Gen 31:22-55 | ESV | STEP | When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled ,

22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean ^ain a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^beither good or bad.”

25 And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have ^ctricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly ^dand trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not permit me ^eto kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is ^fin my power to do you harm. But the ^gGod of your ^{▼▼The Hebrew for your is plural here} father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ⁱeither good or bad.’ 30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you ^jsteal my gods?” 31 Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. 32 ^kAnyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^lrise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

36 Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37 For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and ^myour kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. 38 These 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. 39 What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. ⁿFrom my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house. ^oI served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^pyou have changed my wages ten times. 42 ^qIf the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the ^rFear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^sGod saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and ^trebuked you last night.”

43 Then 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 this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? 44 Come now, ^ulet us make a covenant, you and I. ^vAnd let it be a witness between you and me.” 45 So Jacob ^wtook a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, ^{▼▼Aramaic the heap of witness} but Jacob called it Galeed. ^{▼▼Hebrew the heap of witness} 48 Laban said, ^z“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, 49 ^aaand Mizpah, ^{▼▼ Mizpah means watchpost} for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. 50 If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^acGod is witness between you and me.”

51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. 52 ^adThis heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^aeFear of his father Isaac, 54 and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^afhis kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

55 ^{▼▼Ch 32:1 in Hebrew} Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed ^ahhis grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.