The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 47
page 43
Jacob’s Treaty with Laban • GENESIS 31:43-55
Then 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?
44 So come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and
it will be a witness to our commitment.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a
monument. 46 Then 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. 47 To 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).
43
END & NEW
BEGINNING
31:21 Hebrew the river. 31:42 Or and the Fear of Isaac.
MISSIONS
SILENT
RETURN
CAPTIVITY
22 Three days later, Laban was told that Jacob had
fled. 23 So 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. 24 But the previous night God had appeared
to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him,
“I’m warning you—leave Jacob alone!”
25 Laban 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. 26 “What
do you mean by deceiving me like this?” Laban
demanded. “How dare you drag my daughters
away like prisoners of war? 27 Why 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. 28 Why didn’t you let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren and tell them good-bye?
You have acted very foolishly! 29 I could destroy
you, but the God of your father appeared to me
last night and warned me, ‘Leave Jacob alone!’
30 I can understand your feeling that you must
go, and your intense longing for your father’s
home. 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. 32 But 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.
33 Laban 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. 34 But 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
CHURCH
Laban Pursues Jacob • GENESIS 31:22-42
JA N UA RY 11
her tent without finding them, 35 she 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.
36 Then 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? 37 You
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!
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. 39 If
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.
40 “I worked for you through the scorching
heat of the day and through cold and sleepless
nights. 41 Yes, 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! 42 In 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!”
GOSPEL
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. 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. 20 Jacob
outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out
secretly and never told Laban they were leaving. 21 So Jacob took all his possessions with him
and crossed the Euphrates River,* heading for
the hill country of Gilead.
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