Jacob Meets Esau

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(A)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ² And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on before them, ^(B)bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

^4 (C)But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him ^(D)and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, ^(E)“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by ^(F)all this company^[a] that I met?” Jacob answered, ^(G)“To find favour in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favour in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. ^(H)For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept my ^(I)blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he ^(J)urged him, and he took it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of^[b] you.” ¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord ^(K)in Seir.”

¹⁵ So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? ^(L)Let me find favour in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to ^(M)Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^(N)Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.^[c]

¹⁸ And Jacob came safely^[d] to the city of ^(O)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. ¹⁹ And from the sons of ^(P)Hamor, Shechem's father, ^(Q)he bought for a hundred pieces of money^[e] the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.^[f]

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again ^(A)he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ^(B)so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And ^(C)he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! ^(D)A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And ^(E)when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^(F)it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among ^(G)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^(H)a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, ^(I)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And ^(J)when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, ^(K)“To you has been given ^(L)the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^(M)those outside everything is in parables, ^12 (N)so that

^13 (Q)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ^14 (R)The sower sows ^(S)the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it ^(T)with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but ^(U)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(V)they fall away.^{[a] 18} And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but ^(W)the cares of ^(X)the world and ^(Y)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ^(Z)bear fruit, ^(AA)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp Under a Basket

^21 (AB)And he said to them, ^(AC)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ^22 (AD)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ^23 (AE)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(AF)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ^25 (AG)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶ And he said, ^(AH)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(AI)he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(AJ)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (AK)And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like ^(AL)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

^33 (AM)With many such parables he spoke ^(AN)the word to them, ^(AO)as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them ^(AP)without a parable, but ^(AQ)privately to his own disciples he ^(AR)explained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35 (AS)On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves ^(AT)were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and ^(AU)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and ^(AV)there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you ^(AW)so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ^(AX)“Who then is this, that even ^(AY)the wind and the sea obey him?”

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

9 ^(A)Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, ^(B)on the thirteenth day of the same, ^(C)when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, ^(D)on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. ^2 (E)The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, ^(F)for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. ³ All the officials of the provinces and ^(G)the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew ^(H)more and more powerful. ⁵ The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, ⁷ and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha ⁸ and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha ⁹ and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, ^10 (I)the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, ^(J)the enemy of the Jews, ^(K)but they laid no hand on the plunder.

¹¹ That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king. ¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! ^(L)Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” ¹³ And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed ^(M)tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”^{[a] 14} So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. ¹⁵ The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.

^16 (N)Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also ^(O)gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder. ¹⁷ This was ^(P)on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa gathered ^(Q)on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested ^(R)on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in ^(S)the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as ^(T)a holiday, and ^(U)as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Inaugurated

²⁰ And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, ²² as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into ^(V)a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³ So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ^(W)the enemy of all the Jews, ^(X)had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and ^(Y)had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing ^(Z)that his evil plan which he had devised against the Jews ^(AA)should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.^{[b] 26} Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term ^(AB)Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in ^(AC)this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews firmly bound themselves and their offspring and ^(AD)all who joined them, that without fail they would keep ^(AE)these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, ²⁸ that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

²⁹ Then Queen Esther, ^(AF)the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming ^(AG)this second letter about Purim. ³⁰ Letters were sent to all the Jews, ^(AH)to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, ³¹ that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther bound them, and as they had bound themselves and their offspring, with regard to ^(AI)their fasts and their lamenting. ³² The command of Queen Esther confirmed these practices of ^(AJ)Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

The Greatness of Mordecai

10 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on ^(A)the coastlands of the sea. ² And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honour of Mordecai, ^(B)to which the king advanced him, are they not written in ^(C)the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ For Mordecai the Jew was ^(D)second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he ^(E)sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.