Jacob Moves to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(A)Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to ^(B)God, who appeared to you ^(C)when you fled ^[a]from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(D)household and to all who were with him, “Remove ^(E)the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(F)purify yourselves and change your garments; ³ and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^(G)an altar there to God, ^(H)who answered me on the day of my distress and ^(I)has been with me ^[b]wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which ^[c]they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ^[d]oak which was near Shechem.

⁵ As they journeyed, there was ^[e](J)a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ So Jacob came to ^(K)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ Then ^(L)he built an altar there, and called the place ^[f]El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ^[g]from his brother. ⁸ Now ^(M)Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named ^[h]Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹ Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^(N)blessed him. ^10 (O)God said to him,

So He called ^[j]him Israel. ¹¹ God also said to him,

¹³ Then ^(U)God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴ So Jacob set up ^(V)a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^[p](W)Bethel.

¹⁶ Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to ^(X)Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor. ¹⁷ And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for ^(Y)you have another son!” ¹⁸ And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ^[q]Ben-oni; but his father called him ^[r]Benjamin. ¹⁹ So ^(Z)Rachel died and was buried on the way to ^(AA)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the ^(AB)memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day.

The Glorious Return

²⁹ “But immediately after the ^(A)tribulation of those days ^(B)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^(C)the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then ^(D)the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^(E)the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹ And ^(F)He will send forth His angels with ^(G)a great trumpet blast, and they will gather together His ^[a](H)elect from ^(I)the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Parable of the Fig Tree

³² “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near; ³³ so you too, when you see all these things, ^[b]recognize that ^[c]He is near, right ^(J)at the ^[d]door. ³⁴ Truly I say to you, ^(K)this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ^35 (L)Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶ “But ^(M)about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ³⁷ For ^[e]the ^(N)coming of the Son of Man will be ^(O)just like the days of Noah. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, ^(P)marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that ^(Q)Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they did not ^[f]understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the ^(R)coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ At that time there will be two men in the field; one ^[g]will be taken and one ^[h]will be left. ^41 (S)Two women will be grinding at the ^[i](T)mill; one ^[j]will be taken and one ^[k]will be left.

Be Ready for His Coming

⁴² “Therefore ^(U)be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But ^[l]be sure of this, that ^(V)if the head of the house had known ^(W)at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁴ For this reason ^(X)you must be ready as well; for ^(Y)the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵ “^(Z)Who then is the ^(AA)faithful and ^(AB)sensible slave whom his ^[m]master ^(AC)put in charge of his household slaves, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that slave whom his ^[n]master finds so doing when he comes. ⁴⁷ Truly I say to you that ^(AD)he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My ^[o]master ^[p]is not coming for a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with those habitually drunk; ⁵⁰ then the ^[q]master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know, ⁵¹ and he will ^[r]cut him in two and assign ^[s]him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be ^(AE)weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Joseph’s Dreams

37 Now Jacob lived in ^(A)the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan. ² These are the records of the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, when he was ^(B)seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, while he was still a youth, along with ^(C)the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a ^(D)bad report about them to their father. ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was ^(E)the son of his old age; and he made him a ^[a](F)multicolored tunic. ⁴ And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they ^(G)hated him and could not speak to him ^[b]on friendly terms.

⁵ Then Joseph ^[c](H)had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶ He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have ^[d]had; ⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and ^(I)bowed down to my sheaf.” ⁸ Then his brothers said to him, “^(J)Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹ Then he ^[e]had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have ^[f]had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have ^[g]had? Am I and your mother and ^(K)your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ And ^(L)his brothers were jealous of him, but his father ^(M)kept the matter in mind.

¹² Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not pasturing the flock in ^(N)Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “^[h]I will go.” ¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of ^(O)Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “^[i]What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷ Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to ^(P)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

The Plot against Joseph

^18 [j]When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they ^(Q)plotted against him to put him to death. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “^[k]Here comes this dreamer! ²⁰ Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and ^(R)we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹ But ^(S)Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands ^[l]by saying, “Let’s not ^[m]take his life.” ²² Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father. ²³ So it came about, when Joseph ^[n]reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the ^[o]multicolored tunic that was on him; ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat ^[p]a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of ^(T)Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying ^(U)labdanum resin, ^(V)balsam, and ^[q]myrrh, ^[r]on their way to bring them down to Egypt. ²⁶ And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and ^(W)cover up his blood? ^27 (X)Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then some ^(Y)Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and ^(Z)sold ^[s]him to the Ishmaelites for ^[t]twenty shekels of silver. So ^(AA)they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^(AB)tore his garments. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “^(AC)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” ³¹ So ^(AD)they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³² and they sent the ^[u]multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please ^[v]examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” ³³ Then he ^[w]examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. ^(AE)A vicious animal has devoured him; ^(AF)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ So Jacob ^(AG)tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will ^(AH)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the ^[x]Midianites ^(AI)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.

Principles of Conscience

14 Now ^(A)accept the one who is ^(B)weak ^[a]in faith, but not ^[b]to have quarrels over opinions. ^2 (C)One person has faith that he may eat all things, but the one who is ^(D)weak eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats is not to ^(E)regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to ^(F)judge the one who eats, for God has ^(G)accepted him. ^4 (H)Who are you to judge the ^[c]servant of another? To his own ^[d]master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

^5 (I)One person ^[e]values one day over another, another ^[f]values every day the same. Each person must be ^(J)fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and the one who eats, ^[g]does so with regard to the Lord, for he ^(K)gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat, and he gives thanks to God. ⁷ For not one of us ^(L)lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; ⁸ for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore ^(M)whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end ^(N)Christ died and lived again, that He might be ^(O)Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰ But as for you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you as well, why do you ^(P)regard your brother or sister with contempt? For ^(Q)we will all appear before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written:

¹² So then ^(T)each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³ Therefore let’s not ^(U)judge one another anymore, but rather ^[i]determine this: ^(V)not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s or sister’s way. ¹⁴ I know and am convinced ^[j]in the Lord Jesus that ^(W)nothing is ^[k]unclean in itself; but to the one who ^(X)thinks something is ^[l]unclean, to that person it is ^[m]unclean. ¹⁵ For if because of food your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer ^(Y)walking in accordance with love. ^(Z)Do not destroy with your choice of food that person for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore ^(AA)do not let what is for you a good thing be ^[n]spoken of as evil; ¹⁷ for the kingdom of God ^(AB)is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and ^(AC)peace and ^(AD)joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the one who ^(AE)serves Christ in this way is ^(AF)acceptable to God and approved by other people. ¹⁹ So then we ^(AG)pursue the things ^[o]which make for peace and the ^(AH)building up of one another. ^20 (AI)Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. ^(AJ)All things indeed are clean, but ^(AK)they are evil for the person who eats ^[p]and causes offense. ^21 (AL)It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles. ²² The faith which you have, have ^[q]as your own conviction before God. Happy is the one who ^(AM)does not condemn himself in what he approves. ²³ But ^(AN)the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.