Jacob Flees from Laban
Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” Ecc 4:41Pe 1:241Ti 6:4Est 5:11Ezk 16:44Gen 31:8-9Gen 45:13Isa 5:14 And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed. Dan 3:191Sa 18:9-11Gen 4:51Sa 19:7Gen 30:27Deu 19:4Deu 28:54Exo 4:10
Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” Gen 28:15Gen 32:9Heb 13:5Gen 31:13Isa 41:10Psa 50:15Gen 21:22Gen 13:15
So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. Gen 31:2-3Gen 31:42Gen 31:53Gen 48:15Gen 32:9Gen 50:17Gen 21:22Gen 31:13 You know that I have served your father with all my strength. Gen 30:29Eph 6:5-8Col 3:22-25Gen 31:38-42Tit 2:9-101Pe 2:18 And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. Gen 31:29Gen 31:41Neh 4:12Num 14:22Psa 37:28Zec 8:23Gen 20:6Isa 4:1 If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. Gen 30:32 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. Gen 31:1Gen 31:16Pro 13:22Est 8:1-2Mat 20:15Psa 50:10
When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. Deu 13:11Ki 3:5Gen 20:6Gen 28:12Gen 30:39Gen 31:24Num 12:6 In that dream the angel 1of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ Gen 31:13Isa 58:91Sa 3:161Sa 3:41Sa 3:61Sa 3:8Exo 3:4Gen 18:17
And I replied, ‘Here I am.’
‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. Exo 3:7Deu 24:15Gen 31:42Act 7:34Ecc 5:8Eph 6:9Exo 3:9Gen 30:37-43 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’” Gen 31:3Gen 32:9Gen 28:12-22Gen 35:7
And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? Gen 2:24Rut 4:11Gen 29:24Gen 29:29 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. Gen 29:15-20Exo 21:7-11Gen 29:27-30Gen 30:26Gen 31:41Neh 5:8 Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.” Gen 30:35Gen 31:9Psa 45:10
Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, 1Sa 30:17Gen 24:10Gen 24:61 and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, 2 to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan. Gen 27:1-2Gen 27:41Gen 28:21Gen 35:27-29
Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. 1Sa 19:13Gen 31:30Hos 3:4Ezk 21:21Gen 35:2Gen 31:32Gen 31:34Jdg 17:4-5 Moreover, Jacob deceived 3Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, 4 and headed for the hill country of Gilead. 2Ki 12:171Ki 17:1Deu 3:12Gen 15:18Gen 2:14Gen 31:23Gen 37:25Gen 46:28
Laban Pursues Jacob
On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. Exo 14:5-31Gen 30:36Job 5:12-13 So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. Exo 2:11Exo 2:13Gen 13:8Gen 24:27 But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” Gen 24:50Gen 20:3Gen 31:29Gen 31:42Num 24:132Sa 13:22Mat 27:191Ki 3:5
Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. Gen 12:8Gen 33:18Heb 11:9 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! 1Sa 30:21Sa 14:431Sa 17:29Gen 12:18Gen 2:24Gen 20:9-10Gen 26:10Gen 3:13 Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. Exo 15:20Gen 24:59-60Gen 31:20-21Gen 31:3-5Gen 31:31Gen 4:21Jdg 6:27Job 21:11-14 But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing. Gen 31:551Ki 19:20Act 20:37Rut 1:141Co 2:141Sa 13:132Ch 16:9Exo 4:27
I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ Gen 31:42Gen 31:53Gen 28:13Gen 31:24Jos 24:2-32Ki 19:10Act 5:38-39Act 9:5 Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?” Jer 10:11Gen 31:19Jdg 18:241Sa 5:2-62Sa 5:21Exo 12:12Isa 37:19Isa 46:1-2
“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. Pro 29:25Gen 20:11Gen 31:26-27 If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. 1Sa 12:3-5Gen 31:19Gen 31:23Gen 31:30Gen 44:9-121Sa 14:24-292Co 12:17-192Co 8:20-21
So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. Gen 24:28Gen 24:67 Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing. Gen 31:19Gen 31:17
Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols. Lev 19:32Exo 20:121Ki 2:191Pe 2:181Pe 3:6Eph 6:1Gen 18:11-12Lev 15:19
Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me? Eph 4:262Ki 13:192Ki 5:11Gen 30:2Gen 34:7Gen 49:7Jas 1:19-20Mrk 3:5 You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us. 1Pe 2:121Co 6:4-51Sa 12:3-41Th 2:10Gen 31:32Heb 13:18Jos 7:23Mat 18:16
I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock. Deu 28:4Exo 23:26Ezk 34:2-4Gen 30:27Gen 30:30 I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night. Exo 22:10-13Exo 22:31Lev 22:8Luk 2:81Sa 17:34-35Jhn 10:12-13 As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 1Pe 5:2-4Exo 2:19-22Exo 3:1Heb 13:7Hos 12:12Jhn 21:15-17Luk 2:8Psa 78:70-71
Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! Gen 31:71Co 15:102Co 11:26Gen 29:18-30Gen 30:33-40Gen 31:38 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.” Psa 31:7Isa 8:13Gen 31:29Gen 31:53Exo 3:7Gen 29:32Gen 31:24Psa 124:1-3
Jacob’s Covenant with Laban
But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” 1Sa 20:14-17Jos 24:25-27Deu 31:19Deu 31:21Deu 31:26Gen 15:18Gen 21:22-32Gen 26:28-31
So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, Gen 28:18-22 and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. Ecc 3:52Sa 18:17Gen 31:23Gen 31:32Gen 31:37Gen 31:54Jos 4:20-24Jos 4:5-9 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. 5 Heb 12:1
Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Jos 24:27Deu 2:36Deu 3:16Gen 31:23Jos 13:8-9
Therefore the place was called Galeed. It was also called Mizpah, 6 because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other. Jdg 11:29Jdg 10:171Sa 7:5-61Ki 15:22Hos 5:1Jdg 11:11 If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” Jer 42:5Jer 29:23Jdg 11:10Mic 1:21Sa 12:51Th 2:5Lev 18:18Mal 2:14
Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me. This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me. Gen 31:48Gen 31:44-45 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Gen 31:42Gen 16:5Exo 3:6Gen 11:24-29Jos 24:2Deu 6:13Gen 11:31Gen 14:22
So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. Exo 18:122Sa 3:20-21Gen 21:8Gen 26:30Gen 37:25 Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home. Gen 31:28Deu 23:5Gen 18:33Gen 30:25Act 28:4-5Deu 32:36Gen 24:60Gen 28:1