Jacob Flees from Laban

Genesis 31

1 Now 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." 2 And Jacob saw a that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, b "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you."

4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was 5 and said to them, c "I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father d has been with me. 6 e You know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages f ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. 8 If he said, g '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. 9 Thus God has h taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. 10 In 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. 11 Then 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 goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for i I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, j where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now k arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.'" 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there l any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? 15 Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For m he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. 16 All 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."

17 So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in n Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's o household gods. 20 And Jacob tricked 1 Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. 21 He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the p Euphrates, and q set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean r in a dream by night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, s either good or bad."

25 And 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 And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have t tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly t and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not permit me u to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is v in my power to do you harm. But the w God of your 2 father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, x either good or bad.' 30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house, but why did you y steal my gods?" 31 Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 z Anyone 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.

33 So 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. 34 Now 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. 35 And she said to her father, "Let not my lord be angry that I cannot a rise before you, for the way of women is upon me." So he searched but did not find the household gods.

36 Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, "What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and b your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. 38 These 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. 39 What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. c From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house. d I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and e you have changed my wages ten times. 42 f If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the g Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. h God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and i rebuked you last night."

43 Then 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? 44 Come now, j let us make a covenant, you and I. k And let it be a witness between you and me." 45 So Jacob l took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, 3 but Jacob called it Galeed. 4 48 Laban said, m "This heap is a witness between you and me today." Therefore he named it Galeed, 49 n and Mizpah, 5 for he said, "The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. 50 If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, o God is witness between you and me."

51 Then Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52 p This 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. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." So Jacob swore by the q Fear of his father Isaac, 54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called r his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

55 6 Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed s his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

  1. Cross References
    Genesis 4:5
    But for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
  2. Cross References
    Genesis 31:13
    I 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.'
    Genesis 28:15
    Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
    Genesis 32:9
    And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good.
  3. Cross References
    Genesis 31:2
    And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before.
  4. Cross References
    Genesis 31:3
    Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.
  5. Cross References
    Genesis 31:38 - 40
    These 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.
    Genesis 30:29
    Jacob said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me.
  6. Cross References
    Genesis 31:41
    These 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.
    Numbers 14:22
    None of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice.
    Nehemiah 4:12
    At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, "You must return to us.
    Job 19:3
    These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me?
    Zechariah 8:23
    Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'
  7. Cross References
    Genesis 30:32
    Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages.
  8. Cross References
    Genesis 31:1
    Now 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.
  9. Cross References
    Exodus 3:7
    Then the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.
  10. Cross References
    Genesis 28:18 - 22
    So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
  11. Cross References
    Genesis 31:3
    Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.
    Genesis 32:9
    And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good.
  12. Cross References
    2 Samuel 20:1
    Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, "We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!
    1 Kings 12:16
    And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David." So Israel went to their tents.
  13. Cross References
    Genesis 30:26
    Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.
    Genesis 29:15 - 20
    Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?
    Genesis 29:27
    Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.
  14. Cross References
    Genesis 25:20
    And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
    Genesis 28:2
    Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
    Genesis 28:6 - 7
    Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
  15. Cross References
    Genesis 31:30
    And now you have gone away because you longed g...
    Genesis 31:34
    Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put...
    Judges 17:5
    And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ...
    1 Samuel 15:23
    For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and ...
    1 Samuel 19:13
    Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and...
    Ezekiel 21:21
    For the king of Babylon stands at the parting o...
    Hosea 3:4
    For the children of Israel shall dwell many day...
    Zechariah 10:2
    For the household gods utter nonsense, and the ...
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 23:31
    And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
    Psalms 72:8
    May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!
  17. Cross References
    2 Kings 12:17
    At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.
    Luke 9:51
    When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
  18. Cross References
    Genesis 20:3
    But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.
  19. Cross References
    Genesis 24:50
    Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The thing has come from the Lord ; we cannot speak to you bad or good.
    Numbers 24:13
    If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak'?
    2 Samuel 13:22
    But Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had violated his sister Tamar.
  20. Cross References
    Genesis 31:20
    And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee.
  21. Cross References
    Genesis 31:26
    And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword?
  22. Cross References
    Genesis 31:55
    Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.
    Ruth 1:9
    The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!" Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
    Ruth 1:14
    Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
    1 Kings 19:20
    And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?
    Acts 20:37
    And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him.
  23. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:32
    Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.
    Nehemiah 5:5
    Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
    Proverbs 3:27
    Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
    Micah 2:1
    Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.
  24. Cross References
    Genesis 31:42
    If 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.
    Genesis 31:53
    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.
    Genesis 28:13
    And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
  25. Cross References
    Genesis 31:24
    But 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.
  26. Cross References
    Genesis 31:19
    Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods.
    Judges 18:24
    And he said, "You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, 'What is the matter with you?'
  27. Cross References
    Genesis 44:9
    Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord's servants.
  28. Cross References
    Leviticus 19:32
    You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
  29. Cross References
    Genesis 31:54
    And 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.
  30. Cross References
    Exodus 22:12
    But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.
  31. Cross References
    Genesis 29:27 - 28
    Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.
  32. Cross References
    Genesis 31:7
    Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.
  33. Cross References
    Psalms 124:1 - 2
    If it had not been the Lord who was on our side - let Israel now say -
  34. Cross References
    Genesis 31:53
    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.
  35. Cross References
    Genesis 29:32
    And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.
  36. Cross References
    Genesis 31:29
    It 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.
  37. Cross References
    Genesis 26:28
    They said, "We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you.
  38. Cross References
    Joshua 24:27
    And Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.
  39. Cross References
    Genesis 28:18
    So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
  40. Cross References
    Genesis 31:44
    Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.
  41. Cross References
    Judges 11:29
    Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites.
    Judges 11:34
    Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
  42. Cross References
    Judges 11:10
    And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.
    1 Samuel 12:5
    And he said to them, "The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." And they said, "He is witness.
    Jeremiah 42:5
    Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us.
    Micah 1:2
    Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
    Job 16:19
    Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.
  43. Cross References
    Genesis 31:43 - 44
    Then 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?
  44. Cross References
    Genesis 31:42
    If 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.
  45. Cross References
    Genesis 31:37
    For 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.
  46. Cross References
    Genesis 31:28
    And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly.
    Genesis 31:43
    Then 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?
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Next Book Next Book