Genesis:31

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* Jacob heard that Laban ’s sons were saying : »Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father . He has gained all his wealth from him .« * He also noticed that Laban did not appear as friendly to him as before . * Jehovah said to Jacob : »Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives . I will be with you .« * Then Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah to come out to the open country where his flocks were . * He said to them : »I have seen that your father ’s attitude toward me is not as friendly as before . The God of my father has been with me . * »You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength . * »Yet he has cheated me . He changed my wages ten times . However , God did not let him harm me .« * »When Laban said , ‘The speckled goats shall be your wages ,’ all the flocks produced speckled young . When he said , ‘The striped goats shall be your wages ,’ all the flocks produced striped young . * »This way God has taken sheep and goats from your father and given them to me . * »Once , when the flocks were mating , I dreamed that all the rams were either spotted or speckled . * »Then the angel of God said to me in the dream , ‘Jacob .’ I said , here I am . * »He said , ‘Look up and see , now , that all the male goats that are mating are striped , speckled , or spotted , because I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you . * »‘I am the God of Bethel . That is where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me . Arise and leave this land . Return to the land of your birth .’« * Rachel and Leah asked : »Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father ’s house ? * »Are we not accounted as foreigners by him ? He sold us and also utterly consumed the price paid for us . * »For all the riches that God took away from our father belong to us and to our children . Do what God told you to do .« * Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels . * He drove all his livestock ahead of him . He took all the possessions that he had accumulated . He took his own livestock that he had accumulated in Paddan-aram and went back to his father Isaac in Canaan . * When Laban went to shear his sheep , Rachel stole her father ’s household idols . * Jacob also tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving . * He left in a hurry with all that belonged to him . He crossed the Euphrates River and went toward the mountains of Gilead . * Three days after he left , Laban was told that Jacob had fled . * Laban took his men with him and pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead . * In a dream that night God came to Laban . God said : »Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way .« * Jacob camped on a mountain . So when Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead , he set up his camp not far from Jacod ’s . * Laban said to Jacob : »Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in war ? * »Why did you deceive me and slip away without telling me ? If you had told me , I would have sent you on your way with rejoicing and singing to the music of tambourines and harps . * »You did not even let me give a kiss to my sons and my daughters . This was a foolish thing you did . * »It is in my power to do you harm . But the God of your father came to me this night . He said , ‘Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob .’ * »It appears that you are going because your heart ’s desire is for your father ’s house . But why have you taken my gods ?« * Jacob answered Laban : »I was afraid you might take your daughters from me by force . * »As for your gods , if anyone of us has them , let him be put to death . Make a search in front of us all for what is yours , and take it .« Jacob had no knowledge that Rachel had taken them . * So Laban went into Jacob ’s tent and into Leah ’s tent , and into the tents of the two servant-women , but they were not there . He left Leah ’s tent and went into Rachel ’s . * Rachel took the images . She put them in the camels ’ basket and was seated on them . Laban searched through the tent and did not find them . * Rachel said to her father : »Do not be angry , Father , but I cannot get up to greet you . I am having my period .« So even though Laban had made a thorough search , he did not find the idols . * Jacob lost his temper . »What crime have I committed ?« he asked angrily . »What law have I broken that gives you the right to hunt me down ? * »Now that you have searched through all my belongings , what household article have you found that belongs to you ? Put it out here where your men and mine can see it . Let them decide which one of us is right . * »I have been with you now for twenty years . Your sheep and your goats have not failed to reproduce . I have not even eaten any rams from your flocks . * »I always absorbed the loss when wild animals killed a sheep . I did not take it to you to show that it was not my fault . You demanded that I make good anything that was stolen during the day or during the night . * »Many times I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night . I was not able to sleep . * »I have been in your house twenty years ! I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters . I kept your flock for six years . You changed my wages ten times . * »If the God of my father , the God of Abraham , out of respect for Isaac , had not been with me , you would have sent me away empty-handed by now . God has seen my misery and hard work . Last night he made it right !« * Then Laban answered Jacob : »These are my daughters , my grandchildren , and my flocks . Everything you see is mine ! Yet , what can I do today for my daughters or for their children ? * »Now , let us make an agreement and let it stand as a witness between you and me .« * Jacob took a stone and set it up as a marker . * Jacob said to his relatives : »Gather some stones .« They took stones , put them into a pile , and ate there by the pile of stones . * In his language , Laban called it »Jegar Sahadutha «, but Jacob called it »Galeed .« * Laban said : »This pile of stones stands as a witness between you and me today .« This is why it was named Galeed , * and also Mizpah , because he said : »May Jehovah watch between you and me when we are unable to see each other . * »If you mistreat my daughters or marry other women behind my back , remember that God stands as a witness between you and me .« * Laban also said to Jacob : »Here is the pile of stones . Here is the marker that I have set up between you and me . * »This pile of stones and this marker stand as witnesses that I will not go past the pile of stones to harm you , and that you will not go past the pile of stones or marker to harm me . * »May the God of Abraham and Nahor —the God of their father —judge between us .« So Jacob swore this oath out of respect for his father Isaac . * He offered a sacrifice on the mountain . He invited his relatives to eat the meal with him . They ate with him and spent the night on the mountain . * Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them . Then Laban left and went back home .

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