One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 65
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me? And why didn’t you say you wanted
to leave? I would have given you a farewell
feast, with singing and music, accompanied
idn’t you
by tambourines and harps. 28 Why d
let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren
and tell them g ood-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 w
ives—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 every
thing 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
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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 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!”
43 Then La
ban 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 Galee d (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 Nahor—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 every
one to a covenant feast. After they had eaten,
they spent the night on the mountain.
55* Laban got up early the next morning, and
he kissed his grandchildren and his daughters
and blessed them. Then he left and returned
home.
