the-bible/NKJV/Genesis/Chapter_31.md

# Genesis 31 (New King James Version)
Jacob Flees from Laban

##### Chapter 31
###### 1 Now _Jacob_ heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth."  
###### 2 And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it _was_ not _favorable_ toward him as before.  
###### 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."

###### 4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock,  
###### 5 and said to them, "I see your father's countenance, that it _is_ not _favorable_ toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.  
###### 6 And you know that with all my might I have served your father.  
###### 7 Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.  
###### 8 If he said thus: 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: 'The streaked shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked.  
###### 9 So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given _them_ to me.

###### 10 "And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks _were_ streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted.  
###### 11 Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, 'Jacob.' And I said, 'Here I am.'  
###### 12 And He said, 'Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks _are_ streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.  
###### 13 I _am_ the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar _and_ where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.' "

###### 14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?  
###### 15 Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money.  
###### 16 For all these riches which God has taken from our father are _really_ ours and our children's; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it."

###### 17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels.  
###### 18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.  
###### 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the household idols that were her father's.  
###### 20 And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.  
###### 21 So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.Laban Pursues Jacob

###### 22 And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.  
###### 23 Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days' journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead.  
###### 24 But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, "Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad."

###### 25 So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.

###### 26 And Laban said to Jacob: "What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives _taken_ with the sword?  
###### 27 Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp?  
###### 28 And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in _so_ doing.  
###### 29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.'  
###### 30 And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father's house, _but_ why did you steal my gods?"

###### 31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.'  
###### 32 With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take _it_ with you." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

###### 33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the two maids' tents, but he did not find _them._ Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent.  
###### 34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find _them._  
###### 35 And she said to her father, "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women _is_ with me." And he searched but did not find the household idols.

###### 36 Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: "What _is_ my trespass? What _is_ my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?  
###### 37 Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set _it_ here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both!  
###### 38 These twenty years I _have been_ with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.  
###### 39 That which was torn _by beasts_ I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, _whether_ stolen by day or stolen by night.  
###### 40 _There_ I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.  
###### 41 Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.  
###### 42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked _you_ last night."Laban's Covenant with Jacob

###### 43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, "_These_ daughters _are_ my daughters, and _these_ children _are_ my children, and _this_ flock _is_ my flock; all that you see _is_ mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?  
###### 44 Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me."

###### 45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up _as_ a pillar.  
###### 46 Then Jacob said to his brethren, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.  
###### 47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.  
###### 48 And Laban said, "This heap _is_ a witness between you and me this day." Therefore its name was called Galeed,  
###### 49 also Mizpah, because he said, "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another.  
###### 50 If you afflict my daughters, or if you take _other_ wives besides my daughters, _although_ no man _is_ with us--see, God _is_ witness between you and me!"

###### 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, "Here is this heap and here is _this_ pillar, which I have placed between you and me.  
###### 52 This heap _is_ a witness, and _this_ pillar _is_ a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.  
###### 53 The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.  
###### 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain.  
###### 55 And early in the morning Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.