Genesis 31:55 | 63 goodbye. You have done a fool ish thing. 29 I have the pow er to harm you; but last night the God of your fa ther said to me,‘ Be care ful not to say any thing to Ja cob, ei ther good or bad.’ 30 Now you have gone off be cause you longed to re turn to your fa ther’ s house hold. But why did you steal my gods?”
31
Ja cob an swered La ban,“ I was afraid, be cause I thought you would take your daugh ters away from me by force. 32 But if you find any one who has your gods, that per son shall not live. In the pres ence of our rel a tives, see for your self wheth er there is any thing of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Ja cob did not know that Ra chel had sto len the gods.
33
So La ban went into Ja cob’ s tent and into Le ah’ s tent and into the tent of the two fe male ser vants, but he found noth ing. Af ter he came out of Le ah’ s tent, he en tered Ra chel’ s tent. 34 Now Ra chel had tak en the house hold gods and put them in side her cam el’ s sad dle and was sit ting on them. Laban searched through ev ery thing in the tent but found noth ing.
35
Ra chel said to her fa ther,“ Don’ t be an gry, my lord, that I can not stand up in your pres ence; I’ m hav ing my pe ri od.” So he searched but could not find the house hold gods.
36
Ja cob was an gry and took La ban to task.“ What is my crime?” he asked La ban.“ How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that be longs to your house hold? Put it here in front of your rel a tives and mine, and let them judge be tween the two of us.
38
“ I have been with you for twen ty years now. Your sheep and goats have not mis car ried, nor have I eat en rams from your flocks. 39 I did not bring you an i mals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss my self. And you de mand ed pay ment from me for what ev er was sto len by day or night.
40
This was my sit u a tion: The heat con sumed me in the day time and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twen ty years I was in your house hold. I worked for you four teen years for your two daugh ters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wag es ten times. 42 If the God of my fa ther, the God of Abra ham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would sure ly have sent me away emp ty-hand ed. But God has seen my hard ship and the toil of my hands, and last night he re buked you.”
43
La ban an swered Ja cob,“ The wom en are my daugh ters, the chil dren are my chil dren, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do to day about these daugh ters of mine, or about the chil dren they have borne? 44 Come now, let’ s make a cov enant, you and I, and let it serve as a wit ness be tween us.”
45
So Ja cob took a stone and set it up as a pil lar.
46
He said to his rel a tives,“ Gath er some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 La ban called it Je gar Sa ha du tha, and Ja cob called it Gal e ed. a
48
La ban said,“ This heap is a wit ness be tween you and me to day.” That is why it was called Gale ed. 49 It was also called Miz pah, b be cause he said,“ May the Lord keep watch be tween you and me when we are away from each oth er. 50 If you mistreat my daugh ters or if you take any wives besides my daugh ters, even though no one is with us, re mem ber that God is a wit ness be tween you and me.”
51
La ban also said to Ja cob,“ Here is this heap, and here is this pil lar I have set up be tween you and me. 52 This heap is a wit ness, and this pil lar is a wit ness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pil lar to my side to harm me.
53
May the God of Abra ham and the God of Nahor, the God of their fa ther, judge be tween us.”
So Ja cob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his fa ther Isaac. 54 He of fered a sac ri fice there in the hill coun try and in vit ed his rel a tives to a meal. Af ter they had eat en, they spent the night there. 55
Ear ly the next morn ing La ban kissed his grand chil dren and his daugh ters and blessed them. Then he left and re turned home. c
a
47 The Aramaic Jegar Sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean witness heap. b
49 Mizpah means watchtower. c
55 In Hebrew texts this verse( 31:55) is numbered 32:1.
31:35 I’ m having my period Rachel claims she cannot get up to show her father proper respect because she is menstruating. 31:42 the Fear of Isaac This is a divine title. It occurs only here and in v. 53. It refers to the one whom Isaac, Jacob’ s father, revered— Yahweh, the God of Abraham. 31:44 let it serve as a witness Standing pillars and stone memorials often denoted a divine being or supernatural appearance( v. 45,52). In this context, Jacob and Laban commemorate God as witness to their pact of nonaggression( vv. 51 – 53). See note on 28:18; compare 35:14. See the table“ Covenants in the Old Testament” on p. 469. 31:47 Jegar Sahadutha This is an Aramaic term that means“ the heap of witness” or“ stones of witness,” hence Laban’ s remark in v. 48. Galeed Like Laban’ s naming of the place, Jacob uses a Hebrew term that means“ the heap of witness.” 31:49 Mizpah The Hebrew term used here, mispah is related to the Hebrew verb taspah( meaning“ to watch”), which Jacob uses here in his description of what he requests Yahweh do. 31:53 the God of Nahor There is no evidence in the stories of Abraham that his brother, Nahor, knew of or followed Yahweh. In addition, the verb often translated as“ judge” in this verse is plural in Hebrew, which could indicate that two separate deities are being called on to bear witness by Laban— Yahweh and Nahor’ s god.