Genesis 31 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.”

VIN⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ 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.” ² And Jacob saw that Laban's feeling for him was no longer what it had been before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers, and to your relations, and I will be with you. ⁴ Then Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah to come out to the open country where his flocks were. ⁵ 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. ⁶ "You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength. ⁷ and your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸ 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. ⁹ God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.' ¹² And he said, 'Lift up your eyes and see—all the rams mounting the flock are streaked, speckled, and dappled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ 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 nativity. ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah asked: "Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father's house? ¹⁵ Hath he not counted us as strangers, and sold us, and eaten up the price of us? ¹⁶ "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." ¹⁷ Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ And he drove all the livestock, and he took all his goods which he had gotten, livestock of his property which he had gotten in Padan-aram, to come to his father Isaac, to the land of Canaan. ¹⁹ When Laban went to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household idols. ²⁰ Jacob also tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving. ²¹ So he went away with all he had, and went across the River in the direction of the hill-country of Gilead. ²² And on the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ Laban took his men with him and pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. ²⁵ Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and when he, with his brethren, had overtaken him, he pitched his tent in the same mount of Galaad. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done that you tricked me and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and did not tell me, that I might have sent you 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 you have done foolishly. ²⁹ 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.' ³⁰ And now you have gone because you longed after your father's house. Why have you stolen my gods? ³¹ Jacob answered Laban: "I was afraid you might take your daughters from me by force. ³² But with whomever you find your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of your kinsmen now identify what is with me that is yours and take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. ³³ And Laban went into Jacobs tent, and into Leahs tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leahs tent, and entered into Rachels tent. ³⁴ And Rachel had taken the household idols and put them into the camel's saddle; and she sat on them. And Laban felt around all the tent, but did not find. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion? ³⁷ 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. ³⁸ "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. ³⁹ I did not bring to you what was torn by beasts; I bore the loss of it, you required it of my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ Thus have I been twenty years in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks: and you have changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back. ⁴³ 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? ⁴⁴ Come, let us make an agreement, you and I; and let it be for a witness between us. ⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone,—and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed ⁴⁹ and also Mizpah (Watchtower), because he said: "May the LORD watch between you and me when we are unable to see each other. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, when there is no man with us, see—God is a witness between me and you." ⁵¹ Laban also said to Jacob: "Here is the pile of stones. Here is the marker that I have set up between you and me. ⁵² 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. ⁵³ May 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. ⁵⁴ 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. ⁵⁵ Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban left and went back home.