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31
1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken all that was our father’s; and of that which was our father’s he hath gotten all these possessions. 2 And Jakob saw the looks of Laban, and, behold, they were not with him as yesterday, and the time before. 3 And the Lord said to Jacob, Return to thy country and to thy native (place): and My Word shall be for thy help. 4 And Jacob sent and called Rahel and Leah to the field with his flocks: 5 And he said to them, I see the looks of your father, that they are not with me as yesterday and the time before; and the God of my father hath been to my help. 6 And you know that with all my strength I have served your father; 7 But your father hath lied to me, and hath changed my wages ten times; but the Lord hath not permitted him to hurt me. 8 If now he said, The streaked shall be thy wages; then all the flock bare streaked: and if now he said, The chequered shall be thy wages; all the flock bare chequered. 9 And the Lord hath separated them from the cattle of your father, and hath given (them) to me. 10 And it was at the time when the flocks conceived, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the flock were chequered, streaked, and speckled. 11 And the angel of the Lord said to me in a dream, Jacob. And I said, Behold, I am. 12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the flock are chequered, streaked, and speckled: because all that Laban hath done to thee is manifest before Me. 13 I am Eloha, who appeared to thee at Bethel, where thou didst anoint the pillar, and where before Me thou didst swear the oath: arise now, go from this land, and return to the land of thy birth. 14 And Rahel and Leah answered and said to him, Have we yet a portion or inheritance in our father’s house? 15 Are we not accounted as strangers by him? For he hath sold us, and hath devoured our money also. 16 Therefore, all the wealth that the Lord hath separated from our father is ours and our children’s: and now all that the Lord hath said to thee, do.
17 And Jakob arose, and lifted up his sons and his wives upon camels; 18 And led all his herds and all his substance which he had obtained, his herds and his substance which he had obtained in Padan Aram, to go unto Izhak his father in the land of Kenaan. 19 And Laban had gone to shear his flock: and Rahel took the images that were her father’s. 20 And Jakob concealed from Laban the Aramite, and showed him not that he went. 21 And he went, he and all that were his; and he arose and passed the Phrat, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
22 And it was shown to Laban on the third day that Jakob had gone. 23 And he took his brethren with him, and Pursued after him; going seven days; and he overtook him in the Mountain of Gilead. 24 And a word came from before the Lord to Laban the Aramite in a dream of the night, and He said to him, Beware, lest thou speak with Jakob from good to evil.
25 And Laban overtook Jakob; and Jakob had spread his tent in the mountain; and Laban made his brethren abide in the mountain of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob; What hast thou done, that thou hast hidden from me, and taken away my daughters, as captives of the sword? 27 Why didst thou conceal thy going, (or conceal thyself to go,) and didst hide it from me, and not show me, that I might then have sent thee away with mirth, and with hymns, and with tambourines, and with harps? 28 Nor didst thou suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now hast thou done foolishly. 29 It is in the power of my bands to do evil with thee: but the God of thy father spake to me in the evening, saying, Beware lest thou speak to Jakob from good to evil. 30 And now, (though) going thou wouldest go, because desiring thou bast desired the house of thy father, why hast thou taken my religion? 31 And Jakob answered and said to Laban, Because I feared; for I said, Lest thou shouldst take away thy daughters from me. 32 The place where thou shalt find thy religious things shall not abide: before our brethren ascertain thou what of thine is with me, and take to thee. But Jakob knew not that Rahel had carried them away.
33 And Laban entered into the tent of Leah, and into the tent of the two concubines, but found not; and he went forth from the tent of Leah, and entered the tent of Rahel. 34 But Rahel had taken the images, and laid them in the panniers of the camels, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found not. 35 And she said to her father, Let it not be displeasing in the eyes of my lord, that I am not able to rise before thee; for the way of women is upon me. And he scrutinized, but found not the images.
36 And Jakob was angry, and contended with Laban. And Jakob answered and said to Laban, What is my guilt, my crime, that thou hast pursued after me? 37 Now that thou hast searched all my things, what hast thou found, of all the things of thy house? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, and they shall decide between us both. 38 These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy goats have not failed, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten. 39 The wounded I have not brought to thee; what was deficient in number, from my hand hast thou required it. I have watched by day, and I have watched by night. 40 (Thus) have I been; in the day the heat devoured me, and the frost came down upon me at night, and sleep passed away from my eyes. 41 These twenty years have I served in thy house; fourteen years for thy two daughters; and six years for thy sheep; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. 42 Unless the God of my fathers, the God of Abraham, and He whom Izhak hath feared, had been my helper, even now thou hadst sent me away empty: but my labour, and the travail of my hands, have been manifest before the Lord, and He rebuked thee in the evening.
43 And Laban answered and said to Jakob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons my sons, and the sheep are my sheep, and all whatsoever thou seest is mine; and to these, my daughters, what can I do this day, or unto their children which they have born? 44 And now come, let us enter into a covenant, I and thou, and it shall be for a witness between me and thee. 45 And Jakob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jakob said to his brethren, Collect stones; and they took stones, and made a mound, and ate there upon the mound. 47 And Laban called it Yegar Sahadutha, but Jakob called it Gal-Ed. 48 And Laban said, This mound testifieth between me and thee today. 49 Therefore he called the name of it The Heap of Witness, and The Observatory; for he said, The Word of the Lord will observe between me and thee, when we are hidden each man from his neighbor. 50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take wives over my daughters, no man is with us; see, the Word of the Lord is witness between me and thee.
51 And Laban said to Jakob, Behold this mound and this pillar, which thou bast erected between me and thee. 52 And Laban said, This mound testifieth between me and thee today. And Laban said, This mound testifieth between me and thee today. This mound and pillar are a witness, that I will not pass over this mound to thee; and that thou shalt not pass over this mound and this pillar, to do me evil. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nachor shall judge between us, the God of their fathers. And Jakob sware by Him whom Izhak his father feared. 54 And Jakob sacrificed victims in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they ate bread, and tabernacled in the mountain.

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