BERESHITH (GENESIS) 31

Gen 31:1 And he heard the words of Laḇan’s sons, saying, “Ya‛aqoḇ has
taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he
has made all this wealth.”
Gen 31:2 And Ya‛aqoḇ would look at the face of Laḇan and see that it was
not toward him as before.
Gen 31:3 And יהוה said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “Return to the land of your fathers and to
your relatives. And I am with you.”
Gen 31:4 And Ya‛aqoḇ sent and called Raḥĕl and Lĕ’ah to the field, to his
flock,
Gen 31:5 and said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not toward me
as before, but the Elohim of my father has been with me.
Gen 31:6 “And you know that I have served your father with all my strength.
Gen 31:7 “Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times,
but Elohim did not allow him to do evil to me.
Gen 31:8 “When he said this, ‘The speckled are your wages,’ then all the
flocks bore speckled. And when he said this, ‘The streaked are your wages,’
then all the flocks bore streaked.
Gen 31:9 “So Elohim has taken away the livestock of your father and given
them to me.
Gen 31:10 “And it came to be, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I
lifted my eyes and looked in a dream and saw the rams which leaped upon
the flocks were streaked, speckled, and mottled.
Gen 31:11 “And the Messenger of Elohim spoke to me in a dream, saying,
‘Ya‛aqoḇ.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’
Gen 31:12 “And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which
leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and mottled, for I have seen all that
Laḇan is doing to you.
Gen 31:13 ‘I am the Ĕl of Bĕyth Ĕl, where you anointed the standing column
and where you made a vow to Me. Now rise up, get out of this land, and
return to the land of your relatives.’ ”
Gen 31:14 And Raḥĕl and Lĕ’ah answered and said to him, “Do we still
have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house?
Gen 31:15 “Are we not reckoned by him as strangers? For he has sold us,
and also entirely consumed our silver.
Gen 31:16 “For all the wealth which Elohim has taken from our father are
ours and our children’s. Now then, do whatever Elohim has told you.”
Gen 31:17 So Ya‛aqoḇ rose and put his sons and his wives on camels,
Gen 31:18 and he drove off all his livestock and all his possessions which
he had acquired, his property of the livestock which he had acquired in
Paddan Aram, to go to his father Yitsḥaq in the land of Kena‛an.
Gen 31:19 And when Laḇan had gone to shear his sheep, Raḥĕl stole the
house idols that were her father’s.
Gen 31:20 And Ya‛aqoḇ deceived Laḇan the Aramean, because he did not
inform him that he was about to flee.
Gen 31:21 And he fled with all that he had. And he rose up and passed over
the river, and headed toward the mountains of Gil‛aḏ.
Gen 31:22 And on the third day Laḇan was told that Ya‛aqoḇ had fled.
Gen 31:23 Then he took his brothers with him and pursued him for seven
days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gil‛aḏ.
Gen 31:24 But in a dream by night Elohim came to Laḇan the Aramean, and
said to him, “Guard yourself, that you do not speak to Ya‛aqoḇ either good or
evil.”
Gen 31:25 Then Laḇan overtook Ya‛aqoḇ. Now Ya‛aqoḇ had pitched his tent
in the mountains, and Laḇan with his brothers pitched in the mountains of
Gil‛aḏ.
Gen 31:26 And Laḇan said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “What have you done, that you have
deceived me, and driven my daughters off like captives taken with the
sword?
Gen 31:27 “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and not inform me,
and I would have sent you away with joy and songs, with tambourine and
lyre?
Gen 31:28 “And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters.
Now you have been foolish to do this.
Gen 31:29 “It is in the power of my hand to do evil to you, but the Elohim of
your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Guard yourself, that you do not
speak to Ya‛aqoḇ either good or evil.’
Gen 31:30 “And now you have gone because you greatly long for your
father’s house, but why did you steal my mighty ones?”
Gen 31:31 And Ya‛aqoḇ answered and said to Laḇan, “Because I was
afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you tear your daughters away from me.’
Gen 31:32 “With whomever you find your mighty ones, do not let him live.
In the presence of our brothers, see for yourself what is with me and take it
with you.” For Ya‛aqoḇ did not know that Raḥĕl had stolen them.
Gen 31:33 And Laḇan went into Ya‛aqoḇ’s tent, and into Lĕ’ah’s tent, and
into the tents of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he
came out of Lĕ’ah’s tent and entered Raḥĕl’s tent.
Gen 31:34 Now Raḥĕl had taken the house idols and put them in the camel’s
saddle, and sat on them. And Laḇan searched all about the tent but did not
find them.
Gen 31:35 And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my master that I
am unable to rise before you, for the way of women is with me.” And he
searched but did not find the house idols.
Gen 31:36 And Ya‛aqoḇ was wroth and contended with Laḇan, and Ya‛aqoḇ
answered and said to Laḇan, “What is my transgression? What is my sin, that
you have hotly pursued me?
Gen 31:37 “Now that you have searched all my goods what have you found
of all your household goods? Set it here before my brothers and your
brothers, and let them decide between the two of us!
Gen 31:38 “These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your
female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of
your sheep.
Gen 31:39 “That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you, I myself
bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or
stolen by night.
Gen 31:40 “Thus I was! By day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night,
and my sleep fled from my eyes.
Gen 31:41 “These 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.
Gen 31:42 “Unless the Elohim of my father, the Elohim of Aḇraham and the
Fear of Yitsḥaq, had been with me, you would now have sent me away
empty-handed. Elohim has seen my affliction and the labour of my hands, and
rendered judgment last night.”
Gen 31:43 And Laḇan answered and said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “These daughters are
my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock,
and all that you see is mine. But what shall I do today to these, my daughters
or to their children whom they have borne?
Gen 31:44 “And now, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and it shall
be a witness between you and me.”
Gen 31:45 So Ya‛aqoḇ took a stone and set it up as a standing column.
Gen 31:46 And Ya‛aqoḇ said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” And they took
stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.
Gen 31:47 And Laḇan called it Yeḡar Sahaḏutha, but Ya‛aqoḇ called it
Gal‛ĕḏ.
Gen 31:48 And Laḇan said, “This heap is a witness between you and me
today.” That is why its name was called Gal‛ĕḏ,
Gen 31:49 also Mitspah, because he said, “Let יהוה watch between you and
me when we are out of each other’s sight.
Gen 31:50 “If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides
my daughters, although no man is with us; see, Elohim is witness between
you and me!”
Gen 31:51 And Laḇan said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “See this heap and see this standing
column, which I have placed between you and me.
Gen 31:52 “This heap is a witness, and this standing column is a witness,
that I do not pass beyond this heap to you, and you do not pass beyond this
heap and this standing column to me, for evil.
Gen 31:53 “The Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Naḥor, and the Elohim of
their father rightly rule between us!” And Ya‛aqoḇ swore by the Fear of his
father Yitsḥaq.
Gen 31:54 And Ya‛aqoḇ brought an offering on the mountain, and called his
brothers to eat bread. And they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.
Gen 31:55 And Laḇan rose up early in the morning, and kissed his sons and
daughters and blessed them. And Laḇan left and returned to his place.