Jacob’s Children

30 Now when Rachel saw that ^(A)she bore Jacob no children, Rachel ^(B)envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, ^(C)or else I die!”

² And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, ^(D)“Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³ So she said, “Here is ^(E)my maid Bilhah; go in to her, ^(F)and she will bear a child on my knees, ^(G)that I also may ^[a]have children by her.” ⁴ Then she gave him Bilhah her maid ^(H)as wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵ And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has ^(I)judged my case; and He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name ^[b]Dan. ⁷ And Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Then Rachel said, “With ^[c]great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.” So she called his name ^[d]Naphtali.

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and ^(J)gave her to Jacob as wife. ¹⁰ And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Then Leah said, ^[e]“A troop comes!” So she called his name ^[f]Gad. ¹² And Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ Then Leah said, “I am happy, for the daughters ^(K)will call me blessed.” So she called his name ^[g]Asher.

¹⁴ Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, ^(L)“Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ But she said to her, ^(M)“Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?”

And Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ When Jacob came out of the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” And he lay with her that night.

¹⁷ And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me my wages, because I have given my maid to my husband.” So she called his name ^[h]Issachar. ¹⁹ Then Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰ And Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name ^[i]Zebulun. ²¹ Afterward she bore a ^(N)daughter, and called her name ^[j]Dinah.

²² Then God ^(O)remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and ^(P)opened her womb. ²³ And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away ^(Q)my reproach.” ²⁴ So she called his name ^[k]Joseph, and said, ^(R)“The Lord shall add to me another son.”

Jacob’s Agreement with Laban

²⁵ And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, ^(S)“Send me away, that I may go to ^(T)my own place and to my country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children ^(U)for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”

²⁷ And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for ^(V)I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” ²⁸ Then he said, ^(W)“Name me your wages, and I will give it.”

²⁹ So Jacob said to him, ^(X)“You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. ³⁰ For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you ^[l]since my coming. And now, when shall I also ^(Y)provide for my own house?”

³¹ So he said, “What shall I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks: ³² Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and ^(Z)these shall be my wages. ³³ So my ^(AA)righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me.”

³⁴ And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word!” ³⁵ So he removed that day the male goats that were ^(AB)speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶ Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Now ^(AC)Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. ³⁸ And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

⁴¹ And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴² But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ Thus the man ^(AD)became exceedingly prosperous, and ^(AE)had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this ^(AF)wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^(AG)countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not ^(AH)favorable toward him as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(AI)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will ^(AJ)be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, ⁵ and said to them, ^(AK)“I see your father’s ^[m]countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father ^(AL)has been with me. ⁶ And ^(AM)you know that with all my might I have served your father. ⁷ Yet your father has deceived me and ^(AN)changed my wages ^(AO)ten times, but God ^(AP)did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said thus: ^(AQ)‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked. ⁹ So God has ^(AR)taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰ “And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. ¹¹ Then ^(AS)the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for ^(AT)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, ^(AU)where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now ^(AV)arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ^(AW)“Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not considered strangers by him? For ^(AX)he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money. ¹⁶ For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”

The Twelve Apostles^(A)

10 And ^(B)when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. ² Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, ^(C)who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and ^[a]Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; ^4 (D)Simon the ^[b]Cananite, and Judas ^(E)Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

Sending Out the Twelve^(F)

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: ^(G)“Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of ^(H)the Samaritans. ^6 (I)But go rather to the ^(J)lost sheep of the house of Israel. ^7 (K)And as you go, preach, saying, ^(L)‘The kingdom of heaven ^[c]is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, ^[d]cleanse the lepers, ^[e]raise the dead, cast out demons. ^(M)Freely you have received, freely give. ^9 (N)Provide neither gold nor silver nor ^(O)copper in your money belts, ¹⁰ nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; ^(P)for a worker is worthy of his food.

^11 (Q)“Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. ¹² And when you go into a household, greet it. ^13 (R)If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. ^(S)But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ^14 (T)And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, ^(U)shake off the dust from your feet. ¹⁵ Assuredly, I say to you, ^(V)it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

Persecutions Are Coming^(W)

^16 (X)“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. ^(Y)Therefore be wise as serpents and ^(Z)harmless^[f] as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for ^(AA)they will deliver you up to councils and ^(AB)scourge you in their synagogues. ^18 (AC)You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ^19 (AD)But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For ^(AE)it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; ^20 (AF)for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

^21 (AG)“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² And ^(AH)you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. ^(AI)But he who endures to the end will be saved. ^23 (AJ)When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have ^(AK)gone through the cities of Israel ^(AL)before the Son of Man comes.

Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy

To the Chief Musician. ^(A)On ^[a]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.