{
  "1": "Then {one day} Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were {complaining and} saying, “Jacob has taken {for himself} everything that our father owned. In fact, he has gotten all his riches by taking {the animals} that were our father’s!” ",
  "2": "Jacob also noticed that Laban no longer acted friendly toward him the way he did in the past. ",
  "3": "Then Yahweh told Jacob, “Return to your ancestors’ homeland, where your relatives live, and I will stay with you {and help you}.”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "4": "So Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah that they should meet him at the field {where he was with} his flock{s} {of sheep and goats}. ",
  "5": "{When they arrived,} he said to them, “I have noticed that your father no longer acts friendly toward me the way he did in the past, but the God whom my father serves has stayed with me {and has helped me}. ",
  "6": "You {both} know how I have worked for your father as hard as I could,\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "7": "but he has cheated me by changing what he pays me ten times. However, God has not permitted him to hurt me. ",
  "8": "{For example,} every time that he told {me} that the speckled {animals} would be my pay, all {the female animals in} the flock{s} gave birth to speckled {young}. But whenever he {changed his mind and} told {me} that the striped animals would be my pay, then they all gave birth to streaked {young}. ",
  "9": "In that way, God has taken your father’s animals {from him} and has given {them} to me.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "10": "“One time during the season when the flock{s} {of sheep and goats} were mating, I had a dream. {In the dream} I looked around and was surprised to see that the {only} male goats {and sheep} that were mating with the female goats {and sheep} {were} striped, speckled, or blotched. ",
  "11": "Then an angel from God called to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ and I answered, ‘Yes, {Lord}?’\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "12": "Then he said {to me}, ‘Look around and notice {that} all the male goats {and sheep} that are mating with the female goats {and sheep} {are} striped, speckled, or blotched. {I have caused that to happen,} because I have noticed all {the wrong things} that Laban has been doing to you. ",
  "13": "I am the God {who appeared to you} at {the town of} Bethel, where you poured oil on top of a memorial stone {to dedicate the place to me}, {and} where you made an oath to me. {So} then, get ready {and} leave this land {immediately}, and go back to your home land.’ ”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "14": "Then Rachel and Leah responded to Jacob, “We will not inherit anything from our father {when he dies}! ",
  "15": "It is obvious that he treats us like strangers {and not family}. For example, he sold us {to you}, and then he spent all the money that should have been ours. ",
  "16": "In fact, all the wealth that God has taken from our father {rightfully} {belongs} to us and our children. So then, {you should} do everything that God has told you {to do}.”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "17": "So Jacob {quickly} got ready {for the journey} and helped his wives and his children {get up} onto some camels. ",
  "18": "Then he {started} herding {the camels and} all his {other} animals toward the region of Canaan where his father Isaac lived. {He took with him} all his possessions that he had accumulated, {including} all the livestock that he had acquired {while living} in {the region of} Paddan Aram.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "19": "Now {before that,} Laban {the Aramean} had gone away {for several days} to shear his sheep. {While her father was gone,} Rachel {entered his tent and} stole his idols {that he worshiped}. ",
  "20": "At the same time, Jacob {also} deceived Laban by fleeing {secretly} without telling him that he was leaving. ",
  "21": "So {in that way} Jacob ran away {with his family} and {took} everything that they owned. They quickly crossed the {Euphrates} River and headed toward the hill country of Gilead.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\s1 Laban Chases After Jacob and His Family\n\\sr 31:22-42\n\\p",
  "22": "Three days later someone informed Laban that Jacob had run away. ",
  "23": "So Laban took {some of} his relatives with him and chased after Jacob {and his family} for seven days until they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "24": "But that night God appeared to Laban in a dream and warned him, “Be sure that you do not threaten Jacob in any way.”\n\n\\p",
  "25": "{By the time that} Laban caught up with Jacob, Jacob had {already} set up his tents in the hill country {of Gilead}, so Laban and his relatives {also} set up camp there {at a place nearby}.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "26": "Then {the next day} Laban {met with Jacob and} complained to him, “Look what you have done! You have deceived me and dragged away my daughters like prisoners of war! ",
  "27": "You should not have deceived me and secretly run away! You should have told me {you were leaving}! {If I had known,} we could have {held a feast and} sung joyful songs {and danced} together, with tambourines and lyres playing, before sending you {on your way}. ",
  "28": "You did not {even} let me kiss my daughters and my grandchildren {before they left}! What you have done is foolish!\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "29": "I have the power to harm {all of} you, but last night {in a dream} the God whom your father serves warned me not to threaten you in any way. ",
  "30": "Now then, {I understand that} you left because you were so homesick to return to your father’s family, {but} why did you steal my gods?”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "31": "Jacob answered Laban, “{We left secretly} because I was afraid. I thought that {if I told you we were leaving,} you might take your {two} daughters from me {by force}. ",
  "32": "{However we did not take your gods. In fact,} if you find your gods with anyone {here}, that person will die {for stealing them}! {So} while our relatives are watching, {go ahead and} search {all} my belongings for yourself. {If you find} anything that is yours, take it.” {When Jacob said that,} he did not know that Rachel {was the one who} had stolen the idols.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "33": "So Laban started searching in Jacob’s tent. Then {he searched} through Leah’s tent and through the two servant women’s tent, but he did not find {anything} {that belonged to him}. Next after he left those tents, he went into Rachel’s tent.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "34": "Now Rachel had hidden the idols inside {her} camel saddlebag, and she was sitting on them. So although Laban searched through everything {else} in the tent, he could not find them. ",
  "35": "{As he was searching,} Rachel said to him, “Sir, {please} do not be upset that I am not able to get up to greet you, because it’s that time of the month {when I feel weak}.” {That is also why} he could not find {his} idols when he searched {her tent}.\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "36": "Then Jacob became {very} angry {at Laban} and confronted him by saying to him, “Tell me my crime! Tell me what sin I have done {against you} that gives you the right to chase after me! ",
  "37": "Now that you have searched through all my things, did you find anything {that anyone took} from your household? {If so,} put {it} here in front of our relatives, so that they can decide which one of us is right!\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "38": "“For twenty years I {have worked} for you! {During all that time} your sheep and your goats had no trouble bearing young, and I have never {killed and} eaten {any} animals from your flocks. ",
  "39": "Whenever wild animals killed {any of} your animals, I never brought {the dead animal} to you {to prove I was innocent}. {Rather,} I replaced them at my own expense. {Besides that,} you required me to pay for {any} animals {that anyone ever} stole {at any time of} day or night. ",
  "40": "That was my situation! During the days, I suffered from the hot sun, and during the nights it was so cold that I could not sleep.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "41": "{It was like} that for me {during the entire} twenty years that I was with you. I worked for you for fourteen years in order to marry your two daughters, and {I worked} {another} six years to earn flocks {of animals} from you, even though you changed my pay ten times. ",
  "42": "If God, whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac serve and revere, had not been with me {to take care of me}, there is no doubt that I would now be leaving {here} with {absolutely} nothing. {But} God knows how {much} you have mistreated me and how hard I have worked {for you}, so last night he rebuked {you}.”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\s1 Jacob and Laban Establish a Peace Treaty with Each Other\n\\sr 31:43-55\n\\p",
  "43": "Then Laban responded to Jacob, “These women {are} my daughters, and their children {are} my grandchildren, and these flock{s} {are} {also} mine. In fact, all that you see {here} is mine! But there is nothing I can do today to keep my daughters or their children near me {any longer}! ",
  "44": "So then, you and I should make a {peace} treaty {with each other}, and there should be something to remind us {to keep that treaty}.”\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "45": "So Jacob picked out a {large} stone and set it up {on its end} {as} a monument {to mark the place where they made their treaty}. ",
  "46": "Then he told his relatives, “Gather {some more} stones.” So they {all} gathered stones and put them in a {large} pile. Then everyone ate {a meal together} there next to the pile {of stones}. ",
  "47": "Laban gave the pile the {Aramaic} name Jegar Sahadutha, {which means “pile that reminds,”} while Jacob gave it the {Hebrew} name Galeed, {which has the same meaning}.\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "48": "Laban said {to him}, “{Starting} today this pile {of stones} will remind you and me {about our peace treaty}.” That is why the name of that place is Galeed. ",
  "49": "{Another name for the place is} Mizpah, {which means “watchtower,”} because Laban said {to Jacob}, “May Yahweh watch both of us {to make sure that we keep our treaty} while we are apart from each other. ",
  "50": "If you treat my daughters badly, or if you marry {other} wives besides them, remember {that} {even if} no one {else} is watching us, God is {always} watching both of us {to hold us accountable}.”\n\n\\ts\\*\n\\p",
  "51": "Then Laban {also} said to Jacob, “Here is this pile {of stones}, and here is this monument which we stood up between us {to remind us about our peace treaty}. ",
  "52": "This pile {of stones} and this monument {both} remind us that I must never go past this pile {to attack you}, and that you must never go past this pile and this monument to attack me. ",
  "53": "May {your grandfather} Abraham’s God and {my grandfather} Nahor’s gods, {which were also} their father {Terah}’s gods, judge between us {and punish us if we break this agreement}!” But Jacob made a vow by the God whom his father Isaac revered {that he would keep their treaty},\n\n\\ts\\* ",
  "54": "and he burned {the body of} an animal {on an altar} as a sacrifice {to God} on the mountain. Then he invited his relatives to eat a meal {together} {there}. So they {all} ate the meal {together} and spent the night there.\n\n\\p",
  "55": "Early the next morning Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters {goodbye} {on the cheeks} and asked God to bless them. Then he {and his men} left {from there} and returned home.\n\n\\ts\\*",
  "front": "\\s1 Jacob and His Family Flee from Laban\n\\sr 31:1-21\n\\p"
}
