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 ^(A)wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^(B)countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not ^(C)favorable toward him as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(D)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will ^(E)be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, ⁵ and said to them, ^(F)“I see your father’s ^[a]countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father ^(G)has been with me. ⁶ And ^(H)you know that with all my might I have served your father. ⁷ Yet your father has deceived me and ^(I)changed my wages ^(J)ten times, but God ^(K)did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said thus: ^(L)‘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 ^(M)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 ^(N)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 ^(O)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, ^(P)where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now ^(Q)arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’ ”

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, ^(R)“Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not considered strangers by him? For ^(S)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.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of ^(T)Canaan. ¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen the ^(U)household^[b] idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river, and ^(V)headed^[c] toward the mountains of Gilead.

¹³ “But ^(A)woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ^14 [a]Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(B)For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of ^[b]hell as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, ^(C)blind guides, who say, ^(D)‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁷ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold ^(E)or the temple that ^[c]sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ ¹⁹ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift ^(F)or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰ Therefore he who ^[d]swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. ²¹ He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by ^(G)Him who ^[e]dwells in it. ²² And he who swears by heaven, swears by ^(H)the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(I)For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and ^(J)have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(K)For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[f]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(L)For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

^29 (M)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and ^[g]adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that ^(N)you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ^32 (O)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³ Serpents, ^(P)brood^[h] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ^34 (Q)Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: ^(R)some of them you will kill and crucify, and ^(S)some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ^35 (T)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^(U)from the blood of righteous Abel to ^(V)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem^(W)

^37 (X)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets ^(Y)and stones those who are sent to her! How often ^(Z)I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks ^(AA)under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸ See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹ for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ^(AB)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² And Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. ²³ Then he took ^(A)his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. ²⁴ But God ^(B)had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you ^(C)speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.”

²⁵ So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead.

²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and ^(D)carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? ²⁸ And you did not allow me ^(E)to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now ^(F)you have done foolishly in so doing. ²⁹ It is in my power to do you harm, but the ^(G)God of your father spoke to me ^(H)last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.’ ³⁰ And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you ^(I)steal my gods?”

³¹ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was ^(J)afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ ³² With whomever you find your gods, ^(K)do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, 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 ^[a]household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban ^[b]searched all about the tent but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot ^(L)rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the ^[c]household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: “What is my ^[d]trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? ³⁷ Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! ³⁸ These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. ^39 (M)That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. ^(N)You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. ⁴¹ Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I ^(O)served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and ^(P)you have changed my wages ten times. ^42 (Q)Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and ^(R)the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(S)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and ^(T)rebuked you last night.”

Laban’s Covenant with Jacob

⁴³ And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Now therefore, come, ^(U)let us make a ^[e]covenant, ^(V)you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(W)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it ^[f]Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[g]Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, ^(X)“This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, ⁴⁹ also ^(Y)Mizpah,^[h] because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father ^(Z)judge between us.” And Jacob ^(AA)swore by ^(AB)the ^[i]Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban arose, and ^(AC)kissed his sons and daughters and ^(AD)blessed them. Then Laban departed and ^(AE)returned to his place.

Esau Comes to Meet Jacob

32 So Jacob went on his way, and ^(AF)the angels of God met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s ^(AG)camp.” And he called the name of that place ^[j]Mahanaim.

Living Sacrifices to God

12 I ^(A)beseech^[a] you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies ^(B)a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your ^[b]reasonable service. ² And ^(C)do not be conformed to this world, but ^(D)be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may ^(E)prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

³ For I say, ^(F)through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, ^(G)not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt ^(H)to each one a measure of faith. ⁴ For ^(I)as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so ^(J)we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is ^(K)given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us ^(L)prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; ^(M)he who teaches, in teaching; ^8 (N)he who exhorts, in exhortation; ^(O)he who gives, with liberality; ^(P)he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, ^(Q)with cheerfulness.

Behave Like a Christian

^9 (R)Let love be without hypocrisy. ^(S)Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ^10 (T)Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, ^(U)in honor giving preference to one another; ¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ^12 (V)rejoicing in hope, ^(W)patient^[c] in tribulation, ^(X)continuing steadfastly in prayer; ^13 (Y)distributing to the needs of the saints, ^(Z)given^[d] to hospitality.

^14 (AA)Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ^15 (AB)Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ^16 (AC)Be of the same mind toward one another. ^(AD)Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

^17 (AE)Repay no one evil for evil. ^(AF)Have^[e] regard for good things in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, ^(AG)live peaceably with all men. ¹⁹ Beloved, ^(AH)do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ^(AI)“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ Therefore

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but ^(AK)overcome evil with good.