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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Genesis 31 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/31.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/31-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Genesis 31</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/30.htm" title="Genesis 30">◄</a> Genesis 31 <a href="../genesis/32.htm" title="Genesis 32">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/genesis/31.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Jacob Flees from Laban</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>and said to them, “I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>You know that I have served your father with all my strength, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And Jacob tricked<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew stole the heart of; also verses 26, 27">a</a></sup></span> Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the Euphrates,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew the River">b</a></sup></span> and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="The Hebrew for your is plural here">c</a></sup></span> father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-36.htm"><b>36</b></a></span>Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-37.htm"><b>37</b></a></span>For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-38.htm"><b>38</b></a></span>These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-39.htm"><b>39</b></a></span>What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-40.htm"><b>40</b></a></span>There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-41.htm"><b>41</b></a></span>These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-42.htm"><b>42</b></a></span>If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-43.htm"><b>43</b></a></span>Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-44.htm"><b>44</b></a></span>Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-45.htm"><b>45</b></a></span>So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-46.htm"><b>46</b></a></span>And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-47.htm"><b>47</b></a></span>Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Aramaic the heap of witness">d</a></sup></span> but Jacob called it Galeed.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew the heap of witness">e</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-48.htm"><b>48</b></a></span>Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-49.htm"><b>49</b></a></span>and Mizpah,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Mizpah means watchpost">f</a></sup></span> for he said, “The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-50.htm"><b>50</b></a></span>If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-51.htm"><b>51</b></a></span>Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-52.htm"><b>52</b></a></span>This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-53.htm"><b>53</b></a></span>The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-54.htm"><b>54</b></a></span>and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/31-55.htm"><b>55</b></a></span><span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Ch 32:1 in Hebrew">g</a></sup></span> Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">20</span> Hebrew <i>stole the heart of</i>; also verses 26, 27<br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">21</span> Hebrew <i><span class="catch-word">the</span> River</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">29</span> The Hebrew for <i class="catch-word">your</i> is plural here<br /><span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">47</span> Aramaic <i>the heap of witness</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">e</span> <span class="fnverse">47</span> Hebrew <i>the heap of witness</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">f</span> <span class="fnverse">49</span> <i class="catch-word">Mizpah</i> means <i>watchpost</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">g</span> <span class="fnverse">55</span> Ch 32:1 in Hebrew<br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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