¹ And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month: there came men of the ancients of Israel to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.

² And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

³ Son of man, speak to the ancients of Israel, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will not answer you, saith the Lord God.

⁴ If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, son of man, declare to them the abominations of their fathers.

⁵ And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God : In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand for the race of the house of Jacob: and appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them, saying: I am the Lord your God:

⁶ In that day I lifted up my hand for them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which excelleth amongst all lands.

⁷ And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

⁸ But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

⁹ But I did otherwise for my name's sake, that it might not be violated before the nations, in the midst of whom they were, and among whom I made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert.

¹¹ And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them.

¹² Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

¹³ But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert, and would consume them.

¹⁴ But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their sight.

¹⁵ So I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring them into the land which I had given them flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands.

¹⁶ Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols.

¹⁷ Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither did I consume them in the desert.

¹⁸ And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the statutes of your fathers, and observe not their judgments, nor be ye defiled with their idols:

¹⁹ I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and observe my judgments, and do them.

²⁰ And sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

²¹ But their children provoked me, they walked not in my commandments, nor observed my judgments to do them: which if a man do, he shell live in them: and they violated my sabbaths: and I threatened to pour out my indignation upon them, and to accomplish my wrath in them in the desert.

²² But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it might not be violated before the nations, out of which I brought them forth in their sight.

²³ Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries :

²⁴ Because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my statutes, and had violated my sabbaths, and their eyes had been after the idols of their fathers.

²⁵ Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments, in which they shall not live.

²⁶ And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

²⁷ Wherefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this also your fathers blasphemed me, when they had despised and contemned me;

²⁸ And I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it them: they saw every high hill, and every shady tree, and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odours, and poured forth their libations.

²⁹ And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go? and the name thereof was called high-place even to this day.

³⁰ Wherefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Verily, you are defiled in the way of your fathers, and you commit fornication with their abominations.

³¹ And you defile yourselves with all your: idols unto this day, in the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through the fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not answer you.

³² Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which you say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth, to worship stocks and stones.

³³ As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

³⁴ And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you out of the countries, in which you are scattered, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

³⁵ And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

³⁶ As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.

³⁷ And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you into the bands of the covenant.

³⁸ And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

³⁹ And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with your idols;

⁴⁰ In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I require your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your sanctifications.

⁴¹ I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall have brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out of the lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.

⁴² And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers.

⁴³ And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you committed.

⁴⁴ And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

⁴⁵ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying :

⁴⁶ Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.

⁴⁷ And any to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the dame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north.

⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.

⁴⁹ And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not this man speak by parables?

¹ He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this wealth."

² Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

³ Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

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

⁵ and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.

⁶ You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.

⁷ Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt me.

⁸ If he said this, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked.

⁹ Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me.

¹⁰ It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.

¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.'

¹² He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.

¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"

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

¹⁵ Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money.

¹⁶ For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,

¹⁸ and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.

²⁰ Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was running away.

²¹ So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

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

²³ He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.

²⁴ God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad."

²⁵ Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.

²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?

²⁷ Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

²⁸ and didn't allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.

²⁹ It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad.'

³⁰ Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father's house, but why have you stolen my gods?"

³¹ Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.'

³² Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it." For Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.

³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them.

³⁵ She said to her father, "Don't let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for I'm having my period." He searched, but didn't find the teraphim.

³⁶ Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?

³⁷ Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.

³⁸ "These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.

³⁹ That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

⁴⁰ This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.

⁴² Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."

⁴³ Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?

⁴⁴ Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you."

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

⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.

⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸ Laban said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Galeed

⁴⁹ and Mizpah, for he said, "Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.

⁵⁰ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you."

⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.

⁵² May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

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

⁵⁴ Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.

⁵⁵ Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.