Jacob Flees from Laban
Jacob hears his growing resentment in Laban’s house and sees the change in Laban himself. Then the LORD tells him to return to his fathers’ land with the promise of His presence.
N1ow Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” 2And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed. 3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
Jacob calls Rachel and Leah into the field and explains how Laban has treated him, yet God has preserved and prospered him. He recounts the dream in which God sees Laban’s wrong and calls him back from the land of his service.
4So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, 5and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I have served your father with all my strength. 7And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. 9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. 11In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ 12‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”
Rachel and Leah answer that their father has left them no share in his house and has treated them like strangers. They see Jacob’s wealth as God’s judgment on Laban and tell Jacob to do what God has said.
14And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? 15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. 16Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
Jacob sets his family on camels, gathers his livestock and goods, and starts for Canaan. While Laban is away, Rachel steals the household idols, and Jacob slips off across the Euphrates toward Gilead without telling him.
17Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, 18and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan. 19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. 20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. 21So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.