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Now put everything I stole out here in front of us, before your men and mine, for all to see and to decide whose it is! 38 Twenty years I’ve been with you, and all that time I cared for your ewes and goats so that they produced healthy offspring, and I never touched one ram of yours for food. 39 If any were attacked and killed by wild animals, did I show them to you and ask you to reduce the count of your flock? No, I took the loss. You made me pay for every animal stolen from the flocks, whether I could help it or not. * 40 I worked for you through the scorching heat of the day, and through the cold and sleepless nights. 41 Yes, twenty years—fourteen of them earning your two daughters, and six years to get the flock! And you have reduced my wages ten times! 42 In fact, except for the grace of God—the God of my grandfather Abraham, even the glorious God of Isaac, my father—you would have sent me off without a penny to my name. But God has seen your cruelty and my hard work, and that is why he appeared to you last night.”
43 Laban replied, “These women are my daughters, and these children are mine, and these flocks and all that you have—all are mine. So how could I harm my own daughters and grandchildren? 44 Come now and we will sign a peace pact, you and I, and will live by its terms.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument, 46 and told his men to gather stones and make a heap, and Jacob and Laban ate together beside the pile of rocks. 47-48 They named it “The Witness Pile”—“Jegar-sahadutha,” in Laban’s language, and “Galeed” in Jacob’s.
“This pile of stones will stand as a witness against us if either of us trespasses across this line, * ” Laban said. 49 So it was also called “The Watchtower” (Mizpah). For Laban said, “May the Lord see to it that we keep this bargain when we are out of each other’s sight. 50 And if you are harsh to my daughters, or take other wives, I won’t know, but God will see it. 51-52 This heap,” Laban continued, “stands between us as a witness of our vows that I will not cross this line to attack you and you will not cross it to attack me. 53 I call upon the God of Abraham and Nahor, and of their father, to destroy either one of us who does.”
So Jacob took oath before the mighty God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line. 54 Then Jacob presented a sacrifice to God there at the top of the mountain, and invited his companions to a feast, and afterwards spent the night with them on the mountain. 55 Laban was up early the next morning and kissed his daughters and grandchildren, and blessed them, and returned home.
Genesis 32
So Jacob and his household * started on again. And the angels of God came to meet him. When he saw them he exclaimed, “God lives here!” So he named the place “God’s territory!” *
3 Jacob now sent messengers to his brother, Esau, in Edom, in the land of Seir, 4 with this message: “Hello from Jacob! I have been living with Uncle Laban until recently, 5 and now I own oxen, donkeys, sheep, goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform you of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to us.”
6 The messengers returned with the news that Esau was on the way to meet Jacob—with an army of 400 men! 7 Jacob was frantic with fear. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups; 8 for he said, “If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other can escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of Abraham my grandfather, and of my father Isaac—O Jehovah who told me to return to the land of my relatives, and said that you would do me good— 10 I am not worthy of the least of all your loving-kindnesses shown me again and again just as you promised me. For when I left home * I owned nothing except a walking stick!
43 Laban replied, “These women are my daughters, and these children are mine, and these flocks and all that you have—all are mine. So how could I harm my own daughters and grandchildren? 44 Come now and we will sign a peace pact, you and I, and will live by its terms.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a monument, 46 and told his men to gather stones and make a heap, and Jacob and Laban ate together beside the pile of rocks. 47-48 They named it “The Witness Pile”—“Jegar-sahadutha,” in Laban’s language, and “Galeed” in Jacob’s.
“This pile of stones will stand as a witness against us if either of us trespasses across this line, * ” Laban said. 49 So it was also called “The Watchtower” (Mizpah). For Laban said, “May the Lord see to it that we keep this bargain when we are out of each other’s sight. 50 And if you are harsh to my daughters, or take other wives, I won’t know, but God will see it. 51-52 This heap,” Laban continued, “stands between us as a witness of our vows that I will not cross this line to attack you and you will not cross it to attack me. 53 I call upon the God of Abraham and Nahor, and of their father, to destroy either one of us who does.”
So Jacob took oath before the mighty God of his father, Isaac, to respect the boundary line. 54 Then Jacob presented a sacrifice to God there at the top of the mountain, and invited his companions to a feast, and afterwards spent the night with them on the mountain. 55 Laban was up early the next morning and kissed his daughters and grandchildren, and blessed them, and returned home.
Genesis 32
So Jacob and his household * started on again. And the angels of God came to meet him. When he saw them he exclaimed, “God lives here!” So he named the place “God’s territory!” *
3 Jacob now sent messengers to his brother, Esau, in Edom, in the land of Seir, 4 with this message: “Hello from Jacob! I have been living with Uncle Laban until recently, 5 and now I own oxen, donkeys, sheep, goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform you of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to us.”
6 The messengers returned with the news that Esau was on the way to meet Jacob—with an army of 400 men! 7 Jacob was frantic with fear. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups; 8 for he said, “If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other can escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of Abraham my grandfather, and of my father Isaac—O Jehovah who told me to return to the land of my relatives, and said that you would do me good— 10 I am not worthy of the least of all your loving-kindnesses shown me again and again just as you promised me. For when I left home * I owned nothing except a walking stick!
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