New Living Translation

English Standard Version

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 the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.”

2And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.

2And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.

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, “Return 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 and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was

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 said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. 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.

7yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit 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 spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped.

9In this way, God has taken your father’s animals and given them to me.

9Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father 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.

10In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.

11Then in my dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’

11Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘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.

12And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing 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 a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”

14Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway.

14Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us 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 foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money.

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.”

16All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

17So Jacob put his wives and children on camels,

17So Jacob arose and set his sons 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.

18He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac.

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.

19Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods.

20Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.

20And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee.

21So Jacob took all his possessions with him and crossed the Euphrates River, heading for the hill country of Gilead. Laban Pursues Jacob

21He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

22Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

22When it was told Laban on the third day 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.

23he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into 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 God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to 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.

25And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.

26“What do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters away like prisoners of war?

26And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?

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 flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre?

28Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye? You have acted very foolishly!

28And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly.

29I could destroy you, but the God of your father appeared to me last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’

29It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘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?”

30And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”

31“I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.

31Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that 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.

32Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

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 and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.

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 the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them.

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.

35And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

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 angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have 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!

37For 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.

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.

38These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.

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.

39What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40“I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day and through cold and sleepless nights.

40There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my 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!

41These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, 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 on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

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?

43Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom 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 be a witness between you and me.”

45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument.

45So Jacob took 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 Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap.

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, but 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.”

48Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it 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.

49and Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.

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 oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”

51“See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I have set between us.

51Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set 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 heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.

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.

53The 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.

54and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

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 in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.