Genesis:31
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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 from that which was our father '
s .
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And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban ,
and ,
behold ,
it was not toward him as before .
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And the LORD said to Jacob ,
Return to the land of your fathers ,
and to your kindred ,
and I will be with you .
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And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flocks .
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And he said to them ,
I see your father '
s face ,
that it is not toward me as before ;
but the God of my father has been with me .
*
And you know that with all my power I have served your father ,
*
and your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times .
But God did not allow him to hurt me .
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If he said this ,
The speckled shall be your wages ,
then all the flocks bore speckled .
And if he said this ,
The striped shall be your hire ,
then all the flocks bore striped .
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And God has taken away the flocks of your father ,
and has given them to me .
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And at the time the cattle conceived ,
I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream ,
and ,
behold ,
the rams which leaped upon the cattle were striped ,
speckled ,
and mottled .
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And the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream ,
saying ,
Jacob !
And I said ,
Here I [
am ].
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And He said ,
Lift up your eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle ,
that they [
are ]
striped ,
speckled ,
and mottled .
For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you .
*
I [
am ]
the God of Bethel ,
where you anointed the pillar ,
where you vowed a vow to Me .
Now arise ,
get out from this land ,
and return to the land of your kindred .
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And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him , [
Is there ]
yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father '
s house ?
*
Are we not counted strangers by him ?
For he has sold us ,
and has also entirely devoured our silver .
*
For all the riches which God has taken from our father ,
that [
is ]
for us and for our sons .
Now then ,
whatever God has said to you ,
do .
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Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and wives upon camels .
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And he drove away all his cattle ,
and all his goods which he had gotten ,
the cattle of his property ,
which he had gotten in Padan-aram ,
in order to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan .
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And Laban went to shear his sheep .
And Rachel had stolen the images which were her father '
s .
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And Jacob deceived the heart of Laban the Syrian ,
in that he did not tell him that he fled .
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And he fled with all that was his .
And he rose up and passed over the river ,
and set his face toward Mount Gilead .
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It was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled .
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And he took his brothers with him ,
and pursued after him seven days '
journey .
And they overtook him in Mount Gilead .
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And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night ,
and said to him ,
Take heed that you do not speak either good or bad to Jacob .
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Then Laban overtook Jacob .
And Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount .
And Laban with his brothers pitched in Mount Gilead .
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And Laban said to Jacob ,
What have you done ,
that you have deceived my heart and carried away my daughters as captives [
taken ]
with the sword ?
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Why did you flee away secretly ,
and steal away from me ,
and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with mirth ,
and with songs ,
with tabret and with harp ?
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And why have you not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters ?
You have done foolishly in so doing .
*
It is in the power of my hand to do you harm .
But the God of your fathers spoke to me last night ,
saying ,
Take heed that you do not speak either good or bad to Jacob .
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And now you have gone because you longed after your father '
s house .
Why have you stolen my gods ?
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And Jacob answered and said to Laban ,
Because I [
was ]
afraid ,
for I said ,
Perhaps you would take your daughters away from me by force .
*
With whomever you find your gods ,
let him not live .
Before our brothers ,
choose what [
is ]
yours with me ,
and take [
it ]
to you .
For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them .
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And Laban went into Jacob '
s tent ,
and into Leah '
s tent ,
and into the tents of the two slave women ,
and he did not find .
And he went out of Leah '
s tent ,
and entered into Rachel '
s tent .
*
And Rachel had taken the images and put them into the camel '
s saddle ,
and sat on them .
And Laban searched all the tent ,
but did not find them .
*
But she said to her father ,
Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before you .
For the custom of women [
is ]
upon me .
And he searched ,
but did not find the images .
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And Jacob was angry ,
and rebuked Laban .
And Jacob answered and said to Laban ,
What [
is ]
my trespass ?
What [
is ]
my sin ,
that you have so hotly pursued after me ?
*
For you have searched all my stuff ;
what have you found of all your household stuff ?
Set it here before my brothers and your brothers ,
that they may judge between us both .
*
I [
was ]
with you these twenty years .
Your ewes and she-goats have not cast their young ,
and the rams of your flock I have not eaten .
*
That which was mangled I did not bring to you ;
I bore the loss of it .
You required it at my hand , [
whether ]
stolen by day ,
or stolen by night .
*
I was there ;
in the day the heat consumed me ,
and the frost by night .
And my sleep departed from my eyes .
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And I have been twenty years in your house .
I served you fourteen years for your two daughters ,
and six for your flocks .
And you have changed my wages ten times .
*
Unless the God of my fathers ,
the God of Abraham ,
and the Fear of Isaac had been with me ,
surely you would have sent me away now empty .
God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands ,
and rebuked [
you last ]
night .
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And Laban answered and said to Jacob ,
The daughters [
are ]
my daughters ,
and the sons my sons ,
and the flocks my flocks .
All that you see [
is ]
mine .
And what can I do this day to these my daughters ,
or to their sons which they have borne ?
*
And come now ,
let us make a covenant ,
you and I .
And let it be for a witness between you and me .
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And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar .
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And Jacob said to his brothers ,
Gather stones .
And they took stones and made a heap .
And they ate there upon the heap .
*
And Laban called it in [
Syrian ],
Heap of the Testimony ,
and Jacob called it in Hebrew ,
Heap of Testimony .
*
And Laban said ,
This heap [
is ]
a witness between you and me this day .
Therefore the name of it was called Heap of Testimony ,
*
and Watchtower ,
for he said ,
The LORD watch between you and me when we are absent from one another .
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If you shall not ]
afflict my daughters ,
or if you shall take wives besides my daughters ,
no man is with us .
See !
God is witness between you and me .
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And Laban said to Jacob ,
Behold this heap ,
and behold the pillar which I have set up between you and me .
*
This heap [
is ]
a witness ,
and the pillar [
is ]
a witness ,
that I will not pass over this heap to you ,
and that you shall 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 .
And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac .
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And Jacob offered sacrifice on the mountain ,
and called his brothers to eat bread .
And they ate bread and stayed all night in the mountain .
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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 .