²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, ^(A)“I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

^8 (A)Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, ^(B)“My grace is sufficient for you, for ^(C)my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that ^(D)the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Make Your Face Shine upon Us

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

¹⁰ Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm^[a] so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ^(A)always to pray and not ^(B)lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who ^(C)neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ^(D)‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And ^(E)will not God give justice to ^(F)his elect, ^(G)who cry to him day and night? ^(H)(I)Will he delay long over them?

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than ^(A)conquerors through ^(B)him who loved us.

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. ^(A)He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and ^(B)the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.