Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis Reader

And he separated that day the goats which were marked in their feet, and the spotted, and all the goats streaked or spotted, every one which had a white place in him, and every black one among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

And he set a journey of three days between his flocks and (those of) Jakob. And Jakob tended the flock of Laban, the old and the feeble which were left.

And Jakob took to him a rod of flowering poplar, and of almond, and of the plane tree, and peeled in them white peelings to disclose the white which was in the rods.

And the rods which he had peeled, he fixed in the canals, in the troughs of water; at the place to which they brought the flocks to water, there placed he them over against the flock that they might conceive when they came to drink.

And the lambs did Jakob set apart, and place in front of the flocks; all the various coloured and the black among Laban's sheep he set for himself a flock apart, and did not mix them with the sheep of Laban.

And it was that whenever the early (prime) sheep conceived, Jakob set the rods in the canals before the eyes of the sheep, that they might conceive before the rods.

But he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, Jakob hath taken all that was our father's; and from that which was our father's he hath made himself all the glory of these riches.

And he said to them, I consider the looks of your father, and, behold, they are not peaceful with me as yesterday and as before it; but the God of my father hath been to my aid.

lf now he said, The streaked shall be thy wages, all the sheep bare streaked; and if now he said, The spotted-footed shall be thy wages, all the sheep bare those which were spotted in their feet:

And it was at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and, behold, the goats which rose upon the flock were spotted in their feet, or streaked or white in their backs.

And He said, Lift up now thine eyes and see: all the goats that rise upon the flock are spotted in their feet, or streaked or white in their backs: because all the injury that Laban hath done thee is manifest before me.

I am Eloha who did reveal Myself to thee at Beth El where thou didst anoint the pillar, and swear the oath before Me. Arise now, go forth from this land, and return to the land of thy birth.

And Laban had gone to shear his flock; and Rahel stole the images. For they had slain a man, a firstborn, and had cut off his head; they salted it with salt and balsams, and wrote incantations on a plate of gold, and put it under his tongue, and set it up in the wall, and it spake with them; and unto such their father bowed himself.

And he went, he with all that he had. And he arose and crossed the Pherat, and set his face to ascend toward the mountain of Gilead; because he saw by the Holy Spirit that from thence would be deliverance for his sons, in the days of Jephtach, who was of Gilead.

But after Jakob had gone, the shepherds went to the well, but found no water; and they waited three days, if that it might (again) overflow; but it overflowed not; and then came they to Laban on the third day, and he knew that Jakob had fled; because through his righteousness it had flowed twenty years.

And he took his kinsmen with him, and pursued after him, going seven days, and overtook him, while sojourning in Mount Gilead offering praise and praying before his God.

And there came an angel with a word from before the Lord; and he drew the sword against Laban the deceitful in a dream of the night, and said to him, Beware lest thou speak with Jakob from good to evil.

Why didst thou hide from me that thou wouldst go, and steal my knowledge, and not tell me? For if thou hadst told me, I would have sent thee away with mirth, and with hymns, and with tambourines, and with harps.

There is sufficiency in my hand to do evil with thee; but the God of thy father spake with me in the evening, saying, Be careful of speaking with Jakob from good to evil

With whomsoever thou shalt find the images of thy idols, let him die before his time. Before all our brethren take knowledge of what with me is thine, and take it. But Jakob knew not that Rahel had stolen them.

And Laban went into the tent of Jakob, and into the tent of Leah, and into the tent of the two concubines, but found not. And he went out from the tent of Leah, and entered the tent of Rahel.

And she said, Let it not be displeasing in my lord's eyes that I am not able to arise before thee, because I have the way of women. And he searched, but found not the images.

And the anger of Jakob took fire, and he contended with Laban. And Jakob answered and said to Laban, What is my sin, and what my transgression, that thou hast so eagerly come after me?

Having, therefore, searched all my vessels, what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? Lay now the matter before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them decide the truth between us two.

That torn by wild beasts I have not brought to thee; for had I sinned, from my hand thou wouldst have required it. What was stolen in the day by men, that have I made good; and what was stolen in the night by wild beasts was made good also.

These twenty years have I been in thy house, serving thee; fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy sheep; and thou hast changed my wages ten parts.

Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and He whom Izhak feareth had been in my help, even now hadst thou sent me away empty: but my affliction and the travail of my hands are manifest before the Lord, and therefore He admonished thee in the evening.

And Laban answered and said to Jakob, The children whom thou hast received of thy wives are my children, and the children whom they may bear will be reputed as mine, and the sheep are my sheep and all that thou seest is mine. And for my daughters what can I do this day, and for the soils which they have borne?

If thou shalt afflict my daughters, doing them injury, and if thou take upon my daughters, there is no man to judge us, the Word of the Lord seeing is the witness between me and thee.

This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I may not pass beyond this mound to thee, and that thou mayest not pass beyond this mound and this pillar to do harm.

And Jakob slew sacrifices in the mount, and invited his kinsmen who came with Laban to help themselves to bread, (or strengthen themselves with bread,) and they helped themselves to bread, and lodged in the mount.

And Jakob said when he saw them, These are not the host of Esau who are coming to meet me, nor the host of Laban, who have returned from pursuing me; but they are the host of the holy angels who are sent from before the Lord. Therefore the name of that place he called, in the language of the sanctuary, Machanaim.

And of all that in which my father blessed me there is nothing in my hand; but I have a few oxen and asses, sheep, and servants and handmaids; and I have sent to tell my lord that that blessing hath not profited me; that I may find mercy in thine eyes and that thou mayest not maintain (enmity) against me on account thereof.

And the messengers returned to Jakob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau, and he also cometh to meet thee, and four hundred chief--warriors with him.

And Jakob was greatly afraid, because for twenty years he had not been mindful of the glory of his father: and he had anxiety; and he divided the people who were with him, the sheep, and oxen, and camels, into three troops, for a portion. to Leah, and a portion to Rahel.

And Jakob said, God of my father Abraham, Thou, the God of my father Izhak, the Lord, who saidst to me, Return to thy country and to thy kindred, and I wilt do thee good:

Deliver me I pray, from the hand of my elder brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him: for he hath been mindful of the glory of his father; lest he come and smite the mother with the children.

But Thou hast promised, I will surely do thee good, and will make thy sons many as the sand of the sea be numbered for that cannot be numbered for multitude.

And he made them ready by the hand of his servants in flocks apart, and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and put much (room) between flock and flock.

And he instructed the first, Saying, When Esau my brother shall meet thee, and ask of thee, saying, Whose art thou, and whither art thou journeying and whose are these before thee?