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Genesis 31

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1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob has taken all that was our father’s; and from that which was our father’s has he made all this glory.

2 And Jacob saw the faces of Laban, and behold he was not at all with him as yesterday and the day before*.

3 And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return to the land of thy fathers, and to thy birth place, and I will be with thee.

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

5 And he said to them, I see your father’s faces, that he is not at all toward me as yesterday and the day before; and the God of my father has been with·​·me.

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

7 And your father has deluded me, and has changed my wages ten ways, and God has not given him to do·​·evil with·​·me.

8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wage, then all the flock gave·​·birth·​·to speckled; and if he said thus, The mottled shall be thy wage, then all the flock gave·​·birth mottled.

9 And God has rescued the livestock of your father, and has given it to me.

10 And it was at the time that the flock grew·​·warm, that I lifted my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold the he-goats which went·​·up upon the flock were mottled, speckled, and dappled.

11 And the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob; and I said, Behold me!

12 And he said, Lift, I pray, thine eyes, and see all the he-goats going·​·up upon the flock, mottled, speckled, and dappled; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.

13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou didst vow a vow to me; now arise, go·​·out from this land, and return to the land of thy birth.

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Have we any·​·more a part and inheritance in our father’s house?

15 Are we not reckoned as foreigners to him? For he has sold us, and eating·​·up he has even eaten·​·up our silver.

16 For all the riches which God has rescued from our father, they are for us and for our sons; and now all that God has said to thee, do.

17 And Jacob arose, and lifted his sons and his women upon the camels.

18 And he drove all his livestock, and all his acquisition which he had acquired, the livestock which he had bought, which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to come to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban went to shear his flock; and Rachel stole the teraphim which her father had.

20 And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was running·​·away.

21 And he ran·​·away, he and all that he had; and he arose and crossed·​·over the river, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

22 And it was·​·told Laban on the third day, that Jacob had run·​·away.

23 And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him a way of seven days, and joined him in the mountain of Gilead.

24 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, Take·​·heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good even·​·to evil.

25 And Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob pitched his tent on the mountain; and Laban pitched with his brothers on the mountain of Gilead.

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen my heart, and hast driven my daughters as captives of the sword?

27 Why didst thou hide·​·thyself to run·​·away, and didst steal me,* and hast· not ·told me? And I would have sent· thee ·away with gladness, and with songs, with timbrel, and with harp.

28 And thou hast not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters; now thou hast been·​·senseless in so doing.

29 Let my hand be to God to do you evil! And the God of your father said to me last·​·night, saying, Take·​·heed to thyself that thou speak not with Jacob from good even·​·to evil.

30 And now going thou hast gone, for being·​·eager thou wast·​·eager for the house of thy father; why hast thou stolen my gods?

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was fearful, for I said, Perhaps thou wilt take· thy daughters ·by·​·robbery from me.

32 With whomever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live in·​·front·​·of our brothers; recognize thou what is with·​·me, and take it to thee. And Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.

33 And Laban came·​·into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maidservants, and found them not; and he went·​·out of Leah’s tent, and came·​·into Rachel’s tent.

34 And Rachel had taken the teraphim, and set them in the straw of the camel, and sat upon them; and Laban felt· all ·around the tent, and found them not.

35 And she said to her father, Let there not be fierceness in the eyes of my lord, that I am· not ·able rise·​·up before thee, for the way of women is upon me. And he searched and found not the teraphim.

36 And Jacob was·​·incensed, and strove with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression? What is my sin, that thou hast chased after me?

37 Whereas thou hast felt·​·around all my vessels, what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? Set it thus in·​·front·​·of my brothers and thy brothers, and let them judge between the two of us.

38 These twenty years have I been with thee, thy ewes and thy she-goats have not miscarried, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten.

39 The torn I brought not to thee, I bear·​·the·​·loss of it, from my hand didst thou seek it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 Thus I was; in the day the heat devoured me, and the frost in the night, and my sleep has fled·​·away from my eyes.

41 These twenty years I have served thee in thy house, fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock, and thou hast changed my wages ten ways.

42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread* of Isaac, had been with me, surely now thou would have sent· me ·away empty. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and reproved thee last·​·night.

43 And Laban answered, and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that thou seest, it is mine; and what will I do today for these my daughters, or for their sons whom they have brought·​·forth?

44 And now go, let us cut a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

45 And Jacob took a stone, and made· it ·high for a pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Collect stones; and they took stones, and made a heap, and they did eat there upon the heap.

47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee today; therefore he called the name of it Galeed;

49 and Mizpah; for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, for we shall be hidden a man from his companion.

50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take women over my daughters, there is no man with us; see God is witness between me and thee.

51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up* between me and thee.

52 This heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that· I ·should not pass·​·by this heap to thee, and that· thou ·shouldst not pass·​·by this heap to me, and this pillar, for evil.

53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father; and Jacob promised by the Dread of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread; and they did eat bread, and passed·​·the·​·night in the mountain.

55 32:1 And in the morning Laban got·​·up·​·early, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and returned to his place.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 4208

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4208. 'And Jacob swore by the Dread of his father Isaac' means confirmation from the Divine Human, which in that state is called 'the Dread'. This is clear from the meaning of 'swearing' as confirmation, dealt with in 2842, 3375; and from the meaning of 'the Dread of Isaac' as the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 4180. The fact that when people swore oaths they did so by the Lord's Divine Human, see 2842.

[2] The reason for the use here of the expressions 'the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their father (who was Terah)' and 'the Dread of Isaac, Jacob's father' is that Terah's sons acknowledged just so many gods, for they were idolaters, 1353, 1356, 1992, 3667. It was also a peculiar feature of that house that each family worshipped its own individual god. This is why at this point the expressions 'the God of Abraham', 'the God of Nahor', 'the God of their father', and 'the Dread of Isaac' are used. Abraham's family however was commanded to acknowledge Jehovah as its God. All the same, they did not acknowledge Him to be anything more than just another god by whom they could distinguish themselves from the gentiles, and so only His name was different. This also accounts for their defection on so many occasions to other gods, as is made clear in the historical sections of the Word. The reason why they defected was that they were interested solely in things of an external nature. What things of an internal nature were they did not know at all and did not wish to know.

[3] So far as those people's participation in them was concerned, the religious practices of their Church were wholly idolatrous because they had been separated from the things of an internal nature; for every religious practice of the Church when separated from what is internal is idolatrous. Yet it was still possible for those people to represent the genuine condition of the Church since representations have nothing to do with the person who represents, only with the thing represented, 665, 1097 (end), 1361, 3147. But in order that a representative Church might come into being, and in this way some kind of communication between the Lord and man through heaven might exist, it was particularly necessary for them to be kept in their acknowledgement of Jehovah, if not in their hearts yet with their lips. For among them representatives were not an expression of internal entities but of external ones. And this was the kind of communication they had, different from that in the genuine Church in which communication was effected through things of an internal nature. For this reason also their Divine worship made no difference to their souls, that is, it did not yield them blessings in the next life, only prosperity in the world.

[4] In order that they might be kept in external things so many miracles were therefore performed among them which would never have taken place if things of an internal nature had had a place among them. For the same reason they were also compelled on many occasions to worship Jehovah through the imposition of punishments, captivities, and threats, though no one is compelled by the Lord to engage in internal worship, for this is implanted only in a state of freedom, 1937, 1947, 2874-2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031. The chief external practice required of them was that they should confess the name Jehovah, for Jehovah was the Lord who was represented in all the practices of that Church. On the point that Jehovah was the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2921, 3035.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.