English Bible Presentation Sharing - Genesis Book, chapter 31, verse 133 in Erven Version

Genesis 31 : 1 (ERVEN)

One day Jacob heard Laban's sons talking. They said, "Jacob has taken everything that our father owned. He has become rich�and he has taken all this wealth from our father."

Genesis 31 : 2 (ERVEN)

Then Jacob noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been in the past.

Genesis 31 : 3 (ERVEN)

The Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to your own land where your ancestors lived. I will be with you."

Genesis 31 : 4 (ERVEN)

So Jacob told Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where he kept his flocks of sheep and goats.

Genesis 31 : 5 (ERVEN)

He said to them, "I have seen that your father is angry with me. He was always friendly with me in the past, but now he is not.

Genesis 31 : 6 (ERVEN)

You both know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father.

Genesis 31 : 7 (ERVEN)

But he cheated me. He has changed my pay ten times. But during all this time, God protected me from all of Laban's tricks.

Genesis 31 : 8 (ERVEN)

"At one time Laban said, 'You can keep all the goats with spots. This will be your pay.' After he said this, all the animals gave birth to spotted goats, so they were all mine. But then Laban said, 'I will keep the spotted goats. You can have all the striped goats. That will be your pay.' After he said this, all the animals gave birth to striped goats.

Genesis 31 : 9 (ERVEN)

So God has taken the animals away from your father and has given them to me.

Genesis 31 : 10 (ERVEN)

"I had a dream during the time when the animals were mating. I saw that the only male goats that were mating were the ones with stripes and spots.

Genesis 31 : 11 (ERVEN)

The angel of God spoke to me in that dream. The angel said, 'Jacob!' "I answered, 'Yes!'

Genesis 31 : 12 (ERVEN)

"The angel said, 'Look, only the striped and spotted goats are mating. I am causing this to happen. I have seen all the wrong things Laban has been doing to you. I am doing this so that you can have all the new baby goats.

Genesis 31 : 13 (ERVEN)

I am the God who came to you at Bethel, and there you made an altar, poured olive oil on it, and made a promise to me. Now I want you to be ready to go back to the country where you were born.'"

Genesis 31 : 14 (ERVEN)

Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, "Our father has nothing to give us when he dies.

Genesis 31 : 15 (ERVEN)

He treated us like strangers. He sold us to you, and then he spent all the money that should have been ours.

Genesis 31 : 16 (ERVEN)

God took all this wealth from our father, and now it belongs to us and our children. So you should do whatever God told you to do."

Genesis 31 : 17 (ERVEN)

So Jacob prepared for the trip. He put his children and his wives on camels.

Genesis 31 : 18 (ERVEN)

Then they began traveling back to the land of Canaan, where his father lived. All the flocks of animals that Jacob owned walked ahead of them. He carried everything with him that he had gotten while he lived in Paddan Aram.

Genesis 31 : 19 (ERVEN)

While Laban was gone to cut the wool from his sheep, Rachel went into his house and stole the false gods that belonged to her father.

Genesis 31 : 20 (ERVEN)

Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean. He did not tell Laban he was leaving.

Genesis 31 : 21 (ERVEN)

Jacob took his family and everything he owned and left quickly. They crossed the Euphrates River and traveled toward the hill country of Gilead.

Genesis 31 : 22 (ERVEN)

Three days later Laban learned that Jacob had run away.

Genesis 31 : 23 (ERVEN)

So he gathered his men together and began to chase Jacob. After seven days Laban found Jacob near the hill country of Gilead.

Genesis 31 : 24 (ERVEN)

That night God came to Laban in a dream and said, "Be careful! Be careful of every word you say to Jacob."

Genesis 31 : 25 (ERVEN)

The next morning Laban caught Jacob. Jacob had set up his camp on the mountain, so Laban and all his men set up their camp in the hill country of Gilead.

Genesis 31 : 26 (ERVEN)

Laban said to Jacob, "Why did you trick me? Why did you take my daughters like they were women you captured during war?

Genesis 31 : 27 (ERVEN)

Why did you run away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have given you a party. There would have been singing and dancing with music.

Genesis 31 : 28 (ERVEN)

You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You were very foolish to do this!

Genesis 31 : 29 (ERVEN)

I have the power to really hurt you. But last night the God of your father came to me in a dream. He warned me not to hurt you in any way.

Genesis 31 : 30 (ERVEN)

I know that you want to go back to your home. That is why you left. But why did you steal the gods from my house?"

Genesis 31 : 31 (ERVEN)

Jacob answered, "I left without telling you, because I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me.

Genesis 31 : 32 (ERVEN)

But I did not steal your gods. If you find anyone here with me who has taken your gods, they will be killed. Your men will be my witnesses. You can look for anything that belongs to you. Take anything that is yours." (Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban's gods.)

Genesis 31 : 33 (ERVEN)

So Laban went and looked through Jacob's camp. He looked in Jacob's tent and then in Leah's tent. Then he looked in the tent where the two slave women stayed, but he did not find the gods from his house. Then he went into Rachel's tent.

Genesis 31 : 34 (ERVEN)

Rachel had hidden the gods inside her camel's saddle, and she was sitting on them. Laban looked through the whole tent, but he did not find the gods.

Genesis 31 : 35 (ERVEN)

And Rachel said to her father, "Father, don't be angry with me. I am not able to stand up before you. I am having my monthly time of bleeding." So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find the gods from his house.

Genesis 31 : 36 (ERVEN)

Then Jacob became very angry and said, "What wrong have I done? What law have I broken? What right do you have to chase me and stop me?

Genesis 31 : 37 (ERVEN)

You looked through everything I own and found nothing that belongs to you. If you found something, show it to me. Put it here where our men can see it. Let our men decide which one of us is right.

Genesis 31 : 38 (ERVEN)

I have worked 20 years for you. During all that time none of the baby sheep and goats died during birth. And I have not eaten any of the rams from your flocks.

Genesis 31 : 39 (ERVEN)

Any time a sheep was killed by wild animals, I always paid for the loss myself. I did not take the dead animal to you and say that it was not my fault. But I was robbed day and night.

Genesis 31 : 40 (ERVEN)

In the daytime the sun took away my strength, and at night sleep was taken from my eyes by the cold.

Genesis 31 : 41 (ERVEN)

I worked 20 years like a slave for you. For the first 14 years I worked to win your two daughters. The last six years I worked to earn your animals. And during that time you changed my pay ten times.

Genesis 31 : 42 (ERVEN)

But the God of my ancestors, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, was with me. If God had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing. But he saw the trouble that I had and the work that I did, and last night God proved that I am right."

Genesis 31 : 43 (ERVEN)

Laban said to Jacob, "These women are my daughters. These children belong to me, and these animals are mine. Everything you see here belongs to me, but I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children.

Genesis 31 : 44 (ERVEN)

So I am ready to make an agreement with you. We will set up a pile of stones to show that we have an agreement."

Genesis 31 : 45 (ERVEN)

So Jacob found a large rock and put it there to show that he had made an agreement.

Genesis 31 : 46 (ERVEN)

He told his men to find some more rocks and to make a pile of rocks. Then they ate beside the pile of rocks.

Genesis 31 : 47 (ERVEN)

Laban named that place Yegar Sahadutha. But Jacob named that place Galeed.

Genesis 31 : 48 (ERVEN)

Laban said to Jacob, "This pile of rocks will help us both remember our agreement." That is why Jacob called the place Galeed.

Genesis 31 : 49 (ERVEN)

Then Laban said, "Let the Lord watch over us while we are separated from each other." So that place was also named Mizpah.

Genesis 31 : 50 (ERVEN)

Then Laban said, "If you hurt my daughters, remember that God will punish you. If you marry other women, remember that God is watching.

Genesis 31 : 51 (ERVEN)

Here are the rocks that I have put between us, and here is the special rock to show that we made an agreement.

Genesis 31 : 52 (ERVEN)

This pile of rocks and this one special rock both help us to remember our agreement. I will never go past these rocks to fight against you, and you must never go on my side of these rocks to fight against me.

Genesis 31 : 53 (ERVEN)

May the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their ancestors judge us guilty if we break this agreement." Jacob's father, Isaac, called God "Fear." So Jacob used that name to make the promise.

Genesis 31 : 54 (ERVEN)

Then Jacob killed an animal and offered it as a sacrifice on the mountain. And he invited his men to come and share a meal. After they finished eating, they spent the night on the mountain.

Genesis 31 : 55 (ERVEN)

Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye. He blessed them and went back home.