24. That night God came to Laban in a dream and said, “Be careful! Be careful of every word you say to Jacob.”
25. The next morning Laban caught up with Jacob. Jacob had set up his camp on the mountain, so Laban and all his men set up their camp in the hill country of Gilead.
26. Laban said to Jacob, “Why did you trick me? Why did you take my daughters like they were women you captured during war?
27. Why did you run away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have given you a party. There would have been singing and dancing with music.
28. You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You were very foolish to do this!
29. I have the power to really hurt you. But last night the God of your father came to me in a dream. He warned me not to hurt you in any way.
30. I know that you want to go back to your home. That is why you left. But why did you steal the gods from my house?”
31. Jacob answered, “I left without telling you, because I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me.
32. But I did not steal your gods. If you find anyone here with me who has taken your gods, they will be killed. Your men will be my witnesses. You can look for anything that belongs to you. Take anything that is yours.” (Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s gods.)
33. So Laban went and looked through Jacob’s camp. He looked in Jacob’s tent and then in Leah’s tent. Then he looked in the tent where the two slave women stayed, but he did not find the gods from his house. Then he went into Rachel’s tent.
34. Rachel had hidden the gods inside her camel’s saddle, and she was sitting on them. Laban looked through the whole tent, but he did not find the gods.
35. And Rachel said to her father, “Father, don’t be angry with me. I am not able to stand up before you. I am having my monthly time of bleeding.” So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find the gods from his house.
36. Then Jacob became very angry and said, “What wrong have I done? What law have I broken? What right do you have to chase me and stop me?