Genesis 31:1 - Prayer Tents



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Genesis 31
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Jacob Flees from Laban

31Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. He got all his wealth from what our father owned."H8085H1697H3837H1121H559H3290H3947H1H1H6213H3519
2He also saw that Laban was no longer as friendly as he had been earlier.H3290H7200H6440H3837H8543H8032
3Then the LORD said to him, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. I will be with you."H3068H559H3290H7725H776H1H4138
4So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flocks were.H3290H7971H7121H7354H3812H7704H6629
5He said to them, "I have noticed that your father is not as friendly toward me as he used to be; but my father's God has been with me.H559H7200H1H6440H8543H8032H430H1H1961
6You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength.H859H3045H3581H5647H1
7Yet he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not let him harm me.H1H2048H2498H4909H6235H4489H430H5414H7489H5978
8Whenever Laban said, 'The speckled goats shall be your wages,' all the flocks produced speckled young. When he said, 'The striped goats shall be your wages,' all the flocks produced striped young.H559H5348H7939H6629H3205H5348H559H6124H7939H3205H6629H6124
9God has taken flocks away from your father and given them to me.H430H5337H4735H1H5414
10"During the breeding season I had a dream, and I saw that the male goats that were mating were striped, spotted, and speckled.H6256H6629H3179H5375H5869H7200H2472H6260H5927H6629H6124H5348H1261
11The angel of God spoke to me in the dream and said, 'Jacob!' 'Yes,' I answered.H4397H430H559H2472H3290H559
12'Look,' he continued, 'all the male goats that are mating are striped, spotted, and speckled. I am making this happen because I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.H559H5375H5869H7200H6260H5927H6629H6124H5348H1261H7200H3837H6213
13I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you dedicated a stone as a memorial by pouring olive oil on it and where you made a vow to me. Now get ready and go back to the land where you were born.' "H410H1008H4886H4676H5087H5088H6965H3318H776H7725H776H4138
14Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, "There is nothing left for us to inherit from our father.H7354H3812H6030H559H2506H5159H1H1004
15He treats us like foreigners. He sold us, and now he has spent all the money he was paid for us.H2803H5237H4376H398H398H3701
16All this wealth which God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. Do whatever God has told you."H6239H430H5337H1H1121H430H559H6213
17So Jacob got ready to go back to his father in the land of Canaan.H3290H6965H5375H1121H802H1581
18He put his children and his wives on the camels, and drove all his flocks ahead of him, with everything that he had gotten in Mesopotamia.H5090H4735H7399H7408H4735H7075H7408H6307H935H3327H1H776H3667
19Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and during his absence Rachel stole the household gods that belonged to her father.H3837H1980H1494H6629H7354H1589H8655H1
20Jacob deceived Laban by not letting him know that he was leaving.H3290H1589H3820H3837H761H5921H5046H1097H1272
21He took everything he owned and left in a hurry. He crossed the Euphrates River and started for the hill country of Gilead.H1272H6965H5674H5104H7760H6440H2022H1568

Laban Pursues Jacob

22Three days later Laban was told that Jacob had fled.H5046H3837H7992H3117H3290H1272
23He took his men with him and pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.H3947H251H7291H310H7651H3117H1870H1692H2022H1568
24In a dream that night God came to Laban and said to him, "Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way."H430H935H3837H761H2472H3915H559H8104H1696H5973H3290H2896H5704H7451
25Jacob had set up his camp on a mountain, and Laban set up his camp with his relatives in the hill country of Gilead.H3837H5381H3290H3290H8628H168H2022H3837H251H8628H2022H1568
26Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in war?H3837H559H3290H6213H1589H3824H5090H1323H7617H2719
27Why did you deceive me and slip away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have sent you on your way with rejoicing and singing to the music of tambourines and harps.H1272H2244H1589H5046H7971H8057H7892H8596H3658
28You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. That was a foolish thing to do!H5203H5401H1121H1323H5528H6213
29I have the power to do you harm, but last night the God of your father warned me not to threaten you in any way.H3426H410H3027H6213H7451H430H1H559H570H559H8104H1696H3290H2896H7451
30I know that you left because you were so anxious to get back home, but why did you steal my household gods?"H1980H1980H3700H3700H1H1004H1589H430
31Jacob answered, "I was afraid, because I thought that you might take your daughters away from me.H3290H6030H559H3837H3372H559H6435H1497H1323
32But if you find that anyone here has your gods, he will be put to death. Here, with our men as witnesses, look for anything that belongs to you and take what is yours." Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban's gods.H834H4672H430H2421H5048H251H5234H3947H3290H3045H7354H1589
33Laban went and searched Jacob's tent; then he went into Leah's tent, and the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find his gods. Then he went into Rachel's tent.H3837H935H3290H168H3812H168H8147H519H168H4672H3318H3812H168H935H7354H168
34Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in a camel's saddlebag and was sitting on them. Laban searched through the whole tent, but did not find them.H7354H3947H8655H7760H1581H3733H3427H3837H4959H168H4672
35Rachel said to her father, "Do not be angry with me, sir, but I am not able to stand up in your presence; I am having my monthly period." Laban searched but did not find his household gods.H559H1H2734H5869H113H3201H6965H6440H1870H802H2664H4672H8655
36Then Jacob lost his temper. "What crime have I committed?" he asked angrily. "What law have I broken that gives you the right to hunt me down?H3290H2734H7378H3837H3290H6030H559H3837H6588H2403H1814H310
37Now that you have searched through all my belongings, what household article have you found that belongs to you? Put it out here where your men and mine can see it, and let them decide which one of us is right.H3588H4959H3627H4672H1004H3627H7760H3541H251H251H3198H996H8147
38I have been with you now for twenty years; your sheep and your goats have not failed to reproduce, and I have not eaten any rams from your flocks.H6242H8141H7353H5795H7921H352H6629H398
39Whenever a sheep was killed by wild animals, I always bore the loss myself. I didn't take it to you to show that it was not my fault. You demanded that I make good anything that was stolen during the day or during the night.H2966H935H2398H3027H1245H1589H3117H1589H3915
40Many times I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was not able to sleep.H3117H2721H398H7140H3915H8142H5074H5869
41It was like that for the whole twenty years I was with you. For fourteen years I worked to win your two daughters - and six years for your flocks. And even then, you changed my wages ten times.H6242H8141H1004H5647H702H6240H8141H8147H1323H8337H8141H6629H2498H4909H6235H4489
42If the God of my fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac, had not been with me, you would have already sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my trouble and the work I have done, and last night he gave his judgment."H3884H430H1H430H85H6343H3327H7971H7387H430H7200H6040H3018H3709H3198H570

The Agreement between Jacob and Laban

43Laban answered Jacob, "These young women are my daughters; their children belong to me, and these flocks are mine. In fact, everything you see here belongs to me. But since I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children,H3837H6030H559H3290H1323H1323H1121H1121H6629H6629H7200H6213H3117H1323H176H1121H3205
44I am ready to make an agreement with you. Let us make a pile of stones to remind us of our agreement."H3212H3772H1285H5707
45So Jacob got a stone and set it up as a memorial.H3290H3947H68H7311H4676
46He told his men to gather some rocks and pile them up. Then they ate a meal beside the pile of rocks.H3290H559H251H3950H68H3947H68H6213H1530H398H1530
47Laban named it Jegar Sahadutha, while Jacob named it Galeed.H3837H7121H3026H3290H7121H1567
48Laban said to Jacob, "This pile of rocks will be a reminder for both of us." That is why that place was named Galeed.H3837H559H1530H5707H3117H8034H7121H1567
49Laban also said, "May the LORD keep an eye on us while we are separated from each other." So the place was also named Mizpah.H4709H834H559H3068H6822H5641H376H7453
50Laban went on, "If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other women, even though I don't know about it, remember that God is watching us.H6031H1323H3947H802H5921H1323H376H7200H430H5707
51Here are the rocks that I have piled up between us, and here is the memorial stone.H3837H559H3290H1530H4676H3384
52Both this pile and this memorial stone are reminders. I will never go beyond this pile to attack you, and you must never go beyond it or beyond this memorial stone to attack me.H1530H5707H4676H5713H5674H1530H5674H1530H4676H7451
53The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor will judge between us." Then, in the name of the God whom his father Isaac worshiped, Jacob solemnly vowed to keep this promise.H430H85H430H5152H430H1H8199H3290H7650H6343H1H3327
54He killed an animal, which he offered as a sacrifice on the mountain, and he invited his men to the meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.H3290H2076H2077H2022H7121H251H398H3899H398H3899H3885H2022
55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters good-bye, and left to go back home.H7925H1242H3837H7925H5401H1121H1323H1288H3837H3212H7725H4725


Good News Translation. Scripture taken from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. More details.
Old Testament
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