17 August 2022 draft-bible
1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s; and from what was our father’s he has gotten all this wealth. 2 And Jacob saw [the expression on] Laban’s face, and behold, it was not toward him as before. 3 And Yahweh said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to your kindred, and I will be with you.
4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, 5 and said to them, I see [the expression on] your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but the god of my father has been with me. 6 And you know that with all my strength I have served your father. 7 And your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me. If he said thus: The speckled will be your wages, then all the flock bore speckled. And if he said thus: The streaked will be your wages, then all the flock bore streaked. 9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me. 10 And during the flock’s breeding season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the he-goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. 11 And an angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob! And I said, Here I am. 12 And said, Now lift up your eyes, and see: all the he-goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. 13 I am the god of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.
14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not considered foreigners by him? For he sold us, and also quite devoured our money. 16 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father belong to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.
17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 18 and he drove away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, the livestock in his possession, which he had gathered in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him he would flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
22 And it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said to him, Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.
25 And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his brethren encamped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done, that you have deceived me and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and not tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; 28 and not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the god of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Be careful not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. 30 And now you have gone away, because you greatly longed for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?
31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Lest you should take your daughters from me by force. 32 Anyone you find your gods with will not live. Before our brethren, discern what is yours with me, and take it. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tents of the two slave women, but he found nothing. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and sat on them. And Laban felt all around the tent, but found nothing. 35 And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before you; for it is my time of the month. And he searched, but did not find the teraphim.
36 And Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us two.
38 These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your she-goats have not cast their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 What was torn by animals I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 [Thus] I was: in the day the drought 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 from your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. 42 Had not the god of my father, the god of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.
43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine! And what can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? 44 Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be for a witness between me and you.
45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones, and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48 And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and you today. Therefore its name was called Galeed 49 and Mizpah, for he said, May Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. 50 If you afflict my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and you.
51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set between me and you. 52 May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53 The god of Abraham and the god of Nahor, the god of their father, judge between us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they ate bread, and stayed all night on the mountain. 55(32:1) And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them. And Laban departed and returned to his place.
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