Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw ^(A)that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(B)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵ and said to them, ^(C)“I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father ^(D)has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷ yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ^(F)ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸ If he said, ^(G)‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹ Thus God has ^(H)taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰ In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. ¹¹ Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ ¹² And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for ^(I)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, ^(J)where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now ^(K)arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” ¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there ^(L)any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(M)he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. ¹⁶ All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

¹⁷ So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in ^(N)Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's ^(O)household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[a] Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the ^(P)Euphrates,^[b] and ^(Q)set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

¹³ “But woe ^(A)to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you ^(B)shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you ^(C)neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.^{[a] 15} Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single ^(D)proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a ^(E)child of ^(F)hell^[b] as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to ^(G)you, ^(H)blind guides, who say, ^(I)‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or ^(J)the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by ^(K)the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or ^(L)the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by ^(M)him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by ^(N)heaven swears by ^(O)the throne of God and by ^(P)him who sits upon it.

^23 (Q)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(R)you tithe mint and dill and ^(S)cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: ^(T)justice and mercy and faithfulness. ^(U)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing ^(V)a camel!

^25 (W)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(X)you clean the outside of ^(Y)the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of ^(Z)greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of ^(AA)the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

^27 (AB)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like ^(AC)whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and ^(AD)all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also ^(AE)outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of ^(AF)hypocrisy and lawlessness.

^29 (AG)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are ^(AH)sons of those who murdered the prophets. ^32 (AI)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, ^(AJ)you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to ^(AK)hell? ^34 (AL)Therefore ^(AM)I send you ^(AN)prophets and wise men and ^(AO)scribes, ^(AP)some of whom you will kill and crucify, and ^(AQ)some you will ^(AR)flog in your synagogues and ^(AS)persecute from town to town, ³⁵ so that on you may come all ^(AT)the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^(AU)Abel to the blood of ^(AV)Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[c] whom you murdered between ^(AW)the sanctuary and ^(AX)the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, ^(AY)all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

^37 (AZ)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that ^(BA)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have ^(BB)gathered ^(BC)your children together ^(BD)as a hen gathers her brood ^(BE)under her wings, and ^(BF)you were not willing! ³⁸ See, ^(BG)your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ^(BH)‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

²² When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean ^(A)in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(B)either good or bad.”

²⁵ And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have ^(C)tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly ^(D)and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? ²⁸ And why did you not permit me ^(E)to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is ^(F)in my power to do you harm. But the ^(G)God of your^[a] father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(H)either good or bad.’ ³⁰ And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house, but why did you ^(I)steal my gods?” ³¹ Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (J)Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our kinsmen point out what I have that is yours, and take it.” 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 female servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban felt all about the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^(K)rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household gods.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and berated Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ For you have felt through all my goods; what have you found of all your household goods? Set it here before my kinsmen and ^(L)your kinsmen, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself. ^(M)From my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. ^(N)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(O)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (P)If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the ^(Q)Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(R)God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and ^(S)rebuked you last night.”

⁴³ Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Come now, ^(T)let us make a covenant, you and I. ^(U)And let it be a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(V)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,^[b] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[c] 48} Laban said, ^(W)“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, ^49 (X)and Mizpah,^[d] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. ⁵⁰ If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(Y)God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ^52 (Z)This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^(AA)Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^(AB)his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

^55 [e] Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed ^(AC)his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's ^(AD)camp!” So he called the name of that place ^(AE)Mahanaim.^[f]

A Living Sacrifice

12 ^(A)I appeal to you therefore, brothers,^[a] by the mercies of God, ^(B)to present your bodies ^(C)as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.^{[b] 2 (D)}Do not be conformed to this world,^[c] but be transformed by ^(E)the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may ^(F)discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.^[d]

Gifts of Grace

³ For ^(G)by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you ^(H)not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, ^(I)each according to ^(J)the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For ^(K)as in one body we have many members,^[e] and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, ^(L)though many, ^(M)are one body in Christ, and individually ^(N)members one of another. ^6 (O)Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if ^(P)prophecy, ^(Q)in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if ^(R)service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; ^(S)the one who leads,^[f] with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with ^(T)cheerfulness.

Marks of the True Christian

^9 (U)Let love be genuine. ^(V)Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ^10 (W)Love one another with brotherly affection. ^(X)Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, ^(Y)be fervent in spirit,^{[g] (Z)}serve the Lord. ^12 (AA)Rejoice in hope, ^(AB)be patient in tribulation, ^(AC)be constant in prayer. ^13 (AD)Contribute to the needs of the saints and ^(AE)seek to show hospitality.

^14 (AF)Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ^15 (AG)Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ^16 (AH)Live in harmony with one another. ^(AI)Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.^{[h] (AJ)}Never be wise in your own sight. ^17 (AK)Repay no one evil for evil, but ^(AL)give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, ^(AM)live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, ^(AN)never avenge yourselves, but leave it^[i] to the wrath of God, for it is written, ^(AO)“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, ^(AP)“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.