So Jacob cornered Laban and asked him to set him free, because Jacob wanted to go back to Canaan with everything he had. He wanted his own place.
Laban didn't like the sound of that, because Laban knew that he was living under God's goodwill as long as Jacob was with him.
So he tried to convince Jacob to stay. He offered Jacob any wage that Jacob wanted. Jacob replied that he knew how well God had taken care of Laban and how rich Laban had gotten, but he, Jacob was on his way. He then made a deal with Laban.
He said to Laban: 'I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and the speckled among the goats ... and they will be my wage. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face ... every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep ... that shall be counted stolen by me.'
Laban agreed to the deal. But he immediately went and removed every single animal that had speckles, or spots or are brown, and put them under the care of his sons, about 3 day's ride from where Jacob was taking care of the other animals.
When Jacob realized what game Laban was playing, he took rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree ... and pilled white streaks in them, and made the colored rods appear white. He then set the rods in the gutters in the watering troughs ... so when the flock came to drink they absorb what was in their water.
When the flocks conceived later, they brought forth offspring ringstreaked, speckled and spotted. He kept his flock apart from Laban, and whenever he spotted good cattle in Laban's camp, he would feed them his muti, and they would bare him speckled and spotted cattle.
And he increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and men servants.
Laban's son's got very jealous of Jacob ... Jacob overheard them and he then noticed that Laban too wasn't as friendly as he used to be.
Jacob knew that the time had come for him to move on ... fast!
And then The Lord visited Jacob and said to him: 'Return to the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.'
So Jacob called his wives and told them the whole story of how their father, Laban, kept cheating him, Jacob ... and that Laban and his sons were treating him with jealousy and rudeness. He also told them that The Lord spoke to him and what He had said to Jacob.
Leah and Rachel immediately sided with their husband and said to him to do what God told him to do.
So he packed all his stuff ... and he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting which he had gotten in Padan-aram ... for to go to Isaac, his father in the land of Canaan.
He left quietly and quickly, without telling Laban.
When Laban found out that Jacob had left 3 days earlier, he took his brothers and pursued Jacob ... he caught up with Jacob in 7 days.
Source: Genesis Chapter 31
