| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.” | 1Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” |
| 2And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him. | 2And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed. |
| 3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your relatives there, and I will be with you.” | 3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” |
| 4So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the field where he was watching his flock. | 4So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, |
| 5He said to them, “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But the God of my father has been with me. | 5and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. |
| 6You know how hard I have worked for your father, | 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength. |
| 7but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm. | 7And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. |
| 8For if he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the whole flock began to produce speckled young. And when he changed his mind and said, ‘The striped animals will be your wages,’ then the whole flock produced striped young. | 8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. |
| 9In this way, God has taken your father’s animals and given them to me. | 9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. |
| 10“One time during the mating season, I had a dream and saw that the male goats mating with the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted. | 10When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. |
| 11Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’ | 11In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’ |
| 12“The angel said, ‘Look up, and you will see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated you. | 12‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. |
| 13I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.’” | 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’ ” |
| 14Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway. | 14And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? |
| 15He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us. | 15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. |
| 16All the wealth God has given you from our father legally belongs to us and our children. So go ahead and do whatever God has told you.” | 16Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.” |
| 17So Jacob put his wives and children on camels, | 17Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, |
| 18and he drove all his livestock in front of him. He packed all the belongings he had acquired in Paddan-aram and set out for the land of Canaan, where his father, Isaac, lived. | 18and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan. |
| 19At the time they left, Laban was some distance away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole her father’s household idols and took them with her. | 19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. |
| 20Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving. | 20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. |
| 21So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the hill country of Gilead. Laban Pursues Jacob | 21So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. |
| 22Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had fled. | 22On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. |
| 23So he gathered a group of his relatives and set out in hot pursuit. He caught up with Jacob seven days later in the hill country of Gilead. | 23So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. |
| 24But the previous night God had appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you—leave Jacob alone!” | 24But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” |
| 25Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead, and he set up his camp not far from Jacob’s. | 25Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. |
| 26“What do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war? | 26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! |
| 27Why did you slip away secretly? Why did you deceive me? And why didn’t you say you wanted to leave? I would have given you a farewell feast, with singing and music, accompanied by tambourines and harps. | 27Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. |
| 28Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly! | 28But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing. |
| 29I could destroy you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’ | 29I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ |
| 30I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?” | 30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?” |
| 31“I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. | 31“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. |
| 32But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols. | 32If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. |
| 33Laban went first into Jacob’s tent to search there, then into Leah’s, and then the tents of the two servant wives—but he found nothing. Finally, he went into Rachel’s tent. | 33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. |
| 34But Rachel had taken the household idols and hidden them in her camel saddle, and now she was sitting on them. When Laban had thoroughly searched her tent without finding them, | 34Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing. |
| 35she said to her father, “Please, sir, forgive me if I don’t get up for you. I’m having my monthly period.” So Laban continued his search, but he could not find the household idols. | 35Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols. |
| 36Then Jacob became very angry, and he challenged Laban. “What’s my crime?” he demanded. “What have I done wrong to make you chase after me as though I were a criminal? | 36Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me? |
| 37You have rummaged through everything I own. Now show me what you found that belongs to you! Set it out here in front of us, before our relatives, for all to see. Let them judge between us! | 37You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us. |
| 38“For twenty years I have been with you, caring for your flocks. In all that time your sheep and goats never miscarried. In all those years I never used a single ram of yours for food. | 38I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock. |
| 39If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, I never showed you the carcass and asked you to reduce the count of your flock. No, I took the loss myself! You made me pay for every stolen animal, whether it was taken in broad daylight or in the dark of night. | 39I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night. |
| 40“I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights. | 40As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. |
| 41Yes, for twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for fourteen years earning your two daughters, and then six more years for your flock. And you changed my wages ten times! | 41Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! |
| 42In fact, if the God of my father had not been on my side—the God of Abraham and the fearsome God of Isaac —you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen your abuse and my hard work. That is why he appeared to you last night and rebuked you!” Jacob’s Treaty with Laban | 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.” |
| 43Then Laban replied to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks—in fact, everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and their children? | 43But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? |
| 44So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and it will be a witness to our commitment.” | 44Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” |
| 45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument. | 45So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, |
| 46Then he told his family members, “Gather some stones.” So they gathered stones and piled them in a heap. Then Jacob and Laban sat down beside the pile of stones to eat a covenant meal. | 46and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. |
| 47To commemorate the event, Laban called the place Jegar-sahadutha (which means “witness pile” in Aramaic), and Jacob called it Galeed (which means “witness pile” in Hebrew). | 47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. |
| 48Then Laban declared, “This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of the covenant we have made today.” This explains why it was called Galeed—“Witness Pile.” | 48Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed. |
| 49But it was also called Mizpah (which means “watchtower”), for Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between us to make sure that we keep this covenant when we are out of each other’s sight. | 49It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other. |
| 50If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other wives, God will see it even if no one else does. He is a witness to this covenant between us. | 50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” |
| 51“See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I have set between us. | 51Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me. |
| 52They stand between us as witnesses of our vows. I will never pass this pile of stones to harm you, and you must never pass these stones or this monument to harm me. | 52This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me. |
| 53I call on the God of our ancestors—the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Nahor—to serve as a judge between us.” So Jacob took an oath before the fearsome God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line. | 53May 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. |
| 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice to God there on the mountain and invited everyone to a covenant feast. After they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. | 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. |
| 55 Laban got up early the next morning, and he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home. | 55Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home. |
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