Genesis 31:1-21 — Legacy Standard Bible

Jacob Leaves While Laban Is Gone

31Then ¹Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ²wealth.” ²And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. ³Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “^aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and ^bI will be with you.” ⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵and he said to them, “^aI see your father’s face, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but ^bthe God of my father has been with me. ⁶“^aYou also know that I have served your father with all my power. ⁷“Yet your father has ^acheated me and ^bchanged my wages ten times; however, ^cGod did not allow him to harm me. ⁸“If ^ahe spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹“Thus God has ^adelivered your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰“Now it happened at the time when the flock were ¹mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were ²mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. ¹¹“Then ^athe angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²“He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are ¹mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for ^aI have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³‘I am ^athe God of Bethel, where you ^banointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ¹leave this land, and ^creturn to the land of your kin.’” ¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵“Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For ^ahe has sold us and has also ¹entirely consumed ²our purchase price. ¹⁶“Surely all the riches which God has delivered over to us from our father belong to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; ¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had accumulated, his acquired livestock which he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, in order ^ato go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the ¹^,^ahousehold idols that were her father’s. ²⁰And Jacob ¹deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the ¹River and set his face toward the hill country of ^aGilead.