³ Then Jacob ^(A)sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of ^(B)Seir, the ^[a]country of ^(C)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 ^(D)stayed until now; ⁵ and ^(E)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, ^(F)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 ^(G)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(H)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 ^[b]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob said, “^(I)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘^(J)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^[c]make you prosper,’ ^10 [d]I am unworthy ^(K)of all the ^[e]favor and of all the ^[f]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 (L)Save me, please, ^(M)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^[g]attack me and the ^(N)mothers with the children. ¹² For You said, ‘^(O)I will assuredly ^[h]make you prosper and ^(P)make your ^[i]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”

¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he ^[j]selected from what ^[k]he had with him a ^(Q)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 ^[l]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 ^[m]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 ^(R)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 ^(S)wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of ^[n]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, “^(T)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 ^(U)he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[o]Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ And ^(V)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 ^[p]Peniel, for he said, “^(W)I have seen God face to face, yet my ^[q]life has been ^[r]spared.”

Signs of Christ’s Return

24 ^(A)Jesus ^(B)left the temple area and was going on His way ^[a]when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ² But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^(C)not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³ And as He was sitting on ^(D)the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^(E)Your coming, and of the ^[b]end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(F)See to it that no one ^[c]misleads you. ⁵ For ^(G)many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ^[d]Christ,’ and they will ^[e]mislead many people. ⁶ And you will be hearing of ^(H)wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For ^(I)nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be ^(J)famines and earthquakes in various places. ^8 (K)But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “^(L)Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and ^(M)you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰ And at that time many will ^[f](N)fall away, and they will ^[g]betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ And many ^(O)false prophets will rise up and ^[h]mislead many people. ¹² And because lawlessness is increased, ^[i]most people’s love will become cold. ^13 (P)But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. ¹⁴ This ^(Q)gospel of the kingdom ^(R)shall be preached in the whole ^[j](S)world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Perilous Times

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ^(T)abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^(U)the holy place—^[k](V)let the ^[l]reader understand— ¹⁶ then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ^17 [m]Whoever is on ^(W)the ^[n]housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. ¹⁸ And ^[o]whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ But ^(X)woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ Moreover, pray that ^[p]when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be a ^(Y)great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again. ²² And if those days had not been cut short, no ^[q]life would have been saved; but for ^(Z)the sake of the ^[r]elect those days will be cut short. ^23 (AA)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ^[s]Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false christs and ^(AB)false prophets will arise and will provide great ^[t](AC)signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even ^(AD)the ^[u]elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ^27 (AE)For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the ^(AF)coming of the ^(AG)Son of Man ^[v]be. ^28 (AH)Wherever the corpse is, there the ^[w]vultures will gather.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(A)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ^[a]among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women. ² He put the slave women and their children ^[b]in front, and Leah and her children ^[c]next, and Rachel and Joseph ^[d]last. ³ But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^(B)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 ^(C)fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ He raised his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “^[e]Who are these with you?” So he said, “^(D)The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the slave women came forward ^[f]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 ^(E)all this company which I have met?” And he said, “^(F)To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “^(G)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, ^[g]for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my ^[h](H)gift which has been brought to you, ^(I)because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ^[i]plenty.” So he urged him, and he accepted it.

¹² Then ^[j]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 ^[k]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 ^(J)Seir.”

¹⁵ Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “^[l]What need is there? ^(K)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 ^[m](L)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 ^(M)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(N)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ^19 (O)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 ^[n]pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ^[o]El-Elohe-Israel.

Be Subject to Government

13 Every ^[a](A)person is to be ^(B)subject to the governing authorities. For ^(C)there is no authority except ^[b]from God, and those which exist are established by God. ² Therefore ^[c]whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. ³ For ^(D)rulers are not a cause of fear for ^[d]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; ⁴ for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an ^(E)avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. ⁵ Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also ^(F)for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. ^7 (G)Pay to all what is due them: ^(H)tax to whom tax is due; ^(I)custom to whom custom; ^[e]respect to whom ^[f]respect; honor to whom honor.

⁸ Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for ^(J)the one who loves ^[g]his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. ⁹ For this, “^(K)You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “^(L)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love ^[h]does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^(M)love is the fulfillment of the Law.

¹¹ Do this, knowing the time, that it is ^(N)already the hour for you to ^(O)awaken from sleep; for now ^[i]salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. ^12 (P)The night is almost gone, and ^(Q)the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of ^(R)the deeds of darkness and put on ^(S)the armor of light. ¹³ Let’s ^[j](T)behave properly as in the day, ^(U)not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But ^(V)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh ^(W)in regard to its lusts.