¹He heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, "Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father; and from what belonged to our father he has acquired all this weightiness."

²Jacob saw the face of Laban, and see, he was not friendly with him as yesterday and the day before.

³Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you."

⁴Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock.

⁵He said to them, "I see the face of your father, that he is not toward me as he was yesterday and the day before; but the God of my father has been with me.

⁶And you, you have known that with all my strength I served your father.

⁷Your father has mocked me and has changed my wages ten times; yet God did not give him leave to do harm to me.

⁸If he said thus, 'The spotted ones will be your wages,' then all the flock bore spotted ones; and if he said thus, 'The striped ones will be your wages,' then all the flock bore striped ones.

⁹So God snatched away the livestock of your father and gave it to me.

¹⁰It came about, at the time the flock was in heat, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and look: the male goats going up on the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.

¹¹The messenger of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I said, 'Here I am.'

¹²He said, 'Lift up your eyes, please, and look: all the male goats going up on the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.

¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar there, where you vowed a vow to me. Now rise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

¹⁴Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there still a portion and an inheritance for us in the house of our father?

¹⁵Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has also gone on eating our silver.

¹⁶For all the wealth that God snatched away from our father, it is ours and our sons'. So now, whatever God has said to you, do."

¹⁷Jacob rose and lifted his sons and his wives onto the camels.

¹⁸He drove all his livestock and all his property that he had gathered, the livestock of his possessions that he had gathered in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father toward the land of Canaan.

¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the teraphim that belonged to her father.

²⁰Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was fleeing.

²¹He fled, he and all that was his; he rose, crossed the River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²²It was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

²³He took his brothers with him and pursued after him a journey of seven days, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁴God came to Laban the Aramean in the dream of the night and said to him, "Guard yourself, lest you speak with Jacob, whether good or bad."

²⁵Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban pitched his tent with his brothers in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁶Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me and led off my daughters like captives of the sword.

²⁷Why did you hide yourself to flee and steal me away, and not tell me, so that I could have sent you off with gladness and with songs, with tambourine and lyre?

²⁸You did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have acted foolishly in doing so.

²⁹There is power in my hand to do harm to you; but the God of your father said to me last night, saying, 'Guard yourself from speaking with Jacob, whether good or bad.'

³⁰And now, you have indeed gone, since you have deeply yearned for the house of your father; but why did you steal my God?"

³¹Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you tear away your daughters from me.'

³²With whomever you find your God, he shall not live. Before our brothers, recognize for yourself what is with me, and take it for yourself." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³Laban went in the tent of Jacob, and in the tent of Leah, and in the tent of the two maidservants, but did not find them. He came out of the tent of Leah and went in the tent of Rachel.

³⁴Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the saddle of the camel, and sat on them. Laban groped through all the tent and did not find them.

³⁵She said to her father, "Let it not burn in the eyes of my lord, that I cannot rise up before you, for the way of women is with me." So he searched, but did not find the teraphim.

³⁶Jacob burned with anger and contended with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, "What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?"

³⁷For you have groped through all my gear; what have you found of all the gear of your house? Put it here before my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us.

³⁸These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.

³⁹A torn beast I did not bring it to you; I myself bore the loss of it. From my hand you would seek it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

⁴⁰I was this way: by day the heat ate me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹These twenty years have been mine in your house: I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock; and you changed my wages ten times.

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been with me, for now you would have sent me away empty. God saw my affliction and the toil of my palms, and he gave judgment last night.”

⁴³Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. But for my daughters — what can I do for these today, or for their children whom they have borne?”

⁴⁴And now, come, let us cut a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you.”

⁴⁵Jacob took a stone and raised it up as a pillar.

⁴⁶Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Laban said, “This heap is a witness between me and you today.” Therefore he called its name Galeed.

⁴⁹And Mizpah, because he said, “May Yahweh keep watch between me and you, for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”

⁵⁰“If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters — there is no man with us; see, God is a witness between me and you.”

⁵¹Laban said to Jacob, “Look, this heap, and look, the pillar that I have set up between me and you.

⁵²This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for evil.

⁵³“May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father.” And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴Jacob slaughtered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brothers to eat food; and they ate food and lodged on the mountain.

⁵⁵Laban rose early in the morning and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them; then Laban went and returned to his place.