Genesis 31

ACV(i) 1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and he has gotten all this glory of that which was our father's. 2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime. 3 And LORD said to Jacob, Return to the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. 4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, 5 and said to them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. 7 And your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. 8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages, then all the flock bore speckled, and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy wages, then all the flock bore ringstreaked. 9 Thus God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. 10 And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled. 11 And the agent of God said to me in the dream, Jacob. And I said, Here I am. 12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to thee. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointed a pillar, where thou vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return to the land of thy nativity. 14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? 15 Are we not accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money. 16 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to thee, do. 17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels. 18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's. 20 And Jacob slipped away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he fled. 21 So he fled with all that he had. And he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. 22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey, and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. 24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, Take heed to thyself that thou not speak to Jacob either good or bad. 25 And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain. And Laban encamped with his brothers in the mountain of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, What have thou done, that thou have slipped away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword? 27 Why did thou flee secretly, and creep away from me, and did not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp, 28 and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now thou have done foolishly. 29 It is in the power of my hand to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou not speak to Jacob either good or bad. 30 And now, though thou have certainly gone, because thou have been very desirous for thy father's house, yet why have thou stolen my gods? 31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Lest thou should take thy daughters from me by force. 32 With whomever thou find thy gods, he shall not live. Before our brothers discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt around all the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee, for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but did not find the teraphim. 36 And Jacob was angry, and chided with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin that thou have hotly pursued after me? 37 Whereas thou have felt around all my stuff, what have thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brothers and thy brothers, that they may judge between us two. 38 These twenty years I have been with thee, thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and I have not eaten the rams of thy flocks. 39 I did not bring to thee that which was torn by beasts; I bore the loss of it, of my hand thou required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in thy house. I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock. And thou have changed my wages ten times. 42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now thou would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee last night. 43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou see is mine. And what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their sons whom they have borne? 44 And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee. 45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones, and they took stones, and made a heap. And they ate there by the heap. 47 And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore the name of it was called Galeed, 49 and Mizpah. For he said, May LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another, 50 if thou will afflict my daughters, and if thou will take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us, see, God is witness between me and thee. 51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set between me and thee. 52 This heap is witness, and the pillar is witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shall not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. 54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread. And they ate bread, and tarried all night on the mountain. 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.