¹⁷ Then Jacob got up and put his children and wives on camels. ¹⁸ He drove away all his livestock and all his possessions that he had acquired—the livestock in his possession that he acquired in Paddan-aram—to go to his father Isaac, to the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ But while Laban went to shear his flocks, Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father, ²⁰ while Jacob stole the heart from Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹ He himself fled with everything that belonged to him, and he got up and crossed the River, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

Laban Confronts Jacob and Makes Covenant

²² When Laban was told on the third day after Jacob had fled, ²³ he took his relatives with him and pursued him a seven days’ journey. Then he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Watch yourself—lest you say anything to Jacob, good or bad.”

²⁵ So Laban caught up to Jacob. (Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, so Laban and his brothers pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead as well). ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you’ve stolen my heart and have driven my daughters away like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you secretly flee away, and steal from me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and with songs, with tambourines and with lyres? ²⁸ And you didn’t even let me kiss my sons and daughters!

“Now, you’ve behaved foolishly. ²⁹ It is in the power of my hand to do evil with you, but yesterday the God of your fathers spoke to me, saying, ‘Watch yourself—lest you say anything to Jacob, good or bad.’ ³⁰ So now, when you up and left because you really missed your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?”

³¹ In response, Jacob said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought, ‘Suppose you snatch your daughters away from me.’ ³² Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In front of our relatives, identify whatever is yours that is with me, and take it back.” (But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maids, but he found nothing. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ (Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them in the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them.) So Laban felt around the entire tent but did not find them. ³⁵ She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for I am having the way of women.” So he searched but did not find the idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob got angry and argued with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What’s my crime? What’s my sin that you’ve hotly pursued me? ³⁷ For you’ve felt through all my things. What did you find? Any of your household things? Put them here, in front of my relatives and yours—so they can decide between the two of us. ³⁸ These past twenty years I’ve been with you, your ewes and female goats have never miscarried, and I’ve never eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹ I didn’t bring you animals torn by wild beasts. I myself would bear the loss. You would require it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ I was consumed by heat during the day, consumed by frost during the night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ This is how it’s been for me twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks—and you changed my salary ten times! ⁴² Had I not had the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, you would have sent me away empty-handed now. But God saw my misery and the toil of my hands and last night He became the Judge.”

⁴³ In response Laban said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flocks are my flocks. Everything you see is mine. But what can I do for these, my daughters, today, or for their sons to whom they’ve given birth? ⁴⁴ So now, come, let’s make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar, ⁴⁶ and Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took the stones and made a pile. Then they ate there on the pile. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha and Jacob called it Gal-ed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, “This pile is a witness between me and you today.” That is why its name is Gal-ed, ⁴⁹ or Mizpah, for he said, “Let Adonai keep watch between you and me when we are out of one another’s sight. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, though no one is with us, look! God is the witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Laban said further to Jacob, “Behold, this pile, and this pillar which I’ve set up between you and me: ⁵² this pile serves as a witness, that I won’t pass by this pillar to go to you, and that you won’t pass by this pile and this pillar to go to me—with evil intent. ⁵³ May the God of Abraham and the gods of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us.”

Jacob also made an oath by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and he invited his relatives to eat bread. So they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

32 Early in the morning Laban got up, kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned to his place. ² While Jacob left on his way, the angels of God met him. ³ Then Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp”, and he named that place Mahanaim.

Parashat Vayishlach

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

⁴ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁵ He also commanded them saying, “This is what you should say to my lord, to Esau: ‘This is what your servant Jacob said: I’ve been staying with Laban, and have lingered until now. ⁶ Now I’ve come to possess oxen and donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. I sent word to tell my lord, in order to find favor in your eyes.’”

⁷ The messengers returned to Jacob saying, “We went to your brother, to Esau, and he’s also coming out to meet you—and 400 men with him.”

⁸ So Jacob became extremely afraid and distressed. He divided the people with him, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁹ for he thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and strikes it, the camp that’s left will escape.”

¹⁰ Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Adonai, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will do good with you.’ ¹¹ I am unworthy of all the proofs of mercy and of all the dependability that you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed over this Jordan, and now I’ve become two camps. ¹² Deliver me, please, from my brother’s hand, from Esau’s hand, for I’m afraid of him that he’ll come and strike me—the mothers with the children.

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

²⁶ “So do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed and nothing hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear in your ear, proclaim from the housetops! ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.^[a]

²⁹ “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?^[b] Yet not one of them shall fall to the ground apart from your Father’s consent. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So do not fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³² “Therefore whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

³⁴ “Do not think that I came to bring shalom on the earth; I did not come to bring shalom, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set

³⁷ “He who loves father or mother more than Me isn’t worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me isn’t worthy of Me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me isn’t worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

⁴⁰ “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me. ⁴¹ He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a tzaddik in the name of a tzaddik shall receive a tzaddik’s reward. ⁴² And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, amen I tell you, he shall never lose his reward.”

Signs and Wonders Bear Witness

11 When Yeshua had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their towns. ² Now when John heard in prison about the works of the Messiah, he sent word through his disciples ³ and said to Yeshua, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

⁴ Yeshua replied, “Go report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind see and the lame walk, those with tzara’at are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised and the poor have good news proclaimed to them. ⁶ Blessed is the one who is not led to stumble because of Me.”^[d]

Trust in His Chesed

Psalm 13