Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Now ^[a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ^[b]wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^[c]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “^(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and ^(B)I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and said to them, “^(C)I see your father’s ^[d]attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but ^(D)the God of my father has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has ^(F)cheated me and ^(G)changed my wages ten times; however, ^(H)God did not allow him to do me harm. ⁸ If ^(I)he said this: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered speckled; and if he said this: ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered striped. ⁹ So God has ^(J)taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ And it came about at the time when the flock was breeding that I raised my eyes and saw in a dream—and behold—the male goats that were ^[e]mating were striped, speckled, or mottled. ¹¹ Then ^(K)the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are ^[f]mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for ^(L)I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am ^(M)the God of Bethel, where you ^(N)anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ^[g]leave this land, and ^(O)return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(P)he has sold us, and has also ^[h]entirely consumed our ^[i]purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he possessed which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, ^(Q)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the ^[j](R)household idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[k]deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set ^[l]out for the hill country of ^(S)Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² When Laban was informed on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ However, ^(T)God came to Laban the Aramean in a ^(U)dream of the night and said to him, “^[m](V)Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done ^[n]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly and ^[o]deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with ^(W)tambourine and with ^(X)lyre; ²⁸ and did not allow me ^(Y)to kiss my ^[p]grandchildren and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is in ^[q]my power to do you harm, but ^(Z)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘^[r](AA)Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ ³⁰ Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal ^(AB)my gods?” ³¹ Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (AC)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives ^[s]point out what is yours ^[t]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the ^[u]household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. So Laban searched through all the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “May my lord not be angry that I cannot ^(AD)stand in your presence, because the ^[v]way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the ^[w](AE)household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ Though you have searched through all my property, what have you found of all your household property? Set it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide between the two of us. ³⁸ For these twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ I did not even bring to you that which was torn by wild animals; I took the loss myself. You demanded it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ This is how I was: by day the ^[x]heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ For these twenty years I have been in your house; ^(AF)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you ^(AG)changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If ^(AH)the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(AI)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, so He ^(AJ)rendered judgment last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

⁴³ Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the ^[y]children are my ^[z]grandchildren, ^(AK)the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ So now come, let’s ^(AL)make a covenant, ^[aa]you and I, and ^(AM)it shall be a witness between ^[ab]you and me.” ⁴⁵ Then Jacob took ^(AN)a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Now Laban ^(AO)called it ^[ac]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[ad]Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “^(AP)This heap is a witness between ^[ae]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, ⁴⁹ and ^[af](AQ)Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord keep watch between ^[ag]you and me when we are ^[ah]absent one from the other. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(AR)God is witness between ^[ai]you and me.” ⁵¹ Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between ^[aj]you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this memorial stone to me, for harm. ^53 (AS)The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, ^(AT)judge between us.” So Jacob swore by ^(AU)the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob ^(AV)offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to ^[ak]the meal; and they ate ^[al]the meal and spent the night on the mountain. ^55 [am]Then early in the morning Laban got up, and ^(AW)kissed his ^[an]grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32 Now as Jacob went on his way, ^(AX)the angels of God met him. ² And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s ^[ao]camp.” So he named that place ^[ap](AY)Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob ^(AZ)sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of ^(BA)Seir, the ^[aq]country of ^(BB)Edom. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and ^(BC)stayed until now; ⁵ and ^(BD)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, ^(BE)so that I may find favor in your sight.”’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ^(BF)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(BG)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[ar]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob said, “^(BH)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘^(BI)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^[as]make you prosper,’ ^10 [at]I am unworthy ^(BJ)of all the ^[au]favor and of all the ^[av]faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (BK)Save me, please, ^(BL)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^[aw]attack me and the ^(BM)mothers with the children. ¹² For You said, ‘^(BN)I will assuredly ^[ax]make you prosper and ^(BO)make your ^[ay]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”

¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he ^[az]selected from what ^[ba]he had with him a ^(BP)gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ Then he placed them in the ^[bb]care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.” ¹⁷ And he commanded the ^[bc]one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the ^(BQ)Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^(BR)wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of ^[bd]Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “^(BS)I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then ^(BT)he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[be]Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ And ^(BU)Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place ^[bf]Peniel, for he said, “^(BV)I have seen God face to face, yet my ^[bg]life has been ^[bh]spared.” ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^(BW)Penuel, and he was limping on his hip. ³² Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the tendon of the hip.

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the music director. A Psalm of David.

Jesus Teaches in Parables

13 On that day Jesus had gone out of ^(A)the house and was sitting ^(B)by the sea. ² And large crowds gathered to Him, so ^(C)He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³ And He told them many things in ^(D)parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell ^[a]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸ But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a ^(E)hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much. ^9 (F)The one who has ears, ^[b]let him hear.”

An Explanation for Parables

¹⁰ And the disciples came up and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And ^[c]Jesus answered them, “^(G)To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ^12 (H)For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^(I)seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And ^[d]in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

^16 (L)But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I say to you that ^(M)many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Sower Explained

¹⁸ “^(N)Listen then to the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears ^(O)the ^[i]word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ^(P)the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road. ²⁰ The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the ^[j]word, immediately he ^[k](Q)falls away. ²² And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of ^(R)the ^[l]world and the ^(S)deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it ^[m]becomes unfruitful. ²³ But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some ^(T)a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.”

Weeds among Wheat

²⁴ Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “^(U)The kingdom of heaven ^[n]is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed ^[o]weeds among the wheat, and left. ²⁶ And when the ^[p]wheat sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also became evident. ²⁷ And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? ^[q]How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸ And he said to them, ‘^[r]An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he *said, ‘No; while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them; but ^(V)gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Mustard Seed

³¹ He presented another parable to them, saying, “^(W)The kingdom of heaven is like ^(X)a mustard seed, which a person took and sowed in his field; ³² and this is smaller than all the other seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that ^(Y)the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

The Leaven

³³ He spoke another parable to them: “^(Z)The kingdom of heaven is like ^[s]leaven, which a woman took and hid in ^(AA)three ^[t]sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

³⁴ All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak anything to them ^(AB)without a parable. ³⁵ This was so that what was spoken through the prophet would be ^[u]fulfilled:

The Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then He left the crowds and went into ^(AD)the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “^(AE)Explain to us the parable of the ^[v]weeds of the field.” ³⁷ And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is ^(AF)the Son of Man, ³⁸ and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are ^(AG)the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are ^(AH)the sons of ^(AI)the evil one; ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is ^(AJ)the ^[w]end of the age; and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at ^(AK)the ^[x]end of the age. ^41 (AL)The Son of Man ^(AM)will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom ^[y]all ^(AN)stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, ⁴² and they ^(AO)will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place ^(AP)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ^43 (AQ)Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ^(AR)The one who has ears, ^[z]let him hear.

Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴ “^(AS)The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from ^[aa]joy over it he goes and ^(AT)sells everything that he has, and buys that field.

A Costly Pearl

⁴⁵ “Again, ^(AU)the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything that he had and bought it.

A Dragnet

⁴⁷ “Again, ^(AV)the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ and when it was filled, they pulled it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at ^(AW)the ^[ab]end of the age: the angels will come forth and remove the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and they ^(AX)will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place ^(AY)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” ⁵² And ^[ac]Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure new things and old.”

Jesus Revisits Nazareth

^53 (AZ)When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. ⁵⁴ And ^(BA)He came to ^[ad]His hometown and ^(BB)began teaching them in their synagogue, with the result that ^(BC)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man acquire this wisdom and these ^[ae]miraculous powers? ⁵⁵ Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is ^(BD)His mother not called Mary, and His ^(BE)brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶ And ^(BF)His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man acquire all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took ^(BG)offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “^(BH)A prophet is not dishonored except in his ^[af]hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And He did not do many ^[ag]miracles there because of their unbelief.