Jacob Sent to Laban

28 Then Isaac called Jacob ^(A)and blessed him and directed him, ^(B)“You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. ^2 (C)Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of ^(D)Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. ^3 (E)God Almighty^[a] bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴ May he give ^(F)the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of ^(G)the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” ⁵ Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

Esau Marries an Ishmaelite

⁶ Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So when Esau saw ^(H)that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, ⁹ Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, ^(I)Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of ^(J)Nebaioth.

Jacob's Dream

¹⁰ Jacob left ^(K)Beersheba and went toward ^(L)Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² And he ^(M)dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder^[b] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, ^(N)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ¹³ And behold, ^(O)the Lord stood above it^[c] and said, ^(P)“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^(Q)The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like ^(R)the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and ^(S)your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, ^(T)I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and ^(U)will bring you back to this land. For I will ^(V)not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is ^(W)in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up ^(X)for a pillar ^(Y)and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place ^(Z)Bethel,^[d] but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Then Jacob ^(AA)made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ^21 (AB)so that I come again to my father's house in peace, ^(AC)then the Lord shall be my God, ²² and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, ^(AD)shall be God's house. And ^(AE)of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

The Resurrection

28 ^(A)Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and ^(B)the other Mary went to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for ^(C)an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ^3 (D)His appearance was like lightning, and ^(E)his clothing white as snow. ⁴ And for fear of him the guards trembled and ^(F)became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has risen, ^(G)as he said. Come, see the place where he^[a] lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, ^(H)he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” ⁸ So they departed quickly from the tomb ^(I)with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ And behold, Jesus ^(J)met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and ^(K)took hold of his feet and ^(L)worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; ^(M)go and tell ^(N)my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The Report of the Guard

¹¹ While they were going, behold, some of ^(O)the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. ¹² And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers ¹³ and said, “Tell people, ^(P)‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴ And if this comes to ^(Q)the governor's ears, we will ^(R)satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews ^(S)to this day.

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples ^(T)went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they ^(U)worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, ^(V)“All authority ^(W)in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ^19 (X)Go therefore and ^(Y)make disciples of ^(Z)all nations, ^(AA)baptizing them ^(AB)in^{[b] (AC)}the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them ^(AD)to observe all that ^(AE)I have commanded you. And behold, ^(AF)I am with you always, to ^(AG)the end of the age.”

Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

4 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes ^(A)and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. ² He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. ³ And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, ^(B)with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them ^(C)lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ When Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵ Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. ⁶ Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate, ⁷ and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, ^(D)and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸ Mordecai also gave him ^(E)a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction,^[a] that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him^[b] on behalf of her people. ⁹ And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, ¹¹ “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside ^(F)the inner court without being called, ^(G)there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one ^(H)to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

¹² And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. ¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for ^(I)three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, ^(J)and if I perish, I perish.”^{[c] 17} Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.