HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 400
G EN ES IS 3 1
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became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep
and goats, female and male servants, and many
camels and donkeys.
leaving. 21 So Jacob took all his possessions with
him and crossed the Euphrates River,* heading
for the hill country of Gilead.
Jacob Flees from Laban
But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s
sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob
has robbed our father of everything!” they said.
“He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.” 2 And Jacob began to notice a change in
Laban’s attitude toward him.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the
land of your father and grandfather and to your
relatives there, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob called Rachel and Leah out to the
field where he was watching his flock. 5 He said
to them, “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me has changed. But the God of
my father has been with me. 6 You know how
hard I have worked for your father, 7 but he has
cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But
God has not allowed him to do me any harm.
8 For if he said, ‘The speckled animals will be
your wages,’ the whole flock began to produce
speckled young. And when he changed his
mind and said, ‘The striped animals will be
your wages,’ then the whole flock produced
striped young. 9 In this way, God has taken your
father’s animals and given them to me.
10 “One time during the mating season, I had a
dream and saw that the male goats mating with
the females were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 Then in my dream, the angel of God said
to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Yes, here I am.’
12 “The angel said, ‘Look up, and you will
see that only the streaked, speckled, and spotted males are mating with the females of your
flock. For I have seen how Laban has treated
you. 13 I am the God who appeared to you at
Bethel,* the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get
ready and leave this country and return to the
land of your birth.’”
14 Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine
with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s
wealth anyway. 15 He has reduced our rights to
those of foreign women. And after he sold us,
he wasted the money you paid him for us. 16 All
the wealth God has given you from our father
legally belongs to us and our children. So go
ahead and do whatever God has told you.”
17 So Jacob put his wives and children on camels, 18 and he drove all his livestock in front 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. 19 At
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
Laban Pursues Jacob
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
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
31
31:13 As in Greek version and an Aramaic Targum; Hebrew
reads the God of Bethel. 31:21 Hebrew the river.