The First Book of Moses: Genesis

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- Chapter 31 -

But afterwards, he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and being enlarged by his ability, he has become famous.”

Likewise, he observed that Laban’s face was not the same toward him as it was yesterday and the day before.

Most importantly, the Lord was saying to him, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your generation, and I will be with you.”

He sent and called for Rachel and Leah, in the field where he pastured the flocks,

and he said to them: “I see that your father’s face is not the same toward me as it was yesterday and the day before. But the God of my father has been with me.

And you know that I have served your father with all my strength.

Even so, your father has circumvented me, and he has changed my wages ten times. And yet God has not permitted him to harm me.

Whenever he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ all the sheep gave birth to speckled newborns. Yet truly, when he said the contrary, ‘You will take whatever is white for your wages,’ all the flocks gave birth to white ones.

And it is God who has taken your father’s substance and given it to me.

For after the time had arrived for the ewes to conceive, I lifted up my eyes, and I saw in my sleep that the males climbing on the females were of variegated, and spotted, and diverse colors.

And the Angel of God said to me in my sleep, ‘Jacob.’ And I responded, ‘Here I am.’

And he said: ‘Lift up your eyes, and see that all the males climbing on the females are variegated, spotted, and also speckled. For I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the stone and made a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and depart from this land, returning to the land of your nativity.’ ”(a)

And Rachel and Leah responded: “Have we anything left behind among the resources and inheritance of our father’s house?

Has he not considered us as foreigners, and sold us, and consumed our price?

But God has taken our father’s riches and handed these to us and to our sons. Therefore, do all that God has instructed you.”

And so Jacob rose up, and having placed the children and his wives upon camels, he went forth.

And he took all his substance and flocks, and whatever he had acquired in Mesopotamia, and he journeyed to his father Isaac, in the land of Canaan.

At that time, Laban had gone to shear the sheep, and so Rachel stole her father’s idols.(b)

And Jacob was not willing to confess to his father-in-law that he was fleeing.

And when he had gone away with all such things that were justly his, and, having crossed the river, was continuing on toward Mount Gilead,

Laban Pursues Jacob

it was reported to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

And taking his brothers with him, he pursued him for seven days. And he overtook him at Mount Gilead.

And he saw in a dream, God saying to him, “Beware that you not speak anything harsh against Jacob.”

And now Jacob had pitched his tent at the mountain. And when he, with his brothers, had overtaken him, he set his tent at the same place at Mount Gilead.

And he said to Jacob: “Why have you acted this way, departing from me in secret, with my daughters like captives of the sword?

Why would you want to flee without my knowledge and without telling me, though I might have led you forward with gladness, and songs, and timbrels, and lyres?

You have not permitted me to kiss my sons and daughters. You have acted foolishly. And now, indeed,

my hand has power to repay you with harm. But the God of your father said to me yesterday, ‘Beware that you not speak anything stern against Jacob.’

It may be that you desired to go to your own, and that you longed for the house of your father. But why have you stolen my gods?”

Jacob answered: “I set out, unknown to you, because I feared that you might take away your daughters by violence.

But, since you accuse me of theft, with whomever you will find your gods, let him be slain in the sight of our brothers. Search; anything of yours that you will find with me, take it away.” Now when he said this, he did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

And so Laban, entering the tent of Jacob, and of Leah, and of both the handmaids, did not find them. And when he had entered the tent of Rachel,

she quickly hid the idols under the camel’s bedding, and she sat upon them. And when he had searched the entire tent and found nothing,

she said: “Do not be angry, my lord, that I am unable to rise up in your sight, because it has now happened to me according to the custom of women.” So his careful search was thwarted.

And Jacob, being inflated, said with contention: “For which fault of mine, or for what sin of mine, have you become so enraged against me

and searched all the items of my house? What have you found from all the substance of your house? Place it here before my brothers, and your brothers, and let them judge between me and you.

For what reason have I been with you for twenty years? Your ewes and she-goats were not barren; the rams of your flocks I did not consume.

Neither did I reveal to you what was seized by the wild beast. I replaced all that was damaged. Whatever was lost by theft, you collected it from me.

Day and night, I was burned by heat and by frost, and sleep fled from my eyes.

And in this way, for twenty years, I have served you in your house: fourteen for your daughters, and six for your flocks. You have also changed my wages ten times.

If the God of my father Abraham and the fear of Isaac had not been close to me, perhaps by now you would have sent me away naked. But God looked kindly on my affliction and the labor of my hands, and he rebuked you yesterday.”

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

Laban answered him: “My daughters and sons, and your flocks, and all that you discern are mine. What can I do to my sons and grandchildren?

Come, therefore, let us enter into a pact, so that it may be a testimony between me and you.”

And so Jacob took a stone, and he set it up as a memorial.

And he said to his brothers, “Bring stones.” And they, gathering together stones, made a tomb, and they ate upon it.

And Laban called it, ‘Tomb of Witness,’ and Jacob, ‘Pile of Testimony;’ each of them according to the fitness of his own language.(c)

And Laban said: “This tomb will be a witness between me and you this day.” (And for this reason, its name has been called Gilead, that is, ‘Tomb of Witness.’)

“May the Lord consider and judge between us, when we will have withdrawn from one another.

If you afflict my daughters, and if you bring in other wives over them, no one is a witness of our words except God, who understands beforehand.”(d)

And again he said to Jacob. “Lo, this tomb and the stone that I have set up between me and you,

will be a witness. This tomb,” I say, “and the stone, they are for testimony, in case either I cross beyond it going toward you, or you cross beyond it thinking to harm me.

May the God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Therefore, Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

And after he had immolated sacrifices on the mountain, he called his brothers to eat bread. And when they had eaten, they lodged there.

In truth, Laban rose up in the night, and he kissed his sons and daughters, and he blessed them. And he returned to his place.

Footnotes

(a)31:13 The Angel says, ‘I am the God of Bethel....’ because the Angel was sent to convey God’s words to Jacob. In ancient times, when one wanted to convey a message to someone, one would send another person, usually a youth, to that someone to repeat your words to them. So it made perfect sense to Jacob that God would send an Angel (a messenger of God) convey a message by repeating God’s words to Jacob.(Conte)

(b)31:19 Her father’s idols:By this it appears that Laban was an idolater; and some of the fathers are of opinion that Rachel stole away these idols to withdraw him from idolatry, removing the occasion of his sin.(Challoner)

(c)31:47 Here is a verse whereby the Bible comments on its own translation, permitting an event to be described with varied wording, as best fits the language into which it is translated. Also, note that what each one chooses to call it reveals his attitude towards the agreement. Laban’s ‘tumulum’ can be translated as ‘tomb’ (cf. Job 10:19). Laban was losing his daughters, flocks, and son-in-law (a valuable employee); this loss was like a kind of death to him. But Jacob thought little of this agreement, for it was merely an agreement to let him have what was already justly his. So he calls it ‘acervum,’ which means ‘little hill’ or ‘pile’ or ‘heap.’(Conte)

(d)31:50 The verb ‘respicit’ does not merely mean ‘to see.’ It means to see and understand, or to look with the intention of understanding. And the word ‘praesens’ is the word ‘sens’ (a form of the verb ‘to be’) and the prefix ‘prae’ which means ‘before.’ As a phrase taken as a whole, and in this context, ‘præsens respicit’ means to understand beforehand.(Conte)

Jacob heard Laban’s sons’ words, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.”

Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

The LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,

and said to them, “I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.

You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me.

If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked.

Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.

During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.

The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”

Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.

For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,

and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim

(a)

that were her father’s.

Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away.

So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.

He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.

God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.

Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.

It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’

Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”

Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’

Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them.

Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.

Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them.

She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim.

Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.

“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.

That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

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. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine! What can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?

Now come, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be for a witness between me and you.”

Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.

Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha,(b) but Jacob called it Galeed.(c)

Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed

and Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.

If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”

Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.

May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.

Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.

Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.

Footnotes

(a)31:19 teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property.

(b)31:47 “Jegar Sahadutha” means “Witness Heap” in Aramaic.