38. "I've been with you for 20 years now. The little ones of your sheep and goats were not dead when they were born. I haven't eaten rams from your flocks.
39. I didn't bring you animals that were torn apart by wild beasts. I made up for the loss myself. Also, you made me pay for anything that was stolen by day or night.
40. "And what was my life like? The heat burned me in the daytime. And it was so cold at night that I froze. I couldn't sleep.
41. That's what it was like for the 20 years I was living with you. "I worked for 14 years to get your two daughters. I worked for six years to get my share of your flocks. You changed my pay ten times.
42. "But the God of my father was with me. He is the God of Abraham and the God Isaac worshiped. If he hadn't been with me, you would certainly have sent me away without anything to show for all of my work. But God has seen my hard times. He has seen all of the work my hands have done. So last night he warned you."
43. Laban answered Jacob, "The women are my daughters. The children are my children. The flocks are my flocks. Everything you see is mine. But what can I do today about these daughters of mine? What can I do about the children they've had?
44. "Come now. Let's make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between us."