Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

32 ^[a]Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God^(A) met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!”^(B) So he named that place Mahanaim.^[b](C)

³ Jacob sent messengers^(D) ahead of him to his brother Esau^(E) in the land of Seir,^(F) the country of Edom.^{(G) 4} He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord^(H) Esau: ‘Your servant^(I) Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban^(J) and have remained there till now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants.^(K) Now I am sending this message to my lord,^(L) that I may find favor in your eyes.^(M)’”

⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”^(N)

⁷ In great fear^(O) and distress^(P) Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,^[c](Q) and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,^[d] the group^[e] that is left may escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham,^(R) God of my father Isaac,^(S) Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’^{(T) 10} I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness^(U) you have shown your servant. I had only my staff^(V) when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.^{(W) 11} Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid^(X) he will come and attack me,^(Y) and also the mothers with their children.^{(Z) 12} But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand^(AA) of the sea, which cannot be counted.^(AB)’”

¹³ He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift^(AC) for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,^{(AD) 15} thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.^{(AE) 16} He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”^(AF)

¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant^(AG) Jacob. They are a gift^(AH) sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”

¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ And be sure to say, ‘Your servant^(AI) Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts^(AJ) I am sending on ahead;^(AK) later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”^{(AL) 21} So Jacob’s gifts^(AM) went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles With God

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons^(AN) and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.^{(AO) 23} After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.^{(AP) 24} So Jacob was left alone,^(AQ) and a man^(AR) wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip^(AS) so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”^(AT)

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,”^(AU) he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name^(AV) will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,^[f](AW) because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”^(AX)

²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”^(AY)

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?”^(AZ) Then he blessed^(BA) him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel,^[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face,^(BB) and yet my life was spared.”

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,^[h](BC) and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip,^(BD) because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews

8 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman,^(A) the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. ² The king took off his signet ring,^(B) which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.^(C)

³ Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite,^(D) which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ Then the king extended the gold scepter^(E) to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

⁵ “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor^(F) and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. ⁶ For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”^(G)

⁷ King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled^(H) him on the pole he set up. ⁸ Now write another decree^(I) in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal^(J) it with the king’s signet ring^(K)—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”^(L)

⁹ At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.^[a](M) These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.^{(N) 10} Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

¹¹ The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,^[b] and to plunder^(O) the property of their enemies. ¹² The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.^{(P) 13} A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day^(Q) to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴ The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.^(R)

The Triumph of the Jews

¹⁵ When Mordecai^(S) left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold^(T) and a purple robe of fine linen.^(U) And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.^{(V) 16} For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy,^(W) gladness and honor.^{(X) 17} In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy^(Y) and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear^(Z) of the Jews had seized them.^(AA)

A Warning Against Hypocrisy^(A)(B)

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law^(C) and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.^(D)

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see:^(E) They make their phylacteries^[a](F) wide and the tassels on their garments^(G) long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;^{(H) 7} they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.^(I)

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father,^(J) and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant.^{(K) 12} For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.^(L)

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!^(M) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.^{(N) [14] [b]}

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert,^(O) and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell^(P) as you are.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides!^(Q) You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’^{(R) 17} You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?^{(S) 18} You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?^{(T) 20} Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells^(U) in it. ²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.^(V)

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth^(W) of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.^(X) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides!^(Y) You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,^(Z) but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.^{(AA) 26} Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,^(AB) which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets^(AC) and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.^{(AD) 32} Go ahead, then, and complete^(AE) what your ancestors started!^(AF)

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers!^(AG) How will you escape being condemned to hell?^{(AH) 34} Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;^(AI) others you will flog in your synagogues^(AJ) and pursue from town to town.^{(AK) 35} And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel^(AL) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,^(AM) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^{(AN) 36} Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.^(AO)

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,^(AP) how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(AQ) and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^{(AR) 39} For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[c]”^(AS)