The Tanakh · JPS 1917 Translation

Genesis 31

Jewish Publication Society 1917 · Torah

Genesis chapter 31 — part of the Torah in the Jewish Bible. In the classic JPS 1917 translation it opens: “And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying: 'Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath…” — the complete text of all 54 verses is below, free to read online.

1And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying: 'Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this wealth.'

2And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime.

3And HaShem said unto Jacob: 'Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.'

4And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,

5and said unto them: 'I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the G-d of my father hath been with me.

6And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

7And your father hath mocked me, and changed my wages ten times; but G-d suffered him not to hurt me.

8If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus: The streaked shall be thy wages; then bore all the flock streaked.

9Thus G-d hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

10And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.

11And the angel of G-d said unto me in the dream: Jacob; and I said: Here am I.

12And he said: Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled; for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

13I am the G-d of Beth-el, where thou didst anoint a pillar, where thou didst vow a vow unto Me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity.'

14And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him: 'Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

15Are we not accounted by him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our price.

16For all the riches which G-d hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatsoever G-d hath said unto thee, do.'

17Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;

18and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan.

19Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.

20And Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, in that he told him not that he fled.

21So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

22And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.

23And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.

24And G-d came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said unto him: 'Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.'

25And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain; and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountain of Gilead.

26And Laban said to Jacob: 'What hast thou done, that thou hast outwitted me, and carried away my daughters as though captives of the sword?

27Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and outwit me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp;

28and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? now hast thou done foolishly.

29It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the G-d of your father spoke unto me yesternight, saying: Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

30And now that thou art surely gone, because thou sore longest after thy father's house, wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?'

31And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'Because I was afraid; for I said: Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force.

32With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live; before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee.' --For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.--

33And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.

34Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the saddle of the camel, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not.

35And she said to her father: 'Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me.' And he searched, but found not the teraphim.

36And Jacob was wroth, and strove with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me?

37Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two.

38These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten.

39That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bore the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40Thus I was: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes.

41These twenty years have I been in thy house: I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

42Except the G-d of my father, the G-d of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been on my side, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. G-d hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and gave judgment yesternight.'

43And Laban answered and said unto Jacob: 'The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine; and what can I do this day for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne?

44And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.'

45And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

46And Jacob said unto his brethren: 'Gather stones'; and they took stones, and made a heap. And they did eat there by the heap.

47And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha; but Jacob called it Galeed.

48And Laban said: 'This heap is witness between me and thee this day.' Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;

49and Mizpah, for he said: 'The HaShem watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.

50If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives beside my daughters, no man being with us; see, G-d is witness betwixt me and thee.'

51And Laban said to Jacob: 'Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set up betwixt me and thee.

52This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm.

53The G-d of Abraham, and the G-d of Nahor, the G-d of their father, judge betwixt us.' And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

54And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain.

54 verses · JPS 1917 (public domain)

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