BERĔSHITH 31 (Genesis 31)

1 And he heard the words of Laḇan’s sons, saying,”Ya’aqoḇ has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth.”

2 And Ya’aqoḇ would look at the face of Laḇan and see that it was not toward him as before.

3 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to Ya’aqoḇ, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. And I am with you.”

4 And Ya’aqoḇ sent and called Raḥĕl and Lĕ’ah to the field, to his flock,

5 and said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before, but the Elohim of my father has been with me.

6 “And you know that I have served your father with all my strength.

7 “Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but Elohim did not allow him to do evil to me.

8 “When he said this, ‘The speckled are your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And when he said this, ‘The streaked are your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked.

9 “So Elohim has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

10 “And it came to be, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and looked in a dream and saw the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and mottled.

11 “And the Messenger of Elohim spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Ya’aqoḇ.’ 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 mottled, for I have seen all that Laḇan is doing to you.

13 ‘I am the Ĕl of Bĕyth Ĕl, where you anointed the standing column and where you made a vow to Me. Now rise up, get out of this land, and return to the land of your relatives.’ ”

14 And Raḥĕl and Lĕ’ah answered and said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?

15 “Are we not reckoned by him as strangers? For he has sold us, and also entirely consumed our silver.

16 “For all the wealth which Elohim has taken from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, do whatever Elohim has told you.”

17 So Ya’aqoḇ rose and put his sons and his wives on camels,

18 and he drove off all his livestock and all his possessions which he had acquired, his property of the livestock which he had acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Yitsḥaq in the land of Kena’an.

19 And when Laḇan had gone to shear his sheep, Raḥĕl stole the house idols that were her father’s.

20 And Ya’aqoḇ stole the heart of Laḇan the Aramean, because he did not inform him that he was about to flee.

21 And he fled with all that he had. And he rose up and passed over the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gil’aḏ.

22 And on the third day Laḇan was told that Ya’aqoḇ had fled.

23 Then he took his brothers with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gil’aḏ.

24 But in a dream by night Elohim came to Laḇan the Aramean, and said to him, “Guard yourself, that you do not speak to Ya’aqoḇ either good or evil.”

25 Then Laḇan overtook Ya’aqoḇ. Now Ya’aqoḇ had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laḇan with his brothers pitched in the mountains of Gil’aḏ.

26 And Laḇan said to Ya’aqoḇ, “What have you done, that you have stolen my heart, and driven my daughters off like captives taken with the sword?

27 “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and not inform me, and I would have sent you away with joy and songs, with tambourine and lyre?

28 “And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have been foolish to do this.

29 “It is in the power of my hand to do evil to you, but the Elohim of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Guard yourself, that you do not speak to Ya’aqoḇ either good or evil.’

30 “And now you have gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my mighty ones?”

31 And Ya’aqoḇ answered and said to Laḇan, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you tear your daughters away from me.’

32 “With whomever you find your mighty ones, let him not live. In the presence of our brothers, see for yourself what is with me and take it with you.” For Ya’aqoḇ did not know that Raḥĕl had stolen them.

33 And Laḇan went into Ya’aqoḇ’s tent, and into Lĕ’ah’s tent, and into the tents of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he came out of Lĕ’ah’s tent and entered Raḥĕl’s tent.

34 Now Raḥĕl had taken the house idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laḇan searched all about the tent but did not find them.

35 And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my master that I am unable to rise before you, for the way of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the house idols.

36 And Ya’aqoḇ was wroth and contended with Laḇan, and Ya’aqoḇ answered and said to Laḇan, “What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

37 “Now that you have searched all my goods what have you found of all your household goods? Put it here before my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us!

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 sheep.

39 “That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you, I myself bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 “I was! By day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

41 “These twenty years I have been in your house. 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 Elohim of my father, the Elohim of Aḇraham and the Awe of Yitsḥaq, had been with me, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. Elohim has seen my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rendered judgment last night.”

43 And Laḇan answered and said to Ya’aqoḇ, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. But what shall I do today to these, my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?

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

45 So Ya’aqoḇ took a stone and put it up as a standing column.

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

47 And Laḇan called it Yeḡar Sahaḏutha, but Ya’aqoḇ called it Gal’ĕḏ.

48 And Laḇan said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” That is why its name was called Gal’ĕḏ,

49 also Mitspah, because he said, “Let 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.

50 “If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us; see, Elohim is witness between you and me!”

51 And Laḇan said to Ya’aqoḇ, “See this heap and see this standing column, which I have placed between you and me.

52 “This heap is a witness, and this standing column is a witness, that I do not pass beyond this heap to you, and you do not pass beyond this heap and this standing column to me, for evil.

53 “The Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Naḥor, and the Elohim of their father rightly rule between us!” And Ya’aqoḇ swore by the Awe of his father Yitsḥaq.

54 And Ya’aqoḇ brought an offering on the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread. And they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

55 And Laḇan rose up early in the morning, and kissed his sons and daughters and baraḵ them. And Laḇan left and returned to his place.