Section 63 of 10431:1–21Genesis

Go to another section

Jump to a verse

King James VersionGenesis 31:1–21

And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory.

And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,

And said unto them, I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.

And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.

Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.

And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.

And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?

Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.

For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;

And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.

And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.

So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead.

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Genesis 31:1–21

Jacob Secretly Leaves Laban

God says return; Rachel takes the gods

Laban's sons accuse Jacob, Laban's face changes, and God commands Jacob to return with the promise of presence. Jacob tells Rachel and Leah about wage changes and a dream in which God has seen Laban's treatment. The women say their father has made them outsiders and agree to go.

The household leaves secretly with acquired property. Rachel steals Laban's teraphim without Jacob's knowledge. Divine direction and real grievance do not sanctify theft or every tactic of escape.

How this should shape us

When leaving exploitation, distinguish a clear obligation from impulse, include those affected, and do not hide unrelated wrongdoing inside an otherwise legitimate departure.

Teach it back

Explain why Jacob leaves Laban in Genesis 31:1–21. Include the hostile change, God's command and Bethel promise, Jacob's wage account and dream, Rachel and Leah's own economic complaint and agreement, the difference between Jacob's property and Rachel's stolen teraphim, and why the secret flight is understandable without making every act morally ideal. State what remains uncertain.

Explain the section in your own words

Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.

Go deeper

The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.

Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties

Best judgment:

How certain? probable

Best judgment:

How certain? uncertain

Best judgment:

How certain? probable

Best judgment:

How certain? probable

Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Displayed wording, unit boundary, Bethel connection, departure, pursuit setup, foreign-god context, and return movement.

Genesis 31:1–21 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 28:10–22; 30:25–43; 31:22–55; 32:1–21; and 35:1–7

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

Supports: Hebrew vocabulary, idioms, speaker distinctions, dream language, wage claims, household-god term, and geography.

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 31:1–21; morphology and wording for glory, countenance, ten times, taken, given, seen, sold, consumed, teraphim, stole the heart, fled, river, and Gilead

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Supports: Wealth, attitude, wage-number, animal, inheritance, teraphim, stolen-heart, Aramean, Euphrates, and route translation details.

NET Bible, Genesis 31:1–21 and translator notes, especially notes on 31:1–3, 7–16, 19–21; compared with 30:25–43 and 31:22–42

Genesis

Supports: Final-form movement from hostile response and divine command through departure, pursuit, confrontation, and covenant boundary.

Genesis commentary, section Jacob Returns to Canaan, Genesis 31:1–55; compared with Jacob Prospers in Paddan Aram, Genesis 30:25–43

Genesis

Supports: Literary placement and commentary navigation only; no unseen page-level claim is attributed.

Genesis, official Cambridge introduction and table-of-contents locator for Genesis 25:19–35:29

Genesis 25–35, 46–49: Jacob — Study Guide

Supports: Modern critical counterpoint for Jacob's strategy, moral complexity, family and national characterization, and source-critical questions.

Genesis 25–35, 46–49: Jacob study guide, sections on Jacob, Laban, trickster characterization, family conflict, departure, and return

Bride-Price: The Story of Jacob's Marriage to Rachel and Leah

Supports: Comparative evidence for labor as probable bridal payment and the economic background to Rachel and Leah's complaint; uncertainty about the exact contract remains.

Kristine Henriksen Garroway, TheTorah.com (2020), Bride-Price section and discussion of Jacob's labor for Rachel and Leah, ancient marriage gifts, timing, and legal reconstruction

Shakespeare Plays on the Questionable Source of Jacob's Wealth

Supports: The relationship between Genesis 30's human strategy and Genesis 31's divine dream explanation, including final-form and source-critical readings.

Herbert Basser, TheTorah.com (2015; updated 2026), sections Contradictory Text: God Is Responsible, Literary Solutions, and Critical Solutions

Jacob's Struggle at Jabbok: The Limits of Strategy

Supports: Jacob's strategy, underdog status, deception, and the larger narrative's refusal to make control absolute.

Meira Z. Kensky, TheTorah.com (2021; updated 2026), Jacob the Strategist, Getting the Better of Laban, and the limits of human control

Another Look at Rachel's Theft of the Teraphim

Supports: Specialist critique of the claim that Rachel's possession of teraphim automatically secured inheritance; survey of religious, protective, divinatory, and legal motive proposals.

Moshe Greenberg, Journal of Biblical Literature 81.3 (1962), pages 239–248, especially pages 239–245 on proposed motives and Nuzi evidence and pages 246–248 on inheritance, family headship, possession, and narrative silence

Rachel's Teraphim: A Critique of the Northern Kingdom

Supports: Modern archaeological and literary discussion of teraphim as household cult objects, biblical parallels, divinatory associations, and possible northern-polemic reception.

Erin D. Darby, TheTorah.com (2021; updated 2026), sections Teraphim: Laban's Household Gods, Michal, Micah, northern household practice, and literary polemic

Sources for This Section

These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Displayed wording, unit boundary, Bethel connection, departure, pursuit setup, foreign-god context, and return movement.

Exact location: Genesis 31:1–21 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 28:10–22; 30:25–43; 31:22–55; 32:1–21; and 35:1–7

Open source ↗

hebrew text morphology and lemma data

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project

Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026

Supports: Hebrew vocabulary, idioms, speaker distinctions, dream language, wage claims, household-god term, and geography.

Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 31:1–21; morphology and wording for glory, countenance, ten times, taken, given, seen, sold, consumed, teraphim, stole the heart, fled, river, and Gilead

Open source ↗

Translation and textual notes

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026

Supports: Wealth, attitude, wage-number, animal, inheritance, teraphim, stolen-heart, Aramean, Euphrates, and route translation details.

Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 31:1–21 and translator notes, especially notes on 31:1–3, 7–16, 19–21; compared with 30:25–43 and 31:22–42

Open NET Genesis 31 ↗

modern open whole book commentary

Genesis

T. Desmond Alexander

The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023

Supports: Final-form movement from hostile response and divine command through departure, pursuit, confrontation, and covenant boundary.

Exact location: Genesis commentary, section Jacob Returns to Canaan, Genesis 31:1–55; compared with Jacob Prospers in Paddan Aram, Genesis 30:25–43

Open source ↗

modern scholarly commentary publisher material

Genesis

Bill T. Arnold

Cambridge University Press, 2009

Supports: Literary placement and commentary navigation only; no unseen page-level claim is attributed.

Exact location: Genesis, official Cambridge introduction and table-of-contents locator for Genesis 25:19–35:29

Open source ↗

modern critical open study guide

Genesis 25–35, 46–49: Jacob — Study Guide

Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study

Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026

Supports: Modern critical counterpoint for Jacob's strategy, moral complexity, family and national characterization, and source-critical questions.

Exact location: Genesis 25–35, 46–49: Jacob study guide, sections on Jacob, Laban, trickster characterization, family conflict, departure, and return

Open source ↗

modern scholarly open biblical marriage study

Bride-Price: The Story of Jacob's Marriage to Rachel and Leah

Kristine Henriksen Garroway

TheTorah.com SBL e-journal, 2020

Supports: Comparative evidence for labor as probable bridal payment and the economic background to Rachel and Leah's complaint; uncertainty about the exact contract remains.

Exact location: Kristine Henriksen Garroway, TheTorah.com (2020), Bride-Price section and discussion of Jacob's labor for Rachel and Leah, ancient marriage gifts, timing, and legal reconstruction

Open source ↗

modern jewish open literary and composition study

Shakespeare Plays on the Questionable Source of Jacob's Wealth

Herbert Basser

TheTorah.com SBL e-journal, 2015; updated 2026

Supports: The relationship between Genesis 30's human strategy and Genesis 31's divine dream explanation, including final-form and source-critical readings.

Exact location: Herbert Basser, TheTorah.com (2015; updated 2026), sections Contradictory Text: God Is Responsible, Literary Solutions, and Critical Solutions

Open source ↗

modern jewish open final form literary study

Jacob's Struggle at Jabbok: The Limits of Strategy

Meira Z. Kensky

TheTorah.com SBL e-journal, 2021; updated 2026

Supports: Jacob's strategy, underdog status, deception, and the larger narrative's refusal to make control absolute.

Exact location: Meira Z. Kensky, TheTorah.com (2021; updated 2026), Jacob the Strategist, Getting the Better of Laban, and the limits of human control

Open source ↗

peer reviewed open philological legal study

Another Look at Rachel's Theft of the Teraphim

Moshe Greenberg

Journal of Biblical Literature 81.3, pages 239–248, 1962

Supports: Specialist critique of the claim that Rachel's possession of teraphim automatically secured inheritance; survey of religious, protective, divinatory, and legal motive proposals.

Exact location: Moshe Greenberg, Journal of Biblical Literature 81.3 (1962), pages 239–248, especially pages 239–245 on proposed motives and Nuzi evidence and pages 246–248 on inheritance, family headship, possession, and narrative silence

Open source ↗

modern scholarly open archaeological and literary study

Rachel's Teraphim: A Critique of the Northern Kingdom

Erin D. Darby

TheTorah.com SBL e-journal, 2021; updated 2026

Supports: Modern archaeological and literary discussion of teraphim as household cult objects, biblical parallels, divinatory associations, and possible northern-polemic reception.

Exact location: Erin D. Darby, TheTorah.com (2021; updated 2026), sections Teraphim: Laban's Household Gods, Michal, Micah, northern household practice, and literary polemic

Open source ↗

Genesis 31:1–21, King James Version

God says return; Rachel takes the gods

How this should shape us

Teach it back

Go deeper

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Genesis

Genesis

Genesis 25–35, 46–49: Jacob — Study Guide

Bride-Price: The Story of Jacob's Marriage to Rachel and Leah

Shakespeare Plays on the Questionable Source of Jacob's Wealth

Jacob's Struggle at Jabbok: The Limits of Strategy

Another Look at Rachel's Theft of the Teraphim

Rachel's Teraphim: A Critique of the Northern Kingdom