Genesis 31

VULGATA	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Postquam autem audivit verba filiorum Laban dicentium : Tulit Jacob omnia quæ fuerunt patris nostri, et de illius facultate ditatus, factus est inclytus :	1 Jacob learned that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and he has accumulated all this wealth of his by using our father's property."
2 animadvertit quoque faciem Laban, quod non esset erga se sicut heri et nudiustertius,	2 Jacob perceived, too, that Laban's attitude toward him was not what it had previously been.
3 maxime dicente sibi Domino : Revertere in terram patrum tuorum, et ad generationem tuam, eroque tecum.	3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, where you were born, and I will be with you."
4 Misit, et vocavit Rachel et Liam in agrum, ubi pascebat greges,	4 So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him where he was in the field with his flock.
5 dixitque eis : Video faciem patris vestri quod non sit erga me sicut heri et nudiustertius : Deus autem patris mei fuit mecum.	5 There he said to them: "I have noticed that your father's attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me.
6 Et ipsæ nostis quod totis viribus meis servierim patri vestro.	6 You well know what effort I put into serving your father;
7 Sed et pater vester circumvenit me et mutavit mercedem meam decem vicibus : et tamen non dimisit eum Deus ut noceret mihi.	7 yet your father cheated me and changed my wages time after time. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.
8 Si quando dixit : Variæ erunt mercedes tuæ : pariebant omnes oves varios f?tus ; quando vero e contrario, ait : Alba quæque accipies pro mercede : omnes greges alba pepererunt.	8 Whenever your father said, 'The speckled animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, 'The streaked animals shall be your wages,' the entire flock would bear streaked young.
9 Tulitque Deus substantiam patris vestri, et dedit mihi.	9 Thus God reclaimed your father's livestock and gave it to me.
10 Postquam enim conceptus ovium tempus advenerat, levavi oculos meos, et vidi in somnis ascendentes mares super feminas, varios et maculosos, et diversorum colorum.	10 Once, in the breeding season, I had a dream in which I saw mating he-goats that were streaked, speckled and mottled.
11 Dixitque angelus Dei ad me in somnis : Jacob ? Et ego respondi : Adsum.	11 In the dream God's messenger called to me, 'Jacob!' 'Here!' I replied.
12 Qui ait : Leva oculos tuos, et vide universos masculos ascendentes super feminas, varios, maculosos, atque respersos. Vidi enim omnia quæ fecit tibi Laban.	12 Then he said: 'Note well. All the he-goats in the flock, as they mate, are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you.
13 Ego sum Deus Bethel, ubi unxisti lapidem, et votum vovisti mihi. Nunc ergo surge, et egredere de terra hac, revertens in terram nativitatis tuæ.	13 I am the God who appeared to you in Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone and made a vow to me. Up, then! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.'"
14 Responderuntque Rachel et Lia : Numquid habemus residui quidquam in facultatibus et hæreditate domus patris nostri ?	14 Rachel and Leah answered him: "Have we still an heir's portion in our father's house?
15 nonne quasi alienas reputavit nos, et vendidit, comeditque pretium nostrum ?	15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us!
16 Sed Deus tulit opes patris nostri, et eas tradidit nobis, ac filiis nostris : unde omnia quæ præcepit tibi Deus, fac.	16 All the wealth that God reclaimed from our father really belongs to us and our children. Therefore, do just as God has told you."
17 Surrexit itaque Jacob, et impositis liberis ac conjugibus suis super camelos, abiit.	17 Jacob proceeded to put his children and wives on camels,
18 Tulitque omnem substantiam suam, et greges, et quidquid in Mesopotamia acquisierat, pergens ad Isaac patrem suum in terram Chanaan.	18 and he drove off with all his livestock and all the property he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19 Eo tempore ierat Laban ad tondendas oves, et Rachel furata est idola patris sui.	19 Now Laban had gone away to shear his sheep, and Rachel had meanwhile appropriated her father's household idols.
20 Noluitque Jacob confiteri socero suo quod fugeret.	20 Jacob had hoodwinked Laban the Aramean by not telling him of his intended flight.
21 Cumque abiisset tam ipse quam omnia quæ juris sui erant, et amne transmisso pergeret contra montem Galaad,	21 Thus he made his escape with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the highlands of Gilead.
22 nuntiatum est Laban die tertio quod fugeret Jacob.	22 On the third day, word came to Laban that Jacob had fled.
23 Qui, assumptis fratribus suis, persecutus est eum diebus septem : et comprehendit eum in monte Galaad.	23 Taking his kinsmen with him, he pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.
24 Viditque in somnis dicentem sibi Deum : Cave ne quidquam aspere loquaris contra Jacob.	24 But that night God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!"
25 Jamque Jacob extenderat in monte tabernaculum : cumque ille consecutus fuisset eum cum fratribus suis, in eodem monte Galaad fixit tentorium.	25 When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob's tents were pitched in the highlands; Laban also pitched his tents there, on Mount Gilead.
26 Et dixit ad Jacob : Quare ita egisti, ut clam me abigeres filias meas quasi captivas gladio ?	26 "What do you mean," Laban demanded of Jacob, "by hoodwinking me and carrying off my daughters like war captives?
27 cur ignorante me fugere voluisti, nec indicare mihi, ut prosequerer te cum gaudio, et canticis, et tympanis, et citharis ?	27 Why did you dupe me by stealing away secretly? You should have told me, and I would have sent you off with merry singing to the sound of tambourines and harps.
28 Non es passus ut oscularer filios meos et filias : stulte operatus es : et nunc quidem	28 You did not even allow me a parting kiss to my daughters and grandchildren! What you have now done is a senseless thing.
29 valet manus mea reddere tibi malum : sed Deus patris vestri heri dixit mihi : Cave ne loquaris contra Jacob quidquam durius.	29 I have it in my power to harm all of you; but last night the God of your father said to me, 'Take care not to threaten Jacob with any harm!'
30 Esto, ad tuos ire cupiebas, et desiderio erat tibi domus patris tui : cur furatus es deos meos ?	30 Granted that you had to leave because you were desperately homesick for your father's house, why did you steal my gods?"
31 Respondit Jacob : Quod inscio te profectus sum, timui ne violenter auferres filias tuas.	31 "I was frightened," Jacob replied to Laban, "at the thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force.
32 Quod autem furti me arguis : apud quemcumque inveneris deos tuos, necetur coram fratribus nostris : scrutare, quidquid tuorum apud me inveneris, et aufer. Hæc dicens, ignorabat quod Rachel furata esset idola.	32 But as for your gods, the one you find them with shall not remain alive! If, with my kinsmen looking on, you identify anything here as belonging to you, take it." Jacob, of course, had no idea that Rachel had stolen the idols.
33 Ingressus itaque Laban tabernaculum Jacob, et Liæ, et utriusque famulæ, non invenit. Cumque intrasset tentorium Rachelis,	33 Laban then went in and searched Jacob's tent and Leah's tent, as well as the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find the idols. Leaving Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's.
34 illa festinans abscondit idola subter stramenta cameli, et sedit desuper : scrutantique omne tentorium, et nihil invenienti,	34 Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them inside a camel cushion, and seated herself upon them. When Laban had rummaged through the rest of her tent without finding them,
35 ait : Ne irascatur dominus meus quod coram te assurgere nequeo : quia juxta consuetudinem feminarum nunc accidit mihi : sic delusa sollicitudo quærentis est.	35 Rachel said to her father, "Let not my lord feel offended that I cannot rise in your presence; a woman's period is upon me." So, despite his search, he did not find his idols.
36 Tumensque Jacob, cum jurgio ait : Quam ob culpam meam, et ob quod peccatum meum sic exarsisti post me,	36 Jacob, now enraged, upbraided Laban. "What crime or offense have I committed," he demanded, "that you should hound me so fiercely?
37 et scrutatus es omnem supellectilem meam ? quid invenisti de cuncta substantia domus tuæ ? pone hic coram fratribus meis, et fratribus tuis, et judicent inter me et te.	37 Now that you have ransacked all my things, have you found a single object taken from your belongings? If so, produce it here before your kinsmen and mine, and let them decide between us two.
38 Idcirco viginti annis fui tecum ? oves tuæ et capræ steriles non fuerunt, arietes gregis tui non comedi :	38 "In the twenty years that I was under you, no ewe or she-goat of yours ever miscarried, and I have never feasted on a ram of your flock.
39 nec captum a bestia ostendi tibi, ego damnum omne reddebam : quidquid furto peribat, a me exigebas :	39 I never brought you an animal torn by wild beasts; I made good the loss myself. You held me responsible for anything stolen by day or night.
40 die noctuque æstu urebar, et gelu, fugiebatque somnus ab oculis meis.	40 How often the scorching heat ravaged me by day, and the frost by night, while sleep fled from my eyes!
41 Sicque per viginti annos in domo tua servivi tibi, quatuordecim pro filiabus, et sex pro gregibus tuis : immutasti quoque mercedem meam decem vicibus.	41 Of the twenty years that I have now spent in your household, I slaved fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, while you changed my wages time after time.
42 Nisi Deus patris mei Abraham, et timor Isaac affuisset mihi, forsitan modo nudum me dimisisses : afflictionem meam et laborem manuum mearum respexit Deus, et arguit te heri.	42 If my ancestral God, the God of Abraham and the Awesome One of Isaac, had not been on my side, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my plight and the fruits of my toil, and last night he gave judgment."
43 Respondit ei Laban : Filiæ meæ et filii, et greges tui, et omnia quæ cernis, mea sunt : quid possum facere filiis et nepotibus meis ?	43 Laban replied to Jacob: "The women are mine, their children are mine, and the flocks are mine; everything you see belongs to me. But since these women are my daughters, I will now do something for them and for the children they have borne.
44 Veni ergo, et ineamus f?dus, ut sit in testimonium inter me et te.	44 Come, then, we will make a pact, you and I; the LORD shall be a witness between us."
45 Tulit itaque Jacob lapidem, et erexit illum in titulum :	45 Then Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone.
46 dixitque fratribus suis : Afferte lapides. Qui congregantes fecerunt tumulum, comederuntque super eum :	46 Jacob said to his kinsmen, "Gather some stones." So they got some stones and made a mound; and they had a meal there at the mound.
47 quem vocavit Laban Tumulum testis : et Jacob, Acervum testimonii, uterque juxta proprietatem linguæ suæ.	47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed.
48 Dixitque Laban : Tumulus iste erit testis inter me et te hodie, et idcirco appellatum est nomen ejus Galaad, id est, Tumulus testis.	48 "This mound," said Laban, "shall be a witness from now on between you and me." That is why it was named Galeed--
49 Intueatur et judicet Dominus inter nos quando recesserimus a nobis,	49 and also Mizpah, for he said: "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.
50 si afflixeris filias meas, et si introduxeris alias uxores super eas : nullus sermonis nostri testis est absque Deo, qui præsens respicit.	50 If you mistreat my daughters, or take other wives besides my daughters, remember that even though no one else is about, God will be witness between you and me."
51 Dixitque rursus ad Jacob : En tumulus hic, et lapis quem erexi inter me et te,	51 Laban said further to Jacob: "Here is this mound, and here is the memorial stone that I have set up between you and me.
52 testis erit : tumulus, inquam, iste et lapis sint in testimonium, si aut ego transiero illum pergens ad te, aut tu præterieris, malum mihi cogitans.	52 This mound shall be witness, and this memorial stone shall be witness, that, with hostile intent, neither may I pass beyond this mound into your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine.
53 Deus Abraham, et Deus Nachor, judicet inter nos, Deus patris eorum. Juravit ergo Jacob per timorem patris sui Isaac :	53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor (their ancestral deities) maintain justice between us!" Jacob took the oath by the Awesome One of Isaac.
54 immolatisque victimis in monte, vocavit fratres suos ut ederent panem. Qui cum comedissent, manserunt ibi :	54 He then offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to share in the meal. When they had eaten, they passed the night on the mountain.
55 Laban vero de nocte consurgens, osculatus est filios, et filias suas, et benedixit illis : reversusque est in locum suum.