DaySpring Hope & Encouragement Bible - Flipbook - Page 62
G enesis 31
44
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 s ide—the God of Abraham and the
fearsome God of Isaac*—you would have sent me away e mpty-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
Then Laban replied to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, these
children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my f locks—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).
48 Then 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.” 49 But 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.
50 If 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.
51 “See this pile of stones,” Laban continued, “and see this monument I
have set between us. 52 They 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. 53 I call on the God of our ancestors—
the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Na
hor—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. 54 Then 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.
43
31:42 Or and the Fear of Isaac.
31:53 Or the Fear of his father, Isaac.
