Genesis 31:31 - Prayer Tents



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Genesis 31
New Revised Standard Version Help

Jacob Flees with Family and Flocks

31Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, "Jacob has taken all that was our father's; he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father."H8085H1697H3837H1121H559H3290H3947H1H1H6213H3519 2And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as favorably as he did before.H3290H7200H6440H3837H8543H8032 3Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you."H3068H559H3290H7725H776H1H4138 4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was,H3290H7971H7121H7354H3812H7704H6629 5and said to them, "I see that your father does not regard me as favorably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me.H559H7200H1H6440H8543H8032H430H1H1961 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength;H859H3045H3581H5647H1 7yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me.H1H2048H2498H4909H6235H4489H430H5414H7489H5978 8If he said, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said, 'The striped shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore striped.H559H5348H7939H6629H3205H5348H559H6124H7939H3205H6629H6124 9Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father, and given them to me.H430H5337H4735H1H5414 10During the mating of the flock I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats that leaped upon the flock were striped, speckled, and mottled.H6256H6629H3179H5375H5869H7200H2472H6260H5927H6629H6124H5348H1261 11Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!'H4397H430H559H2472H3290H559 12And he said, 'Look up and see that all the goats that leap on the flock are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.H559H5375H5869H7200H6260H5927H6629H6124H5348H1261H7200H3837H6213 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and return to the land of your birth.'"H410H1008H4886H4676H5087H5088H6965H3318H776H7725H776H4138 14Then Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house?H7354H3812H6030H559H2506H5159H1H1004 15Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us.H2803H5237H4376H398H398H3701 16All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you."H6239H430H5337H1H1121H430H559H6213 17So Jacob arose, and set his children and his wives on camels;H3290H6965H5375H1121H802H1581 18and he drove away all his livestock, all the property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.H5090H4735H7399H7408H4735H7075H7408H6307H935H3327H1H776H3667 19Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods.H3837H1980H1494H6629H7354H1589H8655H1 20And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee.H3290H1589H3820H3837H761H5921H5046H1097H1272 21So he fled with all that he had; starting out he crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.H1272H6965H5674H5104H7760H6440H2022H1568

Laban Overtakes Jacob

22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.H5046H3837H7992H3117H3290H1272 23So he took his kinsfolk with him and pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.H3947H251H7291H310H7651H3117H1870H1692H2022H1568 24But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, "Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad."H430H935H3837H761H2472H3915H559H8104H1696H5973H3290H2896H5704H7451 25Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsfolk camped in the hill country of Gilead.H3837H5381H3290H3290H8628H168H2022H3837H251H8628H2022H1568 26Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword.H3837H559H3290H6213H1589H3824H5090H1323H7617H2719 27Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre.H1272H2244H1589H5046H7971H8057H7892H8596H3658 28And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? What you have done is foolish.H5203H5401H1121H1323H5528H6213 29It is in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.'H3426H410H3027H6213H7451H430H1H559H570H559H8104H1696H3290H2896H7451 30Even though you had to go because you longed greatly for your father's house, why did you steal my gods?"H1980H1980H3700H3700H1H1004H1589H430 31Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.H3290H6030H559H3837H3372H559H6435H1497H1323 32But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsfolk, point out what I have that is yours, and take it." Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.H834H4672H430H2421H5048H251H5234H3947H3290H3045H7354H1589 33So Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered Rachel's.H3837H935H3290H168H3812H168H8147H519H168H4672H3318H3812H168H935H7354H168 34Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt all about in the tent, but did not find them.H7354H3947H8655H7760H1581H3733H3427H3837H4959H168H4672 35And she said to her father, "Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me." So he searched, but did not find the household gods.H559H1H2734H5869H113H3201H6965H6440H1870H802H2664H4672H8655 36Then Jacob became angry, and upbraided Laban. Jacob said to Laban, "What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?H3290H2734H7378H3837H3290H6030H559H3837H6588H2403H1814H310 37Although you have felt about through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsfolk and your kinsfolk, so that they may decide between us two.H3588H4959H3627H4672H1004H3627H7760H3541H251H251H3198H996H8147 38These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.H6242H8141H7353H5795H7921H352H6629H398 39That which was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself; of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.H2966H935H2398H3027H1245H1589H3117H1589H3915 40It was like this with me: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.H3117H2721H398H7140H3915H8142H5074H5869 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.H6242H8141H1004H5647H702H6240H8141H8147H1323H8337H8141H6629H2498H4909H6235H4489 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."H3884H430H1H430H85H6343H3327H7971H7387H430H7200H6040H3018H3709H3198H570

Laban and Jacob Make a Covenant

43Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about their children whom they have borne?H3837H6030H559H3290H1323H1323H1121H1121H6629H6629H7200H6213H3117H1323H176H1121H3205 44Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be a witness between you and me."H3212H3772H1285H5707 45So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar.H3290H3947H68H7311H4676 46And Jacob said to his kinsfolk, "Gather stones," and they took stones, and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap.H3290H559H251H3950H68H3947H68H6213H1530H398H1530 47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.H3837H7121H3026H3290H7121H1567 48Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." Therefore he called it Galeed,H3837H559H1530H5707H3117H8034H7121H1567 49and the pillar Mizpah, for he said, "The LORD watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other.H4709H834H559H3068H6822H5641H376H7453 50If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, though no one else is with us, remember that God is witness between you and me."H6031H1323H3947H802H5921H1323H376H7200H430H5707 51Then Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap and see the pillar, which I have set between you and me.H3837H559H3290H1530H4676H3384 52This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.H1530H5707H4676H5713H5674H1530H5674H1530H4676H7451 53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor"—the God of their father—"judge between us." So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,H430H85H430H5152H430H1H8199H3290H7650H6343H1H3327 54and Jacob offered a sacrifice on the height and called his kinsfolk to eat bread; and they ate bread and tarried all night in the hill country.H3290H2076H2077H2022H7121H251H398H3899H398H3899H3885H2022 55Early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he departed and returned home.H7925H1242H3837H7925H5401H1121H1323H1288H3837H3212H7725H4725


New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. More details.
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