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

31:2  Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it did not seem friendly toward him as formerly.

31:3  Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will accompany you."

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

31:5  and said to them, "I see your father's attitude, that it does not seem friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has remained with me.

31:6  "You know that I have served your father with all my strength.

31:7  "Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to hurt me.

31:8  "If he spoke thus, 'The speckled shall become your wages,' then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, 'The striped you shall consider your wages,' then all the flock brought forth striped.

31:9  "Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me.

31:10  "And it came about at the time when the flock had mated that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which had mated appeared striped, speckled, and mottled.

31:11  "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here you will find me.'

31:12  "He said, 'Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which had mated appeared striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

31:13  'I proclaim Myself as the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

31:14  Rachel and Leah said to him, "Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house?

31:15  "Has he not considered us as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also entirely consumed our purchase price.

31:16  "Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you."

31:17  Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels;

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

31:19  When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father.

31:20  And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he planned to flee.

31:21  So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

31:22  When people told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled,

31:23  then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days' journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

31:24  God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, "Take care that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad."

31:25  Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead.

31:26  Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword?

31:27  "Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre;

31:28  and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.

31:29  "I have it in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Show care not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.'

31:30  "Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house; but why did you steal my gods?"

31:31  Then Jacob replied to Laban, "Because I feared, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.

31:32  "The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our kinsmen point out what belongs to you among my belongings and take it for yourself." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

31:33  So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent.

31:34  Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel's saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them.

31:35  She said to her father, "Let not my lord show anger that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women has come upon me " So he searched but did not find the household idols.

31:36  Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, "What do you consider my transgression? What do you consider my sin that you have hotly pursued me?

31:37  "Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two.

31:38  "These twenty years I have served you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.

31:39  "That which the beasts had torn I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

31:40  "Thus I found: by day the heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

31:41  "These twenty years I have served in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.

31:42  "If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not remained with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night."

31:43  Then Laban replied to Jacob, "The daughters come from me, and the children belong to me, and the flocks belong to me, and all that you see belongs to me. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?

31:44  "So now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it become a witness between you and me."

31:45  Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.

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

31:47  Now Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

31:48  Laban said, " This heap serves as a witness between you and me this day." Therefore they named it Galeed,

31:49  and Mizpah, for he said, "May the LORD watch between you and me when we find ourselves absent one from the other.

31:50  "If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man may see, God witnesses between you and me."

31:51  Laban said to Jacob, "Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me.

31:52  "This heap serves as a witness, and the pillar serves as a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

31:53  "The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

31:54  Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

31:55  Early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.