Genesis 31:1-21 ▼

1 He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, |Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. From that which was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.|

2 Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and look, it was not as it had been.

3 Then God said to Jacob, |Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.|

4 Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flock was,

5 and said to them, |I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not what it was before. But the God of my father has been with me.

6 You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

7 Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.

8 If he said this, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked.

9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

10 And it came about at the time when the flocks were breeding I looked up and saw in a dream, and look, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.'

12 He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and look, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a standing-stone, where you made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your birth.'|

14 Rachel and Leah answered him, |Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

15 Aren’t we regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has used up what was paid for us.

16 For all the wealth which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.|

17 Then Jacob got up and put his sons and his wives on the camels,

18 and he took away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father.

20 Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he intended to flee.

21 So he fled with everything that he had, and he arose and crossed the River, and set out toward the hill country of Gilead.