²⁵ So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.

²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and ^(A)carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? ²⁸ And you did not allow me ^(B)to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now ^(C)you have done foolishly in so doing. ²⁹ It is in my power to do you harm, but the ^(D)God of your father spoke to me ^(E)last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ ³⁰ And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you ^(F)steal my gods?”

³¹ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was ^(G)afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ ³² With whomever you find your gods, ^(H)do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the ^[a]household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban ^[b]searched all about the tent but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot ^(I)rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the ^[c]household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my ^[d]trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? ³⁷ Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! 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 flock. ^39 (J)That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. ^(K)You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. ⁴¹ Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I ^(L)served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(M)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (N)Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and ^(O)the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(P)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and ^(Q)rebuked you last night.”

Laban’s Covenant with Jacob

⁴³ And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Now therefore, come, ^(R)let us make a ^[e]covenant, ^(S)you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(T)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it ^[f]Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[g]Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, ^(U)“This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, ⁴⁹ also ^(V)Mizpah,^[h] because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and this 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. ⁵³ The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father ^(W)judge between us.” And Jacob ^(X)swore by ^(Y)the ^[i]Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban arose, and ^(Z)kissed his sons and daughters and ^(AA)blessed them. Then Laban departed and ^(AB)returned to his place.

Esau Comes to Meet Jacob

32 So Jacob went on his way, and ^(AC)the angels of God met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s ^(AD)camp.” And he called the name of that place ^[j]Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother ^(AE)in the land of Seir, ^(AF)the ^[k]country of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, ^(AG)“Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. ^5 (AH)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that ^(AI)I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶ Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(AJ)he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ So Jacob was greatly afraid and ^(AK)distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. ⁸ And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[l]attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.”

^9 (AL)Then Jacob said, ^(AM)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord ^(AN)who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the ^(AO)mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with ^(AP)my staff, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (AQ)Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and ^[m]attack me and ^(AR)the mother with the children. ¹² For ^(AS)You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the ^(AT)sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”