1 And Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons {benei: male descendants} saying, “Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this wealth {kavod: material honor}.”
2 And Jacob saw Laban’s face {panim: the look of his countenance}, and behold, it was not with him as before, like yesterday and the day before {temol shilshom: in earlier days}.
3 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Protector} said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your birthplace {moladet: family homeland}, and I will be with you.”
4 Then Jacob sent {vayishlach: dispatched messenger} and called for Rachel and for Leah to the field {sadeh: cultivated open land} to his flock.
5 And he said to them, “I see {roeh: ongoing perception} your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before, but the God of my father {Elohei avi, Ancestral Protector} has been with me.”
6 And you yourselves {veattenah: emphatic feminine plural} know that I have served your father with all my strength {kochi: inner might}.
7 But your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times; yet God {Elohim, Righteous Guardian} has not allowed him to harm me {immadi: near me}.
8 If he said, “The speckled will be your wages {nekudim: marked with spots},” then all the flock gave birth to speckled; but if he said, “The striped will be your wages {akudim: banded markings},” then all the flock bore striped.
9 So God {Elohim, Supreme Deliverer} delivered the livestock {mikneh: movable herds} of your father and gave them to me.
10 And it came to pass at the time when the flock was in heat {yachem: animals ready to mate} that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats {atudim: dominant breeders} which were mounting the flock were ringed, speckled, and spotted.
11 And the angel of God {Elohim, Sovereign Sender} said to me in the dream, “Jacob.” And I said, “Here I am {hineni: attentive presence}.”
12 And He {Elohim, Righteous Witness} said, “Lift now your eyes and see—all the male goats mounting the flock are striped, speckled, and spotted—for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you {Lavan: your employer}.”
13 I {El, Covenant Reminder} am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar {matsevah: memorial stone}, and where you vowed a vow to Me; now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still for us a portion {chelek: assigned share} and an inheritance in our father’s house {beveit: family dwelling}?”
15 Is it not that we have been regarded as foreigners by him {nakhriyot: excluded women}? For he has sold us, and he has also completely consumed {akhol: used up entirely} our money.
16 For all the wealth that God {Elohim, Just Restorer} has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children {vaneinu: covenant heirs}. And now, everything that God has said to you, do.
17 Then Jacob {yaakov: journey initiator} arose and set his sons and his wives {nashav: married women} upon the camels.
18 And he drove all his livestock and all his possessions {rekhush: material goods} which he had acquired, the livestock and the property he had obtained in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan {Kena'an: promised territory}.
19 And Laban went to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the teraphim {haterafim: household idols} that belonged to her father {aviha: family patriarch}.
20 And Jacob {Yaakov: supplanter} stole the heart {lev: innermost feelings} of Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.
21 And he fled, he and all that belonged to him, and he arose and crossed the Euphrates {hannahar: the Euphrates}, and he set his face toward the hill country of Gilead {har ha-gilad: eastern highland region}.
22 And it was reported to Laban on the third day {hashlishi: the third sequential day} that Jacob had fled {barach: escaped suddenly}.
23 So he took his kinsmen {echav: clan relatives} with him and pursued after him a journey of seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead {gilad: eastern highlands}.
24 And God {Elohim, Protective Guardian} came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and He said to him, “Guard yourself {hishamer: take utmost care}, lest you speak with Jacob from good to evil.”
25 Then Laban {Lavan: persistent pursuer} overtook Jacob, and Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain; and Laban camped with his relatives on Mount Gilead {haGilad: frontier hill country}.
26 And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have stolen my heart {levav: deepest affections}, and you have led away my daughters like captives of the sword {cherev: violent threat}.”
27 Why did you hide yourself to flee {livroach: hurried departure}, and steal me, and not tell me, so that I would have sent you away with joy {simchah: festival gladness} and with songs, with tambourine, and with harp?
28 And you did not allow me {netashtani: you did not permit me} to kiss my sons and my daughters; now you have acted foolishly {hiskalta: morally reckless} in doing this.
29 It is within my power {yad: sphere of control} to do you harm, but the God of your father {Elohei avikhem, Ancestral Guardian} spoke to me last night, saying, “Be careful for yourself not to speak to Jacob, whether good or evil.”
30 And now, having gone, you have indeed gone because you have yearned {nikhsoph: deeply yearned} for your father's house. But why did you steal my gods {elohai: household idols}?
31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid {yareti: felt deep fear}, for I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force {tigzol: seize unlawfully}.’”
32 With whomever you find your gods {eloheikha: household idols}, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives {achenu: clan associates}, discern for yourself what is with me, and take it for yourself. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 And Laban {Lavan: persistent seeker} entered the tent of Jacob, and the tent of Leah, and the tent of the two female servants {amahot: subordinate household staff}, but he did not find anything. And he came out from Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34 Now Rachel took the teraphim {teraphim: household idol figures} and placed them in the camel's saddle-cushion and sat on them. Laban searched {yamashesh: tactile searching} through all the tent, but did not find them.
35 And she said to her father, “Let it not be displeasing {yichar: stir up anger} in the eyes of my lord, that I am unable to rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched, but he did not find the teraphim {hatrafim: household idols}.
36 And Jacob {Yaakov: covenant heir} became angry, and he quarreled with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression {pesha: willful offense}? What is my sin, that you have pursued me?”
37 For you have searched through all my goods {kelai: personal property}; what have you found from all the goods of your house? Place it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide {veyokhichu: make judgment} between us two.
38 These twenty years I have been with you; your female sheep and your goats have not miscarried {shiklu: lost their young}, and the rams {eilei: male breeding animals} of your flock I have not eaten.
39 I did not bring to you an animal torn by beasts; I myself bore the loss {achattennah: personal liability}. From my hand you sought it {miyadi: held me accountable}, whether it was stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 I was—by day the heat {chorev: scorching exposure} consumed me, and the cold at night, and my sleep {shenati: renewing rest} fled from my eyes.
41 This {zeh-li: personally experienced span} has been twenty years for me in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages {maskurti: repeatedly altered pay} ten times.
42 If not for the God of my father {Elohei avi, Ancestral Protector}, the God of Abraham {Elohei Avraham, Patriarchal Guardian} and the Fear of Isaac {pachad Yitschak, Isaac's Sole Reverence}, who was with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God {Elohim, Righteous Judge} has seen my affliction {onyi: deep suffering} and the toil of my hands {yegia: strenuous labor}; last night He rebuked you.
43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the sons are my sons, the flock {tson: small livestock} is my flock, and all that you see is mine. But for my daughters, what can I do for these today, or for their children {banim: literal sons} whom they have borne?”
44 And now, come, let us make a covenant {berit: binding agreement}—I and you—and let it be as a witness {ed: testimony confirmed} between me and you.
45 So Jacob {yaaqov: supplanter name} took a stone and set it up as a pillar {matsevah: memorial pillar}.
46 And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones {avanim: natural markers},” and they took stones and made a heap {gal: commemorative mound}, and they ate there on the heap.
47 And Laban {Lavan: Aramean relative} called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed {galed: covenant marker}.
48 And Laban said, "This heap is a witness {ed: legal testimony} between me and you today." Therefore he called its name Galeed {galed: heap of witness}.
49 And Mizpah {mitspah: watchtower marker}, for he said, “May the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Overseer} watch between me and you when a man is hidden from his friend.”
50 If you should afflict my daughters {benotai: female offspring} or if you should take wives in addition to my daughters, though there is no man with us, see—God {Elohim, Righteous Witness} is witness between me and you.