11. The angel of God spoke to me in the dream and said, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Yes,’ I answered.
12. ‘Look,’ he continued, ‘all the male goats that are mating are striped, spotted, and speckled. I am making this happen because I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
13. I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you dedicated a stone as a memorial by pouring olive oil on it and where you made a vow to me. Now get ready to go back to the land where you were born.’ ”
14. Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, “There is nothing left for us to inherit from our father.
15. He treats us like foreigners. He sold us, and now he has spent all the money he was paid for us.
16. All this wealth which God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. Do whatever God has told you.”
17-18. So Jacob got ready to go back to his father in the land of Canaan. He put his children and his wives on the camels, and drove all his flocks ahead of him, with everything that he had acquired in Mesopotamia.
19. Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and during his absence Rachel stole the household gods that belonged to her father.
20. Jacob deceived Laban by not letting him know that he was leaving.
21. He took everything he owned and left in a hurry. He crossed the River Euphrates and started for the hill country of Gilead.
22. Three days later Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
23. He took his men with him and pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.
24. In a dream that night God came to Laban and said to him, “Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way.”
25. Jacob had set up his camp on a mountain, and Laban set up his camp with his relatives in the hill country of Gilead.
26. Laban said to Jacob, “Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in war?
27. Why did you deceive me and slip away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have sent you on your way with rejoicing and singing to the music of tambourines and harps.
28. You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. That was a foolish thing to do!
29. I have the power to do you harm, but last night the God of your father warned me not to threaten you in any way.