Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
CHETH
57 O Lord, that art my [a]portion, I have determined to keep thy words.
58 I made my supplication in thy presence with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy promise.
59 I have considered my [b]ways, and turned my feet into thy testimonies.
60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
61 The bands of the wicked have [c]robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy Law.
62 At midnight will I rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments.
63 I am [d]companion of all them that fear thee, and keep thy precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy: [e]teach me thy statutes.
31 1 Laban’s children murmur against Jacob. 3 God commandeth him to return to his country. 13, 14 The care of God for Jacob. 19 Rachel stealeth her father’s idols. 23 Laban followeth Jacob. 44 The covenant between Laban and Jacob.
1 Now he heard the [a]words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s, and of our father’s goods hath he gotten all this honor.
2 Also Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, [b]that it was not towards him as in times past:
3 And the Lord had said unto Jacob, Turn again into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.
17 ¶ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels.
18 And he carried away all his flocks, and all his substance which he had gotten, to wit, his riches, which he had gotten in Padan Aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan.
19 When Laban was gone to sheer his sheep, then Rachel stole her father’s [a]idols.
20 Thus Jacob [b]stole away the heart of Laban the Aramite: for he told him not that he fled.
21 So fled he with all that he had, and he rose up, and passed the [c]river, and set his face toward mount Gilead.
22 And the third day after was it told Laban, that Jacob fled.
23 Then he took his [d]brethren with him and followed after him seven days journey, and [e]overtook him at mount Gilead.
24 And God came to Laban the Aramite in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob [f]ought save good.
25 ¶ Then Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban also with his brethren pitched upon mount Gilead.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done? [g]thou hast even stolen away mine heart and carried away my daughters as though they had been taken captives with the sword.
27 Wherefore diddest thou flee so secretly and steal away from me, and diddest not tell me, that I might have sent thee forth with mirth and with songs, with timbrell and with harp?
28 But thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters: now thou hast done foolishly in doing so.
29 I am [h]able to do you evil: but the [i]God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob ought save good.
30 Now though thou wentest thy way, because thou greatly longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?
31 Then Jacob answered, and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, and thought that thou wouldest have taken thy daughters from me.
32 But with whom thou findest thy gods, [j]let him not live. Search thou before our brethren what I have of thine, and take it to thee, (but Jacob wist not that Rachel had stolen them.)
33 Then came Laban into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maid’s tents, but found them not. So he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.
34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols, and put them in the camel’s [k]litter and sat down upon them) and Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.
35 Then said she to her father, [l]My Lord, be not angry that I cannot rise up before thee: for the custom of women is upon me: so he searched, but found not the idols.
36 ¶ Then Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: Jacob also answered and said to Laban, What have I trespassed? what have I offended, that thou hast pursued after me?
37 Seeing thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thine household stuff? put it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge between us both.
38 This twenty years I have been with thee: thine ewes and thy goats have not [m]cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
39 [n]Whatsoever was torn of beasts, I brought it not unto thee, but made it good myself: (A)of mine hand diddest thou require it, were it stolen by day, or stolen by night.
40 I was in the day consumed with heat, and with frost in the night, and my [o]sleep departed from mine eyes.
41 Thus have I been twenty years in thine house, and served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy sheep, and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the [p]fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou haddest sent me away now empty: but God beheld my tribulation, and the labor of mine hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.
43 Then Laban answered, and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these sons are my sons, and these sheep are my sheep, and all that thou seest, is mine, and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or to their sons which they have borne?
44 Now therefore [q]come let us make a covenant, I and thou, which may be a witness between me and thee.
45 Then took Jacob a stone, and set it up as a pillar:
46 And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones: who brought stones, and made a heap, and they did eat there upon the heap.
47 And Laban called it [r]Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it [s]Galeed.
48 For Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day: therefore he called the name of it Galeed.
49 Also he called it [t]Mizpah, because he said, The Lord [u]look between me and he, when we shall be [v]departed one from another.
50 If thou shalt vex my daughters, or shalt take [w]wives beside my daughters: there is no man with us, behold, God is witness between me and thee.
14 (A)[a]Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without the which no man shall see the Lord.
15 [b]Take heed, that no man fall away from the grace of God: let no [c]root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, lest thereby many be defiled.
16 [d]Let there be no fornicator, or profane person as (B)Esau, which for one portion of meat sold his birthright.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.