Genesis 31:31 - Prayer Tents

31Jacob learned that Laban's sons were talking behind his back: "Jacob has used our father's wealth to make himself rich at our father's expense."H8085H1697H3837H1121H559H3290H3947H1H1H6213H3519 2At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn't treating him the same.H3290H7200H6440H3837H8543H8032 3That's when GOD said to Jacob, "Go back home where you were born. I'll go with you."H3068H559H3290H7725H776H1H4138 4So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were.H3290H7971H7121H7354H3812H7704H6629 5He said, "I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn't treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn't changed; he's still with me.H559H7200H1H6440H8543H8032H430H1H1961 6You know how hard I've worked for your father.H859H3045H3581H5647H1 7Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me.H1H2048H2498H4909H6235H4489H430H5414H7489H5978 8If he said, 'Your wages will consist of speckled animals' the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, 'From now on your wages will be streaked animals' the whole flock would have streaked ones.H559H5348H7939H6629H3205H5348H559H6124H7939H3205H6629H6124 9Over and over God used your father's livestock to reward me.H430H5337H4735H1H5414 10"Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates.H6256H6629H3179H5375H5869H7200H2472H6260H5927H6629H6124H5348H1261 11In the dream an angel of God called out to me, 'Jacob!' "I said, 'Yes?'H4397H430H559H2472H3290H559 12"He said, 'Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban's been doing to you.H559H5375H5869H7200H6260H5927H6629H6124H5348H1261H7200H3837H6213 13I'm the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.'"H410H1008H4886H4676H5087H5088H6965H3318H776H7725H776H4138 14Rachel and Leah said, "Has he treated us any better?H7354H3812H6030H559H2506H5159H1H1004 15Aren't we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he's spent all that.H2803H5237H4376H398H398H3701 16Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children's. Go ahead. Do what God told you."H6239H430H5337H1H1121H430H559H6213 17Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camelsH3290H6965H5375H1121H802H1581 18and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.H5090H4735H7399H7408H4735H7075H7408H6307H935H3327H1H776H3667 19Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father's household gods.H3837H1980H1494H6629H7354H1589H8655H1 20And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark.H3290H1589H3820H3837H761H5921H5046H1097H1272 21Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead.H1272H6965H5674H5104H7760H6440H2022H1568 22Three days later, Laban got the news: "Jacob's run off."H5046H3837H7992H3117H3290H1272 23Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.H3947H251H7291H310H7651H3117H1870H1692H2022H1568 24That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, "Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad."H430H935H3837H761H2472H3915H559H8104H1696H5973H3290H2896H5704H7451 25When Laban reached him, Jacob's tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there too.H3837H5381H3290H3290H8628H168H2022H3837H251H8628H2022H1568 26"What do you mean," said Laban, "by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war?H3837H559H3290H6213H1589H3824H5090H1323H7617H2719 27Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn't you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes!H1272H2244H1589H5046H7971H8057H7892H8596H3658 28But you wouldn't permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do.H5203H5401H1121H1323H5528H6213 29If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, 'Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.'H3426H410H3027H6213H7451H430H1H559H570H559H8104H1696H3290H2896H7451 30I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?"H1980H1980H3700H3700H1H1004H1589H430 31Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force.H3290H6030H559H3837H3372H559H6435H1497H1323 32But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it." Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the gods.H834H4672H430H2421H5048H251H5234H3947H3290H3045H7354H1589 33Laban went through Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn't find them. He went from Leah's tent to Rachel's.H3837H935H3290H168H3812H168H8147H519H168H4672H3318H3812H168H935H7354H168 34But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing,H7354H3947H8655H7760H1581H3733H3427H3837H4959H168H4672 35Rachel said to her father, "Don't think I'm being disrespectful, my master, that I can't stand before you, but I'm having my period." So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn't find the household gods.H559H1H2734H5869H113H3201H6965H6440H1870H802H2664H4672H8655 36Now it was Jacob's turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: "So what's my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this?H3290H2734H7378H3837H3290H6030H559H3837H6588H2403H1814H310 37You've ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that's yours? Let's see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us.H3588H4959H3627H4672H1004H3627H7760H3541H251H251H3198H996H8147 38"In the twenty years I've worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock.H6242H8141H7353H5795H7921H352H6629H398 39I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not.H2966H935H2398H3027H1245H1589H3117H1589H3915 40I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night.H3117H2721H398H7140H3915H8142H5074H5869 41For twenty years I've done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times.H6242H8141H1004H5647H702H6240H8141H8147H1323H8337H8141H6629H2498H4909H6235H4489 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict."H3884H430H1H430H85H6343H3327H7971H7387H430H7200H6040H3018H3709H3198H570 43Laban defended himself: "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they've had?H3837H6030H559H3290H1323H1323H1121H1121H6629H6629H7200H6213H3117H1323H176H1121H3205 44So let's settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us."H3212H3772H1285H5707 45Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.H3290H3947H68H7311H4676 46Jacob called his family around, "Get stones!" They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones.H3290H559H251H3950H68H3947H68H6213H1530H398H1530 47Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument).H3837H7121H3026H3290H7121H1567 48Laban said, "This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me." (That's why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.)H3837H559H1530H5707H3117H8034H7121H1567 49It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, "GOD keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.H4709H834H559H3068H6822H5641H376H7453 50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there's no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us."H6031H1323H3947H802H5921H1323H376H7200H430H5707 51Laban continued to Jacob, "This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness,H3837H559H3290H1530H4676H3384 52a witness that I won't cross this line to hurt you and you won't cross this line to hurt me.H1530H5707H4676H5713H5674H1530H5674H1530H4676H7451 53The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us." Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac.H430H85H430H5152H430H1H8199H3290H7650H6343H1H3327 54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain.H3290H2076H2077H2022H7121H251H398H3899H398H3899H3885H2022 55Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.H7925H1242H3837H7925H5401H1121H1323H1288H3837H3212H7725H4725