30 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children,^(A) she became jealous of her sister.^(B) So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

² Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God,^(C) who has kept you from having children?”^(D)

³ Then she said, “Here is Bilhah,^(E) my servant.^(F) Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”^(G)

⁴ So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife.^(H) Jacob slept with her,^{(I) 5} and she became pregnant and bore him a son. ⁶ Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me;^(J) he has listened to my plea and given me a son.”^(K) Because of this she named him Dan.^[a](L)

⁷ Rachel’s servant Bilhah^(M) conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Then Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.”^(N) So she named him Naphtali.^[b](O)

⁹ When Leah^(P) saw that she had stopped having children,^(Q) she took her servant Zilpah^(R) and gave her to Jacob as a wife.^{(S) 10} Leah’s servant Zilpah^(T) bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Then Leah said, “What good fortune!”^[c] So she named him Gad.^[d](U)

¹² Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³ Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me^(V) happy.”^(W) So she named him Asher.^[e](X)

¹⁴ During wheat harvest,^(Y) Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants,^(Z) which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough^(AA) that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”

“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”^(AB)

¹⁶ So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”^(AC) So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷ God listened to Leah,^(AD) and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.”^(AE) So she named him Issachar.^[f](AF)

¹⁹ Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰ Then Leah said, “God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor,^(AG) because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.^[g](AH)

²¹ Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.^(AI)

²² Then God remembered Rachel;^(AJ) he listened to her^(AK) and enabled her to conceive.^{(AL) 23} She became pregnant and gave birth to a son^(AM) and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”^{(AN) 24} She named him Joseph,^[h](AO) and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”^(AP)

Jacob’s Flocks Increase

²⁵ After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way^(AQ) so I can go back to my own homeland.^{(AR) 26} Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you,^(AS) and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”

²⁷ But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes,^(AT) please stay. I have learned by divination^(AU) that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”^{(AV) 28} He added, “Name your wages,^(AW) and I will pay them.”

²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you^(AX) and how your livestock has fared under my care.^{(AY) 30} The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been.^(AZ) But now, when may I do something for my own household?^(BA)”

³¹ “What shall I give you?” he asked.

“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: ³² Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat.^(BB) They will be my wages.^{(BC) 33} And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored,^(BD) will be considered stolen.^(BE)”

³⁴ “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” ³⁵ That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs,^(BF) and he placed them in the care of his sons.^{(BG) 36} Then he put a three-day journey^(BH) between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond^(BI) and plane trees^(BJ) and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.^{(BK) 38} Then he placed the peeled branches^(BL) in all the watering troughs,^(BM) so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat^(BN) and came to drink, ³⁹ they mated in front of the branches.^(BO) And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.^{(BP) 40} Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals^(BQ) that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹ Whenever the stronger females were in heat,^(BR) Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,^{(BS) 42} but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.^{(BT) 43} In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.^(BU)

Mordecai Honored

6 That night the king could not sleep;^(A) so he ordered the book of the chronicles,^(B) the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. ² It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.^(C)

³ “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.

“Nothing has been done for him,”^(D) his attendants answered.

⁴ The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.

⁵ His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.”

“Bring him in,” the king ordered.

⁶ When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”

Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” ⁷ So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, ⁸ have them bring a royal robe^(E) the king has worn and a horse^(F) the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. ⁹ Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!^(G)’”

¹⁰ “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”

¹¹ So Haman got^(H) the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”

¹² Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered^(I) in grief, ¹³ and told Zeresh^(J) his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.

His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall^(K) has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!”^{(L) 14} While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet^(M) Esther had prepared.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King^(A)(B)

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,^(C) Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill^(D) what was spoken through the prophet:

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks^(F) on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹ The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet^(J) from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus at the Temple^(K)

¹² Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying^(L) and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers^(M) and the benches of those selling doves.^{(N) 13} “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’^[e](O) but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’^[f]”^(P)

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.^{(Q) 15} But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,”^(R) they were indignant.^(S)

¹⁶ “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

¹⁷ And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany,^(U) where he spent the night.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree^(V)

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.^(W)

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt,^(X) not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for^(Y) in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned^(Z)

²³ Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority^(AA) are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”^(AB)

²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’^(AC)

²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors^(AD) and the prostitutes^(AE) are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,^(AF) and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors^(AG) and the prostitutes^(AH) did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent^(AI) and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants^(AJ)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted^(AK) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.^(AL) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.^{(AM) 34} When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants^(AN) to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{(AO) 36} Then he sent other servants^(AP) to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.^(AQ) Come, let’s kill him^(AR) and take his inheritance.’^{(AS) 39} So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”^(AT) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^(AU) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you^(AW) and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”^[i](AX)

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.^(AY)