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Genesis 31

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1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and of what was our father's he has acquired all this glory.

2 And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as previously.

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

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

5 and said to them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as previously; but 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 mocked me, and has changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

8 If he said thus; The speckled shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore speckled; and if he said thus: The ringstraked shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore ringstraked.

9 And God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given [them] to me.

10 And it came to pass at the time of the ardour of the flocks, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams that leaped upon the flocks were ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

11 And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see: all the rams that leap upon the flock are ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.

13 I am the ùGod of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me. Now arise, depart out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred.

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

15 Are we not reckoned of him strangers? for he has sold us, and has even constantly devoured our money.

16 For all the wealth that God has taken from our father is ours and our children's; and now whatever God has said to thee do.

17 And Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels,

18 and carried away all his cattle, and all his property that he had acquired -- the cattle of his possessions that he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to Isaac his father, into the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban had gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that [belonged] to her father.

20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he fled.

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

22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey, and overtook him on mount Gilead.

24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

25 And Laban came up with Jacob; and Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain; Laban also with his brethren pitched on mount Gilead.

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast deceived me, and hast carried away my daughters as captives of war?

27 Why didst thou flee away covertly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have conducted thee with mirth and with songs, with tambour and with harp;

28 and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now thou hast acted foolishly.

29 It would be in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Take care that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

30 And now that thou must needs be gone, because thou greatly longedst after thy father's house, why hast thou stolen my gods?

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, I was afraid; for I said, Lest thou shouldest take by force thy daughters from me.

32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live. Before our brethren discern what is thine with me, and take [it] to thee. But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two handmaids' tents, and found nothing; and he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.

34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them under the camel's saddle; and she sat upon them. And Laban explored all the tent, but found nothing.

35 And she said to her father, Let it not be an occasion of anger in the eyes of my lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for it is with me after the manner of women. And he searched carefully, but did not find the teraphim.

36 And Jacob was angry, and he disputed with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my fault, what my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?

37 Whereas thou hast explored all my baggage, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set [it] here before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them decide between us both.

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

39 What was torn I have not brought to thee; I had to bear the loss of it: of my hand hast thou required it, [whether] stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 Thus it was with me: in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes.

41 I have been these twenty years in thy house: I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

42 Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, been with me, it is certain thou wouldest have sent me away now empty. God has looked upon my affliction and the labour of my hands, and has judged 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 is mine; but as for my daughters, what can I do this day to them, or to their sons whom they have brought forth?

44 And now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be a witness between me and thee.

45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up [for] a pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones, and made a heap, and ate 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 this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed,

49 -- and Mizpah; for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we shall be hidden one from another:

50 if thou shouldest afflict my daughters, or if thou shouldest take wives besides my daughters, -- no man is 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 [let] this heap be witness, and the pillar a witness, that neither I pass this heap [to go] to thee, nor thou pass this heap and this pillar [to come] to me, for harm.

53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us! And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the mountain, and invited his brethren to eat bread: and they ate bread, and lodged on the mountain.

55 And Laban rose early in the morning, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and returned to his place.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4137

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4137. And I would have sent thee away with gladness, and with songs. That this signifies the state in which from its own it (that is, the good signified by “Laban”) had believed itself to be in respect to truths, is evident from the signification of “I would have sent thee away,” as being that it would have separated itself in freedom; but that it had not separated itself when in that state, is evident from what has been said above (n. 4113); which shows that these words were said by Laban in the state in which from his own he had believed himself to be; for to believe from one’s own is to believe from what is not true; whereas to believe not from one’s own, but from the Lord, is to believe from what is true. That the state here referred to is a state as to truths, is signified by “sending with gladness and with songs;” for “gladness” and “songs” are predicated of truths.

[2] There is occasional mention in the Word of “gladness” and of “joy,” and sometimes they are mentioned together; but “gladness” is mentioned when the subject treated of is truth and its affection, and “joy” when it is good and its affection, as in Isaiah:

Behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine (Isaiah 22:13); where “joy” is predicated of good, and “gladness” of truth. In the same:

There is a cry in the streets because of the wine; all gladness shall be made desolate, and all joy shall be banished (Isaiah 24:11).

In the same:

The redeemed of Jehovah shall return, and shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy upon their head; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11).

In the same:

Jehovah shall comfort Zion; joy and gladness shall be found therein, confession and the voice of singing (Isaiah 51:3).

In Jeremiah:

I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste (Jeremiah 7:34 25:10).

In the same:

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say, Confess ye to Jehovah Zebaoth (Jeremiah 33:11).

In the same:

Gladness and exultation have been gathered from Carmel, and from the land of Moab (Jeremiah 48:33).

In Joel:

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and exultation from the house of our God? (Joel 1:16).

In Zechariah:

The fast shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and good feasts (Zech. 8:19).

[3] He who does not know that in everything of the Word there is the heavenly marriage (that is, the marriage of good and truth), might believe that joy and gladness are one thing, and that both are mentioned merely for the sake of greater emphasis, thus that one of the expressions is superfluous. But this is not the case, for not the smallest part of a word is used without a spiritual meaning. In the passages that have been adduced, and in others also, “joy” is predicated of good, and “gladness” of truth (see also n. 3118). That “songs” also are predicated of truth is evident from many passages in the Word, where “songs” are mentioned, as Isaiah 5:1; 24:9; 26:1; 30:29; 42:10; Ezekiel 26:13; Amos 5:23; and other places.

[4] Be it known that all things in the Lord’s kingdom relate either to good or to truth, that is, to the things of love, and to those of the faith of charity. Those which relate to good, or which are of love, are called celestial; but those which relate to truth, or which are of the faith of charity, are called spiritual. For in all things of the Word both in general and in particular the Lord’s kingdom is treated of, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself; and the Lord’s kingdom is the marriage of good and truth, or the heavenly marriage; and the Lord Himself is He in whom is the Divine marriage, and from whom is the heavenly marriage; and therefore in everything of the Word there is this marriage, as is especially evident in the Prophets, where repetitions of one thing occur, with merely a change of words. But these repetitions are never without meaning, and by one of the expressions is signified what is celestial (that is, what is of love and good), and by the other what is spiritual (that is, what is of the faith of charity or of truth); all of which shows in what manner the heavenly marriage (that is, the Lord’s kingdom), and in the supreme sense the Divine marriage itself (that is, the Lord) is in everything of the Word.

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