# Genesis 31 📖 [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[Genesis Overview]]. [[Genesis 30]]. [[Genesis 32]]. > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts]] [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Jacob’s Flight from Laban [[#Verse 01.]] Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich at our father’s expense!”  [[#Verse 02.]] When Jacob saw the look on Laban’s face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed. [[#Verse 03.]] The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. I will be with you.”  [[#Verse 04.]] So Jacob sent a message for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where his flocks were.  [[#Verse 05.]] There he said to them, “I can tell that your father’s attitude toward me has changed, but the God of my father has been with me.  [[#Verse 06.]] You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could,  [[#Verse 07.]] but your father has humiliated me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not permitted him to do me any harm.  [[#Verse 08.]] If he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wage,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled offspring. But if he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wage,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked offspring. [[#Verse 09.]] In this way God has snatched away your father’s livestock and given them to me. [[#Verse 10.]] “Once during breeding season I saw in a dream that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.  [[#Verse 11.]] In the dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here I am!’ I replied. [[#Verse 12.]] Then he said, ‘Observe that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you. [[#Verse 13.]] I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the sacred stone and made a vow to me. Now leave this land immediately and return to your native land.’” [[#Verse 14.]] Then Rachel and Leah replied to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? [[#Verse 15.]] Hasn’t he treated us like foreigners? He not only sold us, but completely wasted the money paid for us! [[#Verse 16.]] Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you.” [[#Verse 17.]] So Jacob immediately put his children and his wives on the camels.  [[#Verse 18.]] He took away all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac. [[#Verse 19.]] While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father.  [[#Verse 20.]] Jacob also deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving.  [[#Verse 21.]] He left with all he owned. He quickly crossed the Euphrates River and headed for the hill country of Gilead. [[#Verse 22.]] Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left.  [[#Verse 23.]] So he took his relatives with him and pursued Jacob for seven days. He caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.  [[#Verse 24.]] But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, “Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.” [[#Verse 25.]] Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too.  [[#Verse 26.]] “What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war!  [[#Verse 27.]] Why did you run away secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? [[#Verse 28.]] You didn’t even allow me to kiss my daughters and my grandchildren goodbye. You have acted foolishly!  [[#Verse 29.]] I have the power to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, ‘Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.’  [[#Verse 30.]] Now I understand that you have gone away because you longed desperately for your father’s house. Yet why did you steal my gods?” [[#Verse 31.]] “I left secretly because I was afraid!” Jacob replied to Laban. “I thought you might take your daughters away from me by force. [[#Verse 32.]] Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! In the presence of our relatives identify whatever is yours and take it.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) [[#Verse 33.]] So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.  [[#Verse 34.]] (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle and sat on them.) Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.  [[#Verse 35.]] Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord. I cannot stand up in your presence because I am having my period.” So he searched thoroughly, but did not find the idols. [[#Verse 36.]] Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. “What did I do wrong?” he demanded of Laban. “What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit? [[#Verse 37.]] When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? Set it here before my relatives and yours, and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! [[#Verse 38.]] “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.  [[#Verse 39.]] Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself. You always made me pay for every missing animal, whether it was taken by day or at night.  [[#Verse 40.]] I was consumed by scorching heat during the day and by piercing cold at night, and I went without sleep.  [[#Verse 41.]] This was my lot for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave for you—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—but you changed my wages ten times! [[#Verse 42.]] If the God of my father—the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears—had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, and he rebuked you last night.” [[#Verse 43.]] Laban replied to Jacob, “These women are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today or the children to whom they have given birth?  [[#Verse 44.]] So now, come, let’s make a formal agreement, you and I, and it will be proof that we have made peace.” [[#Verse 45.]] So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar.  [[#Verse 46.]] Then he said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they brought stones and put them in a pile. They ate there by the pile of stones.  [[#Verse 47.]] Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. [[#Verse 498]] Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement today.” That is why it was called Galeed.  [[#Verse 49.]] It was also called Mizpah because he said, “May the Lord watch between us when we are out of sight of one another.  [[#Verse 50.]] If you mistreat my daughters or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one else is with us, realize that God is witness to your actions.” [[#Verse 51.]] “Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you,” Laban said to Jacob.  [[#Verse 52.]] “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me.  [[#Verse 53.]] May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. [[#Verse 54.]] Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain. [[#Verse 55.]] (32:1) Early in the morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home. ## ==📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary== ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ###### Verse 41. ###### Verse 42. ###### Verse 43. ###### Verse 44. ###### Verse 45. ###### Verse 46. ###### Verse 47. ###### Verse 48. ###### Verse 49. ###### Verse 50. ###### Verse 51. ###### Verse 52. ###### Verse 53. ###### Verse 54. ###### Verse 55. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write down things that are not straight from commentary but interesting facts that ground the text in history. %% ## 🧠 Chapter Summary - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write a short paragraph (3–5 sentences) summarizing what happens in this chapter. - What is the main event or teaching? - How does this chapter fit the book’s overall story? - What stands out immediately? Anything Apologetic to point out? %% ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) - 📌 Observation 1 - 📌 Observation 2 - 📌 Observation 3 - (Add more as needed.) %% %% #### Today, I can apply this chapter by: - ✅ Application 1 - ✅ Application 2 Make these very practical: - "Trust God's timing in an uncertain situation." - "Speak truth even when it’s unpopular." Think: - What do we learn about God here? - What do we learn about people? - Are there promises, commands, or warnings? %% ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) - 📖 [Verse Reference] – "Quote of important verse." - 📖 [Verse Reference] – "Quote of another important verse." (You can link to deeper notes if you want later.) %% ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 coming soon. - 🔗 coming soon. %% Examples: - John 1:1 and Genesis 1 - Romans 5 and Genesis 3 %% ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write 3–6 sentences reflecting on: - How this chapter encourages your faith, - Convicts your heart, - Reveals God's character. Optional format: "In light of this chapter, I am challenged to..." or "I am comforted by..." %% ##### 📂 Internal Links/Personal Notes