laban, be very careful how you speak to Jacob. Do not speak angry words to him.’ 30 I can understand that you really want to go home, but why did you steal my special ceremony things?”+ 31 Jacob answered, “I was frightened that you would use your fighting men to take your daughters away from me. That is why we left quickly. 32 But I have no idea who took your ceremony things. Everyone standing here are my witnesses. I tell you, I will kill the person who stole those things from your camp. You can look at all our stuff and take anything that is yours.” You see Jacob did not know that Rachel stole her father's ceremony things.
33-34 So Laban looked in Jacob's tent. He looked in the tent that the 2 working girls camped in, and then Leah's tent, but he did not find the ceremony things. Laban went into Rachel's tent and found her sitting on her camel's saddlebags. Laban had a good look but did not find anything. He did not know that Rachel had hidden the ceremony things inside her saddlebags. 35 Rachel said to her father, “Please do not be angry with me, but I have women's troubles today and I cannot stand up to show you respect.” Laban had another look around but found nothing.
36 Jacob got wild with Laban and said, “What have I done wrong to make you chase me all this way. 37 You have looked into all my bags and found nothing that belongs to you. If you have found something, show it to all our families here so that they can be witnesses. They can say who is right and who is wrong.
38 I worked for you for 20 years. None of your baby lambs or goats died when they were born. I never ate any of your boy sheep. 39 And whenever I found one of your sheep that was killed by wild animals, I did not tell you and blame a wild animal. I put one of my animals in with yours so that your mob stayed the same size. But you forced me to pay for any animal that was stolen in the day or night. 40 I got weak working hard in the sun all day and I was so cold at night, I could not sleep. 41 I really worked like a slave for you all those 20 years. I worked the first 14 years to pay for your daughters and the last 6 years to get my animals. And in all that time you changed what you owed me 10 times. 42 But I have to tell you, the God of Abraham and Isaac was with me, and he saw how hard I worked for you and he saw what you were doing. He knew that you would have sent me away with nothing and that is why he growled at you last night.”
Jacob and Laban made a promise to each other
43 Laban said to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, and so their children belong to me too. Even all these animals are mine. Everything you see here belongs to me, but what can I do about my daughters and grandchildren? Nothing! I cannot take them away from you. 44 I think we should put up a pile of stones and make a strong promise to each other, and every time we see these stones, we will remember what we said.”
45 So Jacob found a big stone+ and put it up on its end. 46 He told all his relatives to pick up stones and put them around the standing stone. Then they sat down next to the pile of stones and ate food together. 47 Laban and Jacob both gave that place a name in their own languages that means A pile of stones to help us remember.
48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is like a witness to the promise we are making today.” That is why he called it Galeed. 49 But its other name is Mizpah which means watchtower.
Laban went on to say, “I am asking God to watch us, so that we both keep our side of the promise, even when we are living in different places. 50 Jacob, you must not give my daughters a hard time or hurt them in any way. You must not marry any more wives. Nobody might see you marry another woman, but the God you respect will see. He is a witness to this promise we are making today. 51-52 See these stones I have piled up with the witness stone, they help both of us remember our promises. And this is the promise we will make. For my side, I promise you that I will not go past these stones to hurt you in any way. And for your side, you must promise not to go past these stones to hurt me in any way. 53 Our old people, Abraham, Nahor, and their father Terah worshipped and respected God. So God will be our witness when we make those promises to each other. And we will ask him to punish us if we do the wrong thing.”
Jacob agreed with his uncle and used God's name as he made his promise.
54 Jacob took one of his animals, killed it and burned it as a sacrifice present to God. And he asked his relations to sit down and eat the rest of the animal with him. That night they all camped together in the hill country. 55 Early the next day, Laban kissed his daughters and his grandchildren and then asked God to bless them. He asked God to do good things for them and make them strong.+ Then Laban and his men went home.
+ 31:23-25 Genesis 20:3-6; 28:12; 31:10-11; 37:5-10; 40:5-19; 41:1-32; Matthew 1:20; 2:12-19; 27:19; Acts 2:17 + 31:30 Genesis 31:17-21 + 31:45 Genesis 28:18 + 31:55 Genesis 24:60