Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Now ^[a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ^[b]wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^[c]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as it had been before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “^(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and ^(B)I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and said to them, “^(C)I see your father’s ^[d]attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as it was before, but ^(D)the God of my father has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has ^(F)cheated me and ^(G)changed my wages ten times; however, ^(H)God did not allow him to do me harm. ⁸ If ^(I)he said this: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered speckled; and if he said this: ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock delivered striped. ⁹ So God has ^(J)taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ And it came about at the time when the flock was breeding that I raised my eyes and saw in a dream—and behold—the male goats that were ^[e]mating were striped, speckled, or mottled. ¹¹ Then ^(K)the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are ^[f]mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for ^(L)I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am ^(M)the God of Bethel, where you ^(N)anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ^[g]leave this land, and ^(O)return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(P)he has sold us, and has also ^[h]entirely consumed our ^[i]purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob stood up and put his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸ and he drove away all his livestock and all his property which he had acquired, the livestock he possessed which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, ^(Q)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the ^[j](R)household idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[k]deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he got up and crossed the Euphrates River, and set ^[l]out for the hill country of ^(S)Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² When Laban was informed on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ However, ^(T)God came to Laban the Aramean in a ^(U)dream of the night and said to him, “^[m](V)Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ And Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done ^[n]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly and ^[o]deceive me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with ^(W)tambourine and with ^(X)lyre; ²⁸ and did not allow me ^(Y)to kiss my ^[p]grandchildren and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is in ^[q]my power to do you harm, but ^(Z)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘^[r](AA)Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ ³⁰ Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal ^(AB)my gods?” ³¹ Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (AC)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives ^[s]point out what is yours ^[t]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” 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 slave women, 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 ^[u]household idols and put them in the camel’s saddlebag, and she sat on them. So Laban searched through all the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵ And she said to her father, “May my lord not be angry that I cannot ^(AD)stand in your presence, because the ^[v]way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the ^[w](AE)household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷ Though you have searched through all my property, what have you found of all your household property? Set it here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they may decide between the two of us. ³⁸ For these twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹ I did not even bring to you that which was torn by wild animals; I took the loss myself. You demanded it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ This is how I was: by day the ^[x]heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ For these twenty years I have been in your house; ^(AF)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you ^(AG)changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If ^(AH)the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(AI)God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, so He ^(AJ)rendered judgment last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

⁴³ Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the ^[y]children are my ^[z]grandchildren, ^(AK)the flocks are my flocks, and everything that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ So now come, let’s ^(AL)make a covenant, ^[aa]you and I, and ^(AM)it shall be a witness between ^[ab]you and me.” ⁴⁵ Then Jacob took ^(AN)a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Now Laban ^(AO)called it ^[ac]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[ad]Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “^(AP)This heap is a witness between ^[ae]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, ⁴⁹ and ^[af](AQ)Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord keep watch between ^[ag]you and me when we are ^[ah]absent one from the other. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(AR)God is witness between ^[ai]you and me.” ⁵¹ Laban also said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the memorial stone which I have set between ^[aj]you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and the memorial stone is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this memorial stone to me, for harm. ^53 (AS)The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, ^(AT)judge between us.” So Jacob swore by ^(AU)the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob ^(AV)offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his relatives to ^[ak]the meal; and they ate ^[al]the meal and spent the night on the mountain. ^55 [am]Then early in the morning Laban got up, and ^(AW)kissed his ^[an]grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32 Now as Jacob went on his way, ^(AX)the angels of God met him. ² And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s ^[ao]camp.” So he named that place ^[ap](AY)Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob ^(AZ)sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of ^(BA)Seir, the ^[aq]country of ^(BB)Edom. ⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and ^(BC)stayed until now; ⁵ and ^(BD)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, ^(BE)so that I may find favor in your sight.”’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ^(BF)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(BG)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[ar]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob said, “^(BH)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘^(BI)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^[as]make you prosper,’ ^10 [at]I am unworthy ^(BJ)of all the ^[au]favor and of all the ^[av]faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (BK)Save me, please, ^(BL)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^[aw]attack me and the ^(BM)mothers with the children. ¹² For You said, ‘^(BN)I will assuredly ^[ax]make you prosper and ^(BO)make your ^[ay]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”

¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he ^[az]selected from what ^[ba]he had with him a ^(BP)gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ Then he placed them in the ^[bb]care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.” ¹⁷ And he commanded the ^[bc]one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the ^(BQ)Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^(BR)wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of ^[bd]Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “^(BS)I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then ^(BT)he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[be]Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ And ^(BU)Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place ^[bf]Peniel, for he said, “^(BV)I have seen God face to face, yet my ^[bg]life has been ^[bh]spared.” ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^(BW)Penuel, and he was limping on his hip. ³² Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the tendon of the hip.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(BX)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ^[bi]among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women. ² He put the slave women and their children ^[bj]in front, and Leah and her children ^[bk]next, and Rachel and Joseph ^[bl]last. ³ But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^(BY)bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and ^(BZ)fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ He raised his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “^[bm]Who are these with you?” So he said, “^(CA)The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the slave women came forward ^[bn]with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ And Leah likewise came forward with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed down. ⁸ And he said, “What do you mean by ^(CB)all this company which I have met?” And he said, “^(CC)To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “^(CD)I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, ^[bo]for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my ^[bp](CE)gift which has been brought to you, ^(CF)because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ^[bq]plenty.” So he urged him, and he accepted it.

¹² Then ^[br]Esau said, “Let’s journey on and go, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³ But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds that are nursing are ^[bs]a matter of concern to me. And if they are driven hard just one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, at the pace of the cattle that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^(CG)Seir.”

¹⁵ Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “^[bt]What need is there? ^(CH)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^[bu](CI)Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^(CJ)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(CK)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ^19 (CL)He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ^[bv]pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ^[bw]El-Elohe-Israel.

Call to Repent

13 Now on that very occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood ^(A)Pilate had ^[a]mixed with their sacrifices. ² And Jesus responded and said to them, “^(B)Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans just because they have suffered this fate? ³ No, I tell you, but unless you ^[b]repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴ Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in ^(C)Siloam fell and killed them were worse ^[c](D)offenders than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

⁶ And He began telling this parable: “A man had ^(E)a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. ⁷ And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Look! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree ^[d]without finding any. ^(F)Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ ⁸ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; ⁹ and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

Healing on the Sabbath

¹⁰ Now Jesus was ^(G)teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And ^[e]there was a woman who for eighteen years had had ^(H)a ^[f]sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent over double, and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” ¹³ And He ^(I)laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood up straight again, and began ^(J)glorifying God. ¹⁴ But ^(K)the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus ^(L)had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “^(M)There are six days during which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ But ^(N)the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, ^(O)does each of you on the Sabbath not untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ And this woman, ^(P)a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom ^(Q)Satan has bound for ^[g]eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this restraint on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷ And as He said this, all His opponents were being ^[h]humiliated; and ^(R)the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Parables of Mustard Seed and Leaven

¹⁸ So ^(S)He was saying, “^(T)What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and ^(U)the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”

²⁰ And again He said, “^(V)To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ^21 (W)It is like ^[i]leaven, which a woman took and hid in ^(X)three ^[j]sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

Teaching in the Villages

²² And He was passing through one city and village after another, teaching, and ^(Y)proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. ²³ And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, ²⁴ “^(Z)Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ Once the head of the house gets up and ^(AA)shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, ‘^(AB)Lord, open up to us!’ and He then will answer and say to you, ‘^(AC)I do not know where you are from.’ ²⁶ Then you will ^(AD)begin saying, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets!’ ²⁷ And yet He will ^[k]say, ‘^(AE)I do not know where you are from; ^(AF)leave Me, all you ^[l]evildoers.’ ^28 (AG)In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. ²⁹ And they ^(AH)will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And behold, ^(AI)some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

³¹ At that very time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away and leave this place, because ^(AJ)Herod wants to kill You.” ³² And He said to them, “Go and tell that ^[m]fox, ‘Behold, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I ^[n](AK)reach My goal.’ ³³ Nevertheless ^(AL)I must go on My journey today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a ^(AM)prophet would perish outside Jerusalem. ^34 (AN)Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ^(AO)just as a hen gathers her ^[o]young under her wings, and you were unwilling! ³⁵ Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until you say, ‘^(AP)Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!’”