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Gen. 31 :1 31:1 Now ¹Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father; and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ²wealth.

Gen. 31 :2 31:2 And Jacob saw Laban’s countenance, and now it was not favorable toward him as previously.

Gen. 31 :3 31:3 And Jehovah said to Jacob, ^aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be ^bwith you.

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

Gen. 31 :5 31:5 And he said to them, I see that your father’s countenance is not favorable toward me as previously, but the God of my father has been with me.

Gen. 31 :6 31:6 And you yourselves know that with all my strength I have ^aserved your father.

Gen. 31 :7 31:7 And your father has cheated me and changed my wages ^aten times, but God did not allow him to harm me.

Gen. 31 :8 31:8 If he spoke in this way, The speckled shall be your ^awages, then all the flock bore speckled; and if he spoke in this way, The streaked shall be your wages, then all the flock bore streaked.

Gen. 31 :9 31:9 Thus God has ^1ataken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

Gen. 31 :10 31:10 And at the time the flock was breeding, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream; and there were the male goats, leaping upon the flock — streaked, speckled, and spotted.

Gen. 31 :11 31:11 And the ^1aAngel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob; and I said, Here I am.

Gen. 31 :12 31:12 And He said, Lift up your eyes now, and see that all the male goats which leap upon the flock are streaked, speckled, and spotted; for ¹I have ^aseen all that Laban is doing to you.

Gen. 31 :13 31:13 I am the ¹God of ^aBethel, where you ^banointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Rise up now; go out from this land, and ^creturn to the land of your birth.

Gen. 31 :14 31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?

Gen. 31 :15 31:15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has even entirely used up the money given for us.

Gen. 31 :16 31:16 Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father is ours and our children’s. So do now whatever God has said to you.

Gen. 31 :17 31:17 Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;

Gen. 31 :18 31:18 And he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock in his possession which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, in order to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

Gen. 31 :19 31:19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the ^1ateraphim that were her father’s.

Gen. 31 :20 31:20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramaean by not telling him that he was fleeing.

Gen. 31 :21 31:21 So he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and crossed over the ¹River and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

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

Gen. 31 :23 31:23 And he took his brothers with him and pursued after him the distance of a seven days’ journey; and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

Gen. 31 :24 31:24 And ¹God came to Laban the Aramaean in a ^adream of the night and said to him, Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.

Gen. 31 :25 31:25 And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had ^apitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his brothers also pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.

Gen. 31 :26 31:26 And Laban said to Jacob, What are you doing ^adeceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Gen. 31 :27 31:27 Why did you flee secretly and steal away from me and not tell me, when I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with tambourine and with lyre?

Gen. 31 :28 31:28 And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have acted foolishly.

Gen. 31 :29 31:29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the ^aGod of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.

Gen. 31 :30 31:30 And now, though you had to go because you longed greatly for your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?

Gen. 31 :31 31:31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I ¹thought that you might take your daughters from me by force.

Gen. 31 :32 31:32 The ^aone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our brothers indicate what there is with me that is yours, and take it. Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

Gen. 31 :33 31:33 And Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the two female servants’ tent, but he did not find them. Then he went from Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

Gen. 31 :34 31:34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat upon them. And Laban rummaged through all the tent but did not find them.

Gen. 31 :35 31:35 And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before you, for the manner of women is upon me. So he searched but did not find the teraphim.

Gen. 31 :36 31:36 And Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?

Gen. 31 :37 31:37 Although you have rummaged through all my possessions, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers, that they may decide between the two of us.

Gen. 31 :38 31:38 These twenty years have I been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.

Gen. 31 :39 31:39 That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I ^abore the loss of it myself. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

Gen. 31 :40 31:40 Thus I was: By day the dry heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

Gen. 31 :41 31:41 These twenty years have I been in your house; I ^aserved you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ^bten times.

Gen. 31 :42 31:42 If the ^aGod of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Dread of Isaac, had not been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.

Gen. 31 :43 31:43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and 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 31:44 So come now; let us ^amake a covenant, I and you; and let it be a witness between me and you.

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

Gen. 31 :46 31:46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones. So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

Gen. 31 :47 31:47 And ^aLaban called it ¹Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ²Galeed.

Gen. 31 :48 31:48 And Laban said, This heap is a ^awitness between me and you today. Therefore its name was called Galeed

Gen. 31 :49 31:49 And ¹Mizpah, because he said, Jehovah watch between me and you when we are absent from one another.

Gen. 31 :50 31:50 If you afflict my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters — even though no man is with us — see, God is ^awitness between me and you.

Gen. 31 :51 31:51 And Laban said to Jacob, Here is this ^aheap, and here is the pillar which I have set between me and you.

Gen. 31 :52 31:52 This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a ¹witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

Gen. 31 :53 31:53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the ^aGod of their father, judge between us. And Jacob swore by the Dread of his father Isaac.

Gen. 31 :54 31:54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brothers to eat a meal, and they ate a meal and spent the night in the mountain.

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