1Jacob overheard Laban’s sons saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. He has gained all his wealth from what was our father's.”
2Jacob noticed that Laban's attitude towards him was not the same as it had been before.
3Yahweh said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
4Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah and called them to the field where his flock was.
5He told them, “I see that your father’s attitude towards me is not the same as it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.
6You both know that I have served your father with all my strength.”
7Your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't let him harm me.
8If he said, 'The speckled animals will be your pay,' then all the flock gave birth to speckled young. If he said, 'The streaked animals will be your pay,' then all the flock gave birth to streaked young.
9In this way, God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me.
10During mating season, I had a dream and saw that all the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
11The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I answered, 'Here I am.'
12He said, 'Look up now, and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I have seen everything Laban has been doing to you.
13I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on a stone pillar and made a promise to me. Now, get up, leave this land, and go back to the land where you were born.'
14Rachel and Leah answered him, 'Is there any share or inheritance left for us in our father's house?
15Doesn't he treat us like foreigners? He sold us, and he has completely used up our money.
16All the wealth God has taken from our father belongs to us and our children. So now, do everything God has told you to do.'
17Then Jacob got up and put his sons and wives on camels.
18He took all his livestock and everything else he owned that he had acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father.
20Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving.
21So he fled with everything he had. He quickly crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the mountains of Gilead.
22On the third day, Laban was told that Jacob had run away.
23He took his relatives with him and chased Jacob for seven days. He caught up with him in the mountains of Gilead.
24God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream that night and said to him, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad.'
25Laban caught up with Jacob. Jacob had set up his tent in the mountains, and Laban and his relatives set up their camp in the mountains of Gilead.
26Laban said to Jacob, 'What have you done? You tricked me and carried off my daughters as if they were war captives!'
27Why did you sneak away and deceive me, and not tell me? I would have sent you off with joy and songs, with tambourine and harp.
28You didn't even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye. You have acted foolishly.
29I have the power to harm you, but the God of your father told me last night, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad.'
30Now you've left because you greatly missed your father's house, but why did you steal my gods?
31Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid, because I thought you might forcefully take your daughters away from me."
32Jacob continued, "Anyone found with your gods will die. Before our relatives, check through my belongings for anything that belongs to you, and take it." Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then into Leah’s tent, and then into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn't find them. He left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and was sitting on them. Laban searched all around the tent but didn't find them.
35She said to her father, "Please don't be angry, my lord, that I can't stand up for you; I am having my menstrual period." He searched but still didn't find the household idols.
36Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. Jacob asked Laban, "What wrong have I done? What is my sin that you have chased after me so intensely?
37Now that you've searched all my belongings, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here before my relatives and your relatives, so they can judge between us.
38For twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flocks.
39I never brought you an animal that was torn apart by wild beasts; I always bore the loss myself. You demanded payment from me for anything stolen, whether by day or by night.
40This is how it was for me: the drought consumed me by day, and the frost by night; and I could not sleep.
41These twenty years I have been in your household. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.
42If the God of my father—the God of Abraham and the God whom Isaac fears—had not been with me, you surely would have sent me away empty-handed by now. God has seen my suffering and the work of my hands, and he rebuked you last night.
43Laban replied to Jacob, "These daughters are my daughters, these children are my children, these flocks are my flocks, and everything you see is mine. What can I do today for my daughters or for the children they have given birth to?
44Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I; let it be a witness between us."
45Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument.
46Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They gathered stones and made a heap. Then they ate by the heap.
47Laban named it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.
48Laban said, "This pile of stones will be a witness between us today." That is why it was named Galeed.
49It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May Yahweh watch between us when we are out of each other's sight.
50If you mistreat my daughters, or if you marry other women besides my daughters, even though no one else is here with us, remember that God is a witness between us."
51Laban also said to Jacob, "Look at this pile of stones and this pillar that I have set up between us.
52This pile of stones is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this pile to harm you, and you will not go past this pile and this pillar to harm me.
53May the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us." So Jacob made a promise, swearing by the God his father Isaac feared.
54Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.
55Early in the morning, Laban got up, kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left and went back home.