1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s; all his glory has been obtained at our father’s expense.”
2 And Jacob saw the change in Laban, in his countenance, that he was not toward him as before.
3 And the LORD said to “Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to your kindred; and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob called Rachel and Leah into the field, to his flock,
5 and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that he is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.
6 And you know that with all my power I have served your father.
7 And your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to hurt me.
8 If he said, ‘The speckled shall be your wages;’ then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said, ‘The ringstreaked shall be thy wages;’ then all the flock would bare ringstreaked.
9 Thus God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.”
10 And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceived, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled.
11 And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’
12 And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and look: all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.
13 I am the God of Beth-el, where you anointed a pillar, where you swore a vow to me; now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your nativity.’”
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered him and said, “Is there any portion of inheritance left for us in our father’s house?
15 Are we as foreigners to him? for he has sold us, and has spent all the money.
16 Now all the riches which God has taken away from our father are ours and our children’s; therefore, whatever God has asked of you, you may do it.”
17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;
18 and he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever that he had gotten in Mesopotamia, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
19 Now when Laban had gone out to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s teraphim idols from his house.
20 And when Jacob suddenly left, Laban the Syrian was unaware, for he had not told him he was leaving.
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the River[d], and set his course toward the mountain of Gilead.
22 And it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.
23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and he overtook him at mount Gilead.
24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, “Be very careful that you do not speak to Jacob, to bribe him or to threaten him.”
25 Now when Laban had overtaken Jacob, where Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, Laban and his brethren pitched their tents nearby.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you stole away unaware to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?”
27 Why did you secretly flee away, to steal[e] away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp;
28 and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters goodbye? that was foolish of you.
29 It is in my power now to hurt you; but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, ‘Take heed that you speak not to Jacob, neither good nor bad.’
30 So now I know you desire to return home, because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, “I fled because I was afraid; for I thought ‘Maybe he will take back his daughters from me by force.’
32 But with whomsoever you find your gods, he shall not live; before our brethren[a] look and see now what is yours and take it back.” For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
33 And 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.
34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not.
35 And 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.
36 And Jacob became angry and answered and said to Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have chased me down like this?”
37 Now that you have searched through my things, what have you found from your household? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us.
38 These twenty years have I been with you; your sheep and goats have not cast their young, and the rams of your flocks I have not eaten.
39 That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you, I bore the loss of it myself; as of my hand did you require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40 That is how it was; in the day the drought consumed me, and in the night the frost consumed me, and sleep fled from before my eyes.
41 These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock: and you have changed my wages ten times.
42 Except that the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty. God saw my suffering and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
43 And 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 you see is mine; but what can I do now for my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne?”
44 Therefore come, let us make a covenant, me and you; and let it be for a witness between me and you.”
45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
46 And Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones;” and they took stones, and made a heap: and they ate there by the heap.
47 And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha ([f] in Aramaic): but Jacob called it Galeed ([g] in Hebrew).
48 And Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and your this day.” Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;
49 and Mizpah[h], for he said, “The LORD watch between me and you, when we are apart from one another.
50 If you shall cause my daughters suffering, and if you shall take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and you.”
51 And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set between me and you.
52 This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they ate bread, and camped all night in the mountain.
55 And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; then Laban departed, and returned to his place.
[1] One must wonder aloud at the choice to split Genesis 30 and 31 at this point, because even the original text begins with ‘and’.
[18] Padan-Aram (GNV,KJV); Mesopotamia (DRA)
[20] Hebrew stole the heart of Laban the Aramean.
[21] the Euphrates river.
[27] Hebrew ‘didst steal me’, perhaps a double meaning leading into ‘why did you steal my idols?’.
[32] in the sight of everyone present for witnesses
[47] That is, The heap of witness, in Aramaic.
[47] That is, The heap of witness, in Hebrew.
[49] That is, The watch tower.
[49] Hebrew 'hidden'.
Although Rashi writes that it was her intention to wean her father from idolatry, Chizkuni writes “in order that Lavan would not be able to divine the route they had taken by consulting them as oracles. We have read about their uses in Hoseah 3,4 as well as in Zachariah 10,2.” Further to this, Ramban notes that Laban was a diviner; “Now Laban was a diviner and an enchanter, just as he said, 'I have divined.' [30:27] His country, too, was ever a land of diviners, as it is written, 'For they are replenished from the east, and with soothsayers like the Philistines' [Isaiah 2:6. Laban’s city Haran was in the land of the children of the east (29:1)] and Balaam the son of Beor the diviner was from his city. [Num 23:7]”
Selected commentary
h.עשה HE HATH MADE (here 'OBTAINED') — i.e. gathered, as (1 Samuel 14:48) “And he gathered (ויעש) troops and smote the Amalekites”.
h.שוב אל ארץ אבותיך RETURN UNTO THE LAND OF YOUR FATHERS — and there I will be with thee; but as long as you are associated with the unclean Laban it is impossible to make my Divine Presence (Shechina) rest upon you (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei [10]).
h.ויקרא לרחל וללאה AND HE CALLED RACHEL AND LEAH — First Rachel and afterwards Leah for she was the chief wife of the house for whose sake Jacob had entered into relations with Laban. Even the descendants of Leah admitted this (that Rachel was the principal wife), for Boaz and his Law-Court who were of the Tribe of Judah (Leah’s son) said (Ruth 4:11) “like Rachel and like Leah which two did build etc.”, mentioning Rachel before Leah (Genesis Rabbah 71:2).
h.עשרת מנים TEN TIMES — The word מנים never means less than ten (Ruth 4:11).
h.מנים signifies sum — the total of enumeration — these are tens: we may infer, therefore, that he changed the conditions of his hire one hundred times (Genesis Rabbah 74:3).
h.והנה העתדים BEHOLD THE RAMS — Although Laban had separated all these so that the sheep should not give birth to young marked similar to them, angels brought them from the flock which had been placed in charge of Laban’s sons to the flock in Jacob’s charge (Genesis Rabbah 73:10).
h.וברדים GRISLED — Explain it as the Targum renders it: פציחין open; old French faissie, checquered. There was a white stripe going right round the body, the spots of which it was composed being open and running from one end to the other. But I can bring no evidence from Scripture that this is the meaning.
h.האל בית אל is the same as אל בית אל the ה of האל being redundant. It is customary for Scripture to speak thus, e. g. (Numbers 34:2) “When ye come into the land of Canaan הארץ כנען (instead of ארץ כנען).
h.משחת שם WHERE THOU ANOINTEDST [A PILLAR] — This denotes distinction and eminence just as when one is anointed king one is raised to eminence: thus, too (Genesis 28:18) “and he poured oil upon the top of it (the stone)” that it might be anointed to be an altar (thus being distinguished among other stones).
h.אשר נדרת לי WHERE THOU VOWEDST A VOW UNTO ME —and you are bound to fulfill it, for you said (Genesis 28:22) “it shall be God’s house”, signifying that you would offer sacrifice there.
h.העוד לנו IS THERE YET ANY FOR US? — Why should we prevent you from returning? Can we at all hope to inherit anything belonging to our father together with his sons?
h.הלא נכריות נחשבנו לו ARE WE NOT THOUGHT ALIENS BY HIM? — Even at a time when it is customary for people to give a dowry to their daughters — at the time of their marriage — he treated us as strangers for he sold us to you in return for your labour during fourteen years
h.את כספנו [HAS EATEN] OUR MONEY — for he kept for himself the money for the wages of your labour during the next six years.
h.כי כל העשר FOR ALL THE RICHES — The word כי here means but; as much as to say: of our father’s property we have nothing at all; but what The Holy One, blessed be He, has taken away from our father, that is ours.
h.הציל means separated (or taken away). Similarly all forms from the Hiphil of this root occuring in Scripture (usually translated by “to deliver”, “to rescue“) mean taking away, for one who rescues a person takes him away from the misfortune or from the enemy.
h.את בניו ואת נשיו HIS SONS AND HIS WIVES — He took the males before the females whereas Esau took the females before the males, as it is said (Genesis 36:6) “And Esau took his wives and his sons etc.” (Genesis Rabbah 74:5)
h.מקנה קנינו means — what he had purchased by means of קנינו his own property i.e. his sheep, viz., menservants, maidservants, camels and asses (Genesis Rabbah 74:5; cf. Rashi on Genesis 30:43).
h.לגזז את צאנו TO SHEAR HIS FLOCK which he had given into the charge of his sons at a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob.
h.ותגגב רחל את התרפים AND RACHEL STOLE THE TERAPHIM — her intention was to wean her father from idol-worship (Genesis Rabbah 74:5).
h.ביום השלישי ON THE THIRD DAY — for there was a journey of three days between them.
h.את אחיו HIS BRETHREN — i.e. his kinsmen.
h.דרך שבעת ימים SEVEN DAY’S JOURNEY — During all the three days during which the messenger had gone to tell Laban Jacob had proceeded on his journey. Consequently Jacob was then six days distance from Laban. On the seventh day i.e. on the day when Jacob covered that stretch of ground which made him seven days distant from Laban’s starting point Laban overtook him. We may infer, therefore, that all the distance that Jacob would have taken seven days to cover Laban covered in one day. And thus it states: “and he pursued after him seven day’s journey” and it does not say “and he pursued after him for seven days” (Genesis Rabbah 74:6).
h.מטוב עד רע EITHER GOOD OR EVIL — why should he not speak good? Because all the good that the wicked do to the righteous is evil in the opinion of the righteous (Yevamot 103b).
h.כשביות חרב AS CAPTIVES TAKEN BY THE SWORD — an army going to war is termed “sword”.
h.ותגנב אתי — means thou didst steal away my mind (as in Genesis 5:26).
h.יש לאל ידי means MY HAND HAS THE STRENGTH AND THE POWER — to do you hurt (אל therefore means strength and יש לאל ידי is equivalent to יש אל לידי). Wherever אל is used as a Divine Name it is because it signifies strength and abundance of power.
h.נכספתה means THOU DIDST LONG—It occurs many times in Scripture: (Psalms 89:3) “My soul yearneth (נכספה) yea, pineth”; (Job 14:15) “Thou wouldst have a desire (תכסוף) to the work of hands”.
h.כי יראתי BECAUSE I FEARED — He answered his first question first, for he had asked him (Genesis 31:26) “[what hast thou done…] that thou hast carried away my daughters etc.” (this being the first of all Laban’s questions).
h.לא יחיה LET HIM NOT LIVE — In consequence of this curse Rachel died on the journey (Genesis Rabbah 74:9).
h.מה עמדי WHAT IS WITH ME that belongs to you.
h.באהל יעקב INTO JACOB’S TENT — This was Rachel’s tent also, for Jacob was constantly with her. For the same reason Scripture says (46:19) “the sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife”, whilst in the case of the other wives it does not state “Jacob’s wife” (Genesis Rabbah 74:9).
h.ויבא באהל רחל AND HE CAME INTO RACHEL’S TENT — When he left Leah’s tent he returned again to Rachel’s tent before he searched the tent of the two maid-servants. Why did he feel compelled to do all this? Because he knew full well that she was meddlesome (Genesis Rabbah 74:9).
h.בכר הגמל IN THE CAMEL’S SADDLE-PILLOW — כר has the same meaning as in the Talmudic phrase “pillows (כרים) and bolsters”. Explain it as the Targum renders it: “in the עביטא of the camel”. This is a packsaddle made like a pillow. In Erubin (Eruvin 16a) we find, “they enclosed it with עביטין” by which is meant the saddles of camels. old French bast, bat; English packsaddle.
h.דלקת means THOU HAST PURSUED — as in (Lamentations 4:19) “They chased us (דלקנו) upon the mountains”, and (1 Samuel [17]:53) ‘‘from chasing (מדלק) after the Philistines”.
h.ויוכיחו — means that they may decide who is right. old French eprouver; English prove.
h.לא שכלו means HAVE NOT MISCARRIED — Similar are: (Hosea 9:14) ‘‘a miscarrying (משכיל) womb”; (Job 21:10) “his cow calveth and casteth (תשכל) not her calf”.
h.ואילי צאנך AND THE RAMS OF THY FLOCK — From this phrase they (the Rabbis) inferred (Bava Kamma 65b) that a male sheep even when one day old is called a ram; for if this be not so, how was this creditable to him? Did he mean that he had not eaten rams (i. e. the larger animals), but that he had eaten the smaller sheep? If so, he was a thief! (39).
h.טרפה THAT WHICH WAS TORN by a lion or a wolf.
h.אנכי אחטנה I BARE THE LOSS OF IT — It has the same meaning as the verb in (Judges 20:16) “sling stones at a hair-breadth and not miss (יחטא)”, and (1 Kings 1:21) “that I and my son Solomon shall suffer the loss of it (חטאים)” i.e. shall be lacking in authority. The sense therefore is: “I” was short of it; if it was missing, it was missing to me because you required it of my hand.
h.אנכי אחטנה In the Targum it is translated by דהות שגיא ממנינא which means that which was missing and deficient from the number of the animals. The words (Numbers 31:49) “There is missing (נפקד) not one man of us”, is rendered in the Targum by ולא שגיא
h.גנבתי יום וגנבתי לילה WHETHER STOLEN BY DAY OR STOLEN BY NIGHT — everything I paid back.
h.גנבתי As regards the suffix י it is similar to the י in (Lamentations 1:1) “great (רבתי) among the nations, princess (שרתי) among the provinces”; (Isaiah 1:21) “that was full of (מלאתי) justice”; (Hosea 10:11) “that loveth (אהבתי) to thresh”.
h.אכלני חרב THE DROUGHT CONSUMED ME — the same metaphor as (Deuteronomy 4:24) אש אכלה “a consuming fire”.
h.וקרח THE FROST — as (Psalms 147:17) “He casteth forth his ice (קרחו)”. In the Targum it is rendered by גלידא “hoar-frost”.
h.שנתי means MY SLEEP.
h.ותחלף את משכרתי AND THOU HAST CHANGED MY HIRE — You have altered the agreement regarding my hire between us from speckled to spotted and from streaked to grisled.
h.ופחד יצחק AND THE DREAD OF ISAAC — He did not like to say “God of Isaac” because God does not associate His name with the righteous whilst they are alive. And although He (God) said, when he (Jacob) was departing from Beer-Sheba, (Genesis 28:13) “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac”, this was because his (Isaac’s) eyes were dim and he might therefore be regarded as dead (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 7) — Jacob, however, feared to say “God of Isaac” and said “the Dread”.
h.ויוכח The word here has the meaning of reproof (“and he reproved thee”; cf. Genesis 5:24) and not of deciding (as in Genesis 5:37).
h.מה אעשה לאלה WHAT CAN I DO UNTO THEM — How could it enter my mind injure them, my daughters!
h.והיה לעד means and LET GOD BE FOR A WITNESS.
h.לאחיו UNTO HIS BRETHREN — really his sons, who were like brothers to him since they were standing by him in trouble and in battle (Genesis Rabbah 74:13).
h.יגר שהדותא This is the Aramaic of גלעד.
h.גלעד — is really two words — גל עד heap of testimony.
h.והמצפה אשר אמר AND MIZPAH (literally, the Mizpah); BECAUSE HE SAID etc . — The word והמצפה and the Mizpah must refer to some well-known place bearing this name (for there are several places named Mizpah) it refers to the Mizpah which is in Mount Gilead — as it is written (Judges 11:29) “and he passed over Mizpah of Gilead”. Why was it also called Mizpah? Because each of them said to the other, “The Lord watch (יצף) between me and thee that thou shouldst not violate this covenant”.
h.כי נסתר WHEN WE ARE ABSENT, and shall not see (be able to watch) one another.
h.בנתי….בנתי The word is written twice, referring once to Leah and Rachel and the second time to the handmaids, because Bilhah and Zilpah were also his daughters from a concubine (Genesis Rabbah 74:13).
h.אם תענה את בנתי IF THOU SHALT AFFLICT MY DAUGHTERS by refusing them thy companionship (Yoma 77b).
h.יריתי I HAVE SET UP (by casting stones down); the word has the same meaning as (Exodus 15:4) “He cast (ירה) into the sea”. Laban speaks like a person who casts (יורה) one arrow (Midrash Rabbah has “one spear”) and boasts of his prowess.
h.אם אני THAT I WILL NOT — Here the word אם is used in the sense of אשר “that”, as (Genesis 24:33) “until that (אם) I have spoken my words”.
h.לרעה FOR EVIL — For evil you may not pass, but for trading purposes (as e. g., with a caravan) you may pass (Genesis Rabbah 74:16).
h.אלהי אברהם GOD OF ABRAHAM — Here the word אלהים is holy (i.e. it is the Divine Name). (Genesis Rabbah 74:17)
h.אלהי נחור THE GOD OF NAHOR — Here the name is non-holy (i.e. it is a designation for an idol) (Genesis Rabbah 74:17).
h.אלהי אביהם THE GOD OF THEIR FATHER — Here the name is non-holy (Genesis Rabbah 74:17).
h.ויזבח יעקב זבח AND JACOB OFFERED A SACRIFICE — he slaughtered cattle for the feast
h.לאחיו HIS BRETHREN — those of his friends who were with Laban (cf Targum Jonathan)
h.לאכל לחם TO EAT BREAD — Any article of food is termed לחם bread, as (Daniel 5:1) “made a great feast (לחם רב)”, and (Jeremiah 11:19) “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof (בלחמו)”.