Genesis 31
He Bore the Loss Himself
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Jacob’s Divine Command
31:1Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father, and from our father’s property he has acquired all this glory.”
31:2Jacob saw that Laban’s attitude toward him was no longer as it had been before.
31:3Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your father and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
31:4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flock was.
31:5He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is no longer as it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.”
31:6“And you yourselves know that with all my power I have served your father.”
31:7“Your father has cheated me and changed my wages of ten lambs, but God has not allowed him to harm me.”
31:8“If he said, ‘The variegated animals shall be your wages,’ all the sheep bore variegated young. If he said, ‘The white animals shall be your wages,’ all the sheep bore white young.”
31:9“Thus God has taken away all the livestock of your father and given them to me.”
31:10“When the sheep were mating, I saw in a dream that the male goats and rams mounting the sheep and goats were white-marked, variegated, and ash-gray with spots.”
31:11“The angel of God said to me in a dream, ‘Jacob.’ I said, ‘What is it?’”
31:12“He said, ‘Look up and see the male goats and rams mounting the sheep and goats, white-marked, variegated, and ash-gray with spots, for I have seen everything Laban is doing to you.’”
31:13“‘I am the God who appeared to you in the place of God, where you anointed a pillar to Me and made a vow to Me. Now arise, leave this land, go to the land of your birth, and I will be with you.’”
Jacob Flees from Laban
31:14Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance left for us in our father’s house?”
31:15“Does he not regard us as foreigners? He has sold us and entirely consumed our money.”
31:16“Surely all the wealth and glory which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now therefore, do whatever God has spoken to you.”
31:17Then Jacob arose and took his wives and his children and set them upon camels.
31:18He led away all his belongings and all the household goods he had acquired in Mesopotamia, with everything he had, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
31:19Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s idols.
31:20Jacob concealed his departure from Laban the Syrian by not telling him that he was fleeing.
31:21So he fled with all that he had, and crossed the River, and rushed toward the mountain of Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
31:22And it was reported to Laban the Syrian on the third day that Jacob had fled.
31:23He took all his kinsmen with him and pursued Jacob for a seven-day journey, overtaking him in the hill country of Gilead.
31:24God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream at night and said, “Be careful not to speak evil to Jacob.”
31:25So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain, and Laban stationed his brethren in the mountain country of Gilead.
31:26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? Why did you run away secretly and defraud me, and lead away my daughters as captives taken by the sword?”
31:27“If you had told me, I would have sent you away with joy and music, with tambourines and lyre.”
31:28“I was not thought worthy to kiss my children and daughters. You have acted foolishly.”
31:29“And now my hand has power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Take heed to yourself, lest you speak evil things to Jacob.’”
31:30“And now you have departed, because you longed with a great longing for your father’s house; but why have you stolen my gods?”
31:31Jacob answered Laban, “I thought you might take your daughters away from me, and everything I have.”
31:32“Identify anything of yours that is with me and take it.” He identified nothing with him. Jacob said to him, “Whoever has your gods shall not live before our kinsmen.” Jacob did not know that Rachel his wife had stolen them.
31:33Laban entered and searched Leah’s dwelling, but found nothing. Leaving Leah’s dwelling, he searched Jacob’s dwelling and the dwelling of the two slave women, but found nothing. He also entered Rachel’s dwelling.
31:34Rachel had taken the idols, put them in the camel’s saddle gear, and sat on them.
31:35She said to her father, “Do not take it badly, my lord. I cannot rise before you, because the customary condition of women is upon me.” Laban searched the whole dwelling but did not find the idols.
Jacob’s Grievances
31:36Jacob became angry and disputed with Laban. He said, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have pursued me
31:37“and searched all my belongings? What have you found among all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and yours, and let them decide between us.”
31:38“These twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.”
31:39“I did not bring you animals taken by wild animals; I made restitution myself for what was stolen by day or by night.”
31:40“By day the heat consumed me, and by night the frost; sleep fled from my eyes.”
31:41“I have been in your house twenty years. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years among your sheep, and you cheated me of wages amounting to ten ewe lambs.”
31:42“If the God of my father Abraham and the Fear of Isaac had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my humiliation and the labor of my hands, and He rebuked you yesterday.”
The Covenant at the Heap
31:43Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the sons my sons, the livestock my livestock, and everything you see is mine and my daughters’. What can I do today to these women or to their children whom they have borne?”
31:44“Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between us.” He said to him, “Look, no one is with us; see, God is witness between you and me.”
31:45And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
31:46Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” They gathered stones and made a heap, and ate and drank there beside the heap. Laban said to him, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.”
31:47Laban called it Witness Heap, while Jacob called it The Heap Bears Witness.
31:48And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap, and the pillar, which I have set between me and you; this heap witnesses, and this pillar witnesses; therefore its name was called: The Heap Witnesses.”
31:49and The Watch, because he said, “May God watch between you and me, for we are about to part from one another.”
31:50“If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives beside them, see, there is no one with us.”
31:52“For if I do not cross over to you, neither shall you cross this heap and pillar to me for harm.”
31:53“The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor will judge between us.” Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
31:54Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hills and called his kinsmen. They ate and drank and slept in the hills.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.