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CHAPTER 31
1 After that, Jacob heard the words of the sons of Laban, that said, Jacob hath taken away all things that were our father’s, and of his chattel Jacob is made rich, and noble.
2 Also Jacob perceived the face of Laban, that it was not against him as yesterday, and the third day ago,
3 mostly for the Lord said to Jacob, Turn again into the land of thy fathers, and to thy generation, and I shall be with thee.
4 Jacob sent, and called Rachel and Leah into the field, where he kept [the] flocks,
5 and he said to them, I see the face of your father, that it is not against me as yesterday, and the third day ago; but God of my father was with me.
6 And ye know that with all my strengths I have served your father;
7 but and your father hath deceived me, and changed my meed ten times; and nevertheless God suffered not him to annoy me.
8 If he said any time, Diversely-coloured sheep shall be thy meed, all the sheep brought forth diversely-coloured lambs; forsooth when he said, on the contrary, Thou shalt take all the white for thy meed, all the flocks brought forth white beasts;
9 and God took away the substance of your father, and gave it to me.
10 For after that the time of con-ceiving of sheep came, I raised [up] mine eyes, and saw in sleep males diverse, and spotty, and of diverse colours, going up on females.
11 And the angel of the Lord said to me in sleep, Jacob! and I answered, I am ready.
12 Which said, Raise [up] thine eyes, and see all [the] males that be diverse, [and] besprinkled, and spotty, going [up] on [the] females; for I have seen all things which Laban hath done to thee;
13 I am God of Bethel, where thou anointedest a stone, and madest a vow to me. Now therefore rise thou, and go out of this land, and turn again into the land of thy birth.
14 And Rachel and Leah answered, Whether we have anything residue, or left, in the chattels, and heritage of our father?
15 Whether he areckoned not, or held, us as aliens, and sold us, and ate our price?
16 But God took away the riches of our father, and gave those [or them] to us, and to our sons; wherefore do thou all things which God hath commanded to thee.
17 Forsooth Jacob rose, and put his free children and wives on camels, and went forth;
18 and he took all his cattle, flocks, and whatever thing he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went to Isaac, his father, into the land of Canaan.
19 In that time Laban went to shear sheep, and Rachel stole the idols of her father.
20 And Jacob would not acknowledge to the father of his wives, that he would flee;
21 and when he had gone, as well he as all things that were of his right, and when he had passed [over] the water, and he went against the hill of Gilead,
22 it was told to Laban, in the third day, that Jacob fled.
23 And Laban took his brethren [with him], and pursued him seven days, and [over] took him in the hill of Gilead.
24 And Laban saw in sleep the Lord saying to him, Beware that thou speak not anything sharply against Jacob.
25 And then Jacob had stretched forth the tabernacle in the hill; and when Laban had pursued Jacob with his brethren, Laban set a tent in the same hill of Gilead;
26 and he said to Jacob, Why hast thou done so, that the while I knew not, thou wouldest drive away my daughters as captives, either taken prisoners, by sword?
27 Why wouldest thou flee the while I knew not, neither wouldest show to me, that I should pursue [or follow] thee with joy, and songs, and tympans, and harps?
28 Thou sufferedest not that I should kiss my sons and daughters; thou hast wrought follily.
29 And now soothly mine hand may yield evil to thee, but the God of thy father said to me yesterday, Beware that thou speak not any hard thing with Jacob.
30 Suppose, if thou covetedest to go to thy kinsmen, and the house of thy father was in desire to thee, why hast thou stolen my gods?
31 Jacob answered, That I went forth while thou knewest not, I dreaded lest thou wouldest take away thy daughters from me violently;
32 soothly that thou reprovest me of theft, at whomever thou findest thy gods, be he slain before our brethren; seek thou, whatever thing of thine thou findest at me, and take it away. Jacob said these things, and knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33 And so Laban entered into the tabernacles of Jacob, and of Leah, and of ever either menial, and he found not; and when Laban had entered into the tent of Rachel,
34 she hasted, and hid the idols under the strewings of the camel, and she sat above.
35 And she said to Laban, seeking throughout all the tent, and finding nothing, My lord, be not wroth that I may not rise before thee, for it befelled now to me by the custom of women; so the busyness of the seeker was scorned.
36 And Jacob swelled, and said with strife, For what cause of me, and for what sin of me, hast thou come so fiercely after me,
37 and hast sought through all the appurtenance of mine house? What hast thou found of all the chattel of thine household? Put thou here before my brethren and thy brethren, and deem they betwixt me and thee.
38 Was I not with thee therefore twenty years? Thy sheep and goats were not barren, I ate not the rams of thy flock,
39 neither I showed to thee anything taken of a beast; I yielded all [the] harm; whatever thing perished by theft, thou askedest of me;
40 I was anguished in day and night with heat and frost, and sleep fled from mine eyes;
41 so I served thee by twenty years in thine house, fourteen years for thy daughters, and six years for thy flocks; and thou changedest my meed ten times.
42 But if [the] God of my father Abraham, and the dread of Isaac had not helped me, peradventure now thou haddest left me naked; the Lord hath beheld my tormenting and the travail of mine hands, and reproved thee yesterday.
43 Laban answered to Jacob, The daughters, and the sons, and the flocks, and all things which thou seest, be mine; what may I do to my sons, and to the sons of my sons?
44 Therefore come thou, and make we bond of peace, that it be a witnessing betwixt me and thee.
45 And so Jacob took a stone, and raised it into a title, either a sign,
46 and said to his brethren, Bring ye stones; which gathered, and made an heap, and ate on it.
47 And Laban called it The heap of witness, and Jacob called it The heap of witnessing; ever either called it by the property of his language.
48 And Laban said, This heap shall be witness betwixt me and thee today, and therefore the name thereof was called Galeed, that is, The heap of witness.
49 And Laban added, The Lord behold, and deem betwixt us, when we shall go away from you;
50 if thou shalt torment my daughters, and if thou shalt bring in other wives on them, none is witness of our word, except God, which is present, and beholdeth.
51 And again Laban said to Jacob, Lo! this heap, and the stone, or the pillar, which I have raised betwixt me and thee,
52 shall be witnesses; soothly this heap, and the stone be into witnessing, forsooth if I shall pass it, and go to thee, either thou shalt pass it, and think to do evil to me.
53 God of Abraham, and God of Nahor, [the] God of the father of them, deem betwixt us. Therefore Jacob swore by the dread of his father Isaac;
54 and when slain sacrifices were offered in the hill, Jacob called his brethren to eat bread, and when they had eaten, they dwelled there.
55 Forsooth Laban rose by night, and kissed his sons, and daughters, and blessed them, and turned again into his place.

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© 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble