Genesis 31

Jacob's Flight from Laban

¹Jacob heard Laban’s sons’ words, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.”

²Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

³The LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

⁴Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,

⁵and 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.

⁶You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

⁷Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me.

⁸If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked.

⁹Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.

¹⁰During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.

¹¹The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

¹²He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.

¹³I 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.’”

¹⁴Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

¹⁵Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.

¹⁶For all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

¹⁷Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,

¹⁸and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.

²⁰Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away.

²¹So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

²²Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.

²³He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.

²⁴God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.

²⁶Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

²⁷Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

²⁸and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.

²⁹It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’

³⁰Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’

³²Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.

³⁴Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them.

³⁵She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim.

³⁶Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

³⁷Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.

³⁸“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.

³⁹That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

⁴⁰This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹These 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.

⁴²Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had 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.”

⁴³Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine! What can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?

⁴⁴Now come, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be for a witness between me and you.”

⁴⁵Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

⁴⁶Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.

⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed

⁴⁹and Mizpah, for he said, “The LORD watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.

⁵⁰If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”

⁵¹Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.

⁵²May 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.

⁵³The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.

⁵⁴Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.

⁵⁵Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.

Previous Genesis 30

Next Genesis 32

Jacob receives divine instruction to return to Canaan after sensing growing hostility from Laban and his sons over his accumulated wealth. With his wives' support, Jacob secretly flees with his family and possessions, but Laban pursues them for seven days. When Laban confronts Jacob, tensions escalate over accusations of theft and deception, but God's protective intervention prevents serious harm, leading to a covenant between the two men that establishes boundaries for their future relationship.

Context

This chapter marks Jacob's transition from his twenty-year sojourn with Laban back toward the promised land, setting up his eventual reunion with Esau in chapter 32.

Key Themes

Outline

1-3
Divine Call to Return Jacob perceives Laban's hostility and receives God's command to return to his homeland.
4-16
Family Consultation Jacob explains the situation to Rachel and Leah, who support his decision to leave.
17-21
Secret Departure Jacob flees with his family and possessions while Laban is away shearing sheep.
22-25
Laban's Pursuit Laban discovers Jacob's flight and pursues him for seven days until catching up at Gilead.
26-42
Confrontation and Accusations Laban and Jacob exchange heated words about deception, theft, and treatment over the years.
43-55
Covenant of Peace The two men establish a covenant with boundary stones as witnesses to their agreement.

Jacob's Flight from Laban

31:1–31:55

narrative narration urgent

God commands Jacob to return to his homeland, and Jacob flees from Laban with his family and possessions after explaining God's protection and provision. The passage emphasizes divine guidance overriding human opposition.

person_contrast

Jacob receives his first direct divine command to relocate in Genesis 31:3, marking a pivotal shift from passive recipient of promises to active agent of God's covenant plan.

Insight Character Study

Jacob receives his first direct divine command to relocate in Genesis 31:3, marking a pivotal shift from passive recipient of promises to active agent of God's covenant plan.

Cross-References

Connected passages across Scripture

Genesis 31:4 4 references

Lexicals 4

Genesis 33:1 Lexical

Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the childr…

Genesis 31

Jacob's Flight from Laban

Jacob's Flight from Laban

Insights

Cross-References

Genesis 31:4 4 references

Genesis 31:5 1 reference

Genesis 31:8 4 references

Genesis 31:10 2 references

Genesis 31:12 3 references

Genesis 31:13 2 references

Genesis 31:15 1 reference

Genesis 31:18 5 references

Genesis 31:19 1 reference

Genesis 31:20 3 references

Genesis 31:22 2 references

Genesis 31:24 1 reference

Genesis 31:27 3 references

Genesis 31:32 2 references

Genesis 31:33 5 references

Genesis 31:36 4 references

Genesis 31:38 1 reference

Genesis 31:40 2 references

Genesis 31:41 3 references

Genesis 31:42 2 references

Genesis 31:43 5 references

Genesis 31:45 2 references

Genesis 31:51 1 reference

Genesis 31:53 5 references

Genesis 31:54 1 reference

Interlinear

Historical Context