The Lord Reigns

The Lord Our God Is Holy

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

A Psalm for ^(A)giving thanks.

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has gained all this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw ^(A)that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, ^(B)“Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was ⁵ and said to them, ^(C)“I see that your father does not regard me with favor as he did before. But the God of my father ^(D)has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength, ⁷ yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ^(F)ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸ If he said, ^(G)‘The spotted shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore spotted; and if he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹ Thus God has ^(H)taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. ¹⁰ In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. ¹¹ Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ ¹² And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for ^(I)I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, ^(J)where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now ^(K)arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” ¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there ^(L)any portion or inheritance left to us in our father's house? ¹⁵ Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For ^(M)he has sold us, and he has indeed devoured our money. ¹⁶ All the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.”

¹⁷ So Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock, all his property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in ^(N)Paddan-aram, to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's ^(O)household gods. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked^[a] Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee. ²¹ He fled with all that he had and arose and crossed the ^(P)Euphrates,^[b] and ^(Q)set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

²² When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him for seven days and followed close after him into the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean ^(R)in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, ^(S)either good or bad.”

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, ^(A)we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ^2 (B)He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but ^(C)also for the sins of the whole world. ³ And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we ^(D)keep his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments ^(E)is a liar, and ^(F)the truth is not in him, ⁵ but whoever ^(G)keeps his word, in him truly ^(H)the love of God is perfected. ^(I)By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he ^(J)abides in him ^(K)ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The New Commandment

⁷ Beloved, I am writing you ^(L)no new commandment, but ^(M)an old commandment ^(N)that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. ⁸ At the same time, it is ^(O)a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because^{[a] (P)}the darkness is passing away and ^(Q)the true light is already shining. ⁹ Whoever says he is in the light and ^(R)hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him^[b] there is no ^(S)cause for stumbling. ¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and ^(T)walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

^18 (A)The Jews^[a] did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things ^(B)because they feared the Jews, for ^(C)the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should ^(D)confess Jesus^[b] to be Christ, ^(E)he was to be put out of the synagogue. ²³ Therefore his parents said, ^(F)“He is of age; ask him.”)

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^(G)“Give glory to God. We know that ^(H)this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I ^(I)was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, ^(J)“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but ^(K)we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ^(L)we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is ^(M)an amazing thing! ^(N)You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that ^(O)God does not listen to sinners, but ^(P)if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ^33 (Q)If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, ^(R)“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they ^(S)cast him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in ^(T)the Son of Man?”^{[c] 36} He answered, ^(U)“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and ^(V)it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, ^(W)“For judgment I came into this world, ^(X)that those who do not see may see, and ^(Y)those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ^(Z)“Are we also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, ^(AA)you would have no guilt;^[d] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.