Genesis · 55 verses
Genesis 31
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Jacob leaves on God's instruction with his household on camels, while Rachel sits on the stolen household gods hidden in her saddlebag.
A hurried departure, with one very small secretvv. 1–21
Laban’s sons accuse Jacob of making his fortune at their father’s expense, and Laban’s face has plainly changed towards him. God tells Jacob to return to his native land, so he summons Rachel and Leah in the field and gives them the long account: cheated wages, sleepless labour, and flocks that prospered despite Laban’s manoeuvres. Rachel and Leah agree that their father has treated them as outsiders and squandered what was paid for them. The household leaves at once for Isaac in Canaan. It is not, however, a perfectly open departure: Jacob says nothing to Laban, and Rachel steals the household idols. Jacob crosses the Euphrates and makes for Gilead, carrying nearly everything along—and one secret that is about to become uncomfortably relevant.
The search beneath the saddlebagvv. 22–42
Laban hears of the flight on the third day and pursues Jacob for seven days, overtaking him in Gilead. A dream warns Laban not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad—a remarkably narrow instruction, given the circumstances. Laban arrives with relatives, declares that he could do great harm, and then asks why his gods have been stolen. Jacob, unaware of Rachel’s deed, answers that fear drove him away and rashly declares that the thief should die. Laban searches every tent. Rachel has placed the idols beneath her, and declines to rise on account of her period; thus the search ends with the gods still under their owner's nose. Jacob then erupts into a twenty-year invoice: changed wages, hard weather, stolen animals, and losses borne by himself. Laban finds no idols, but Jacob has found plenty to say.
A mound between themvv. 43–55
Laban answers that the daughters, sons, and flocks are all his, though the sentence collapses into the practical question of what he can do about daughters and grandchildren who are no longer under his roof. The quarrel becomes a covenant. Jacob sets up a stone; the relatives gather more stones; and everyone eats beside the resulting mound, which receives two names: Laban’s Jegar-sahadutha and Jacob’s Galeed. It is also called Mizpah, a place-name born from the wish that God watch between them while absent. The boundary is carefully agreed: neither man is to cross it to harm the other. Jacob sacrifices on the mountain, and after the meal Laban kisses and blesses his daughters and grandchildren before returning home. Seven days of pursuit, a threat of violence, a hidden god under a saddlebag—and then kisses, blessings, and departure. The chapter is wonderfully unwilling to end tidily.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Gen 31:1Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”
Gen 31:2And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.
Gen 31:3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
Gen 31:4So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were,
Gen 31:5and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.
Gen 31:6You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
Gen 31:7And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
Gen 31:8If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.
Gen 31:9Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
Gen 31:10When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.
Gen 31:11In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’
Gen 31:12‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.
Gen 31:13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”
Gen 31:14And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house?
Gen 31:15Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
Gen 31:16Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
Gen 31:17Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,
Gen 31:18and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.
Gen 31:19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
Gen 31:20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.
Gen 31:21So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.
Gen 31:22On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.
Gen 31:23So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
Gen 31:24But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Gen 31:25Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well.
Gen 31:26Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!
Gen 31:27Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.
Gen 31:28But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing.
Gen 31:29I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
Gen 31:30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
Gen 31:31“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
Gen 31:32If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
Gen 31:33So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
Gen 31:34Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.
Gen 31:35Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.
Gen 31:36Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me?
Gen 31:37You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us.
Gen 31:38I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.
Gen 31:39I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.
Gen 31:40As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
Gen 31:41Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
Gen 31:42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”
Gen 31:43But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?
Gen 31:44Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”
Gen 31:45So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,
Gen 31:46and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate.
Gen 31:47Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.
Gen 31:48Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.
Gen 31:49It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.
Gen 31:50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
Gen 31:51Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.
Gen 31:52This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me.
Gen 31:53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
Gen 31:54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.
Gen 31:55Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 426 passages were voted onto 51 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 42Psalms 31:7I will be glad and rejoice in Your loving devotion, for You have seen my affliction; You have known the anguish of my soul.
- 3Genesis 28:15Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
- 24Genesis 24:50Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.
- 24Genesis 31:29I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
- 2Daniel 3:19At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual,
- 13Genesis 31:3Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
- 191 Samuel 19:13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
- 42Isaiah 8:13The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.
- 21 Samuel 18:9–11And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
- 2Genesis 4:5but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.
- 6Genesis 30:29Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care.
- 12Exodus 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- 13Genesis 32:9Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’
- 19Genesis 31:30Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
- 19Hosea 3:4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
- 42Genesis 31:53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
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