Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Heth
57 Yahweh is my (A)portion;
I have [a]promised to (B)keep Your words.
58 I have (C)sought to please Your face (D)with all my heart;
(E)Be gracious to me (F)according to Your [b]word.
59 I (G)thought upon my ways
And I turned my feet to Your testimonies.
60 I hastened and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.
61 The (H)cords of the wicked have encircled me,
But I have (I)not forgotten Your law.
62 At (J)midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You
Because of Your (K)righteous judgments.
63 I am a (L)companion of all those who [c]fear You,
And of those who keep Your precepts.
64 (M)The earth, O Yahweh, is full of Your lovingkindness;
(N)Teach me Your statutes.
Jacob Leaves While Laban Is Gone
31 Then [a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this [b]wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. 3 Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and (B)I will be with you.”
17 Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; 18 and he drove away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had accumulated, his acquired livestock which he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, in order (A)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the [a](B)household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob [b]deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the [c]River and set his face toward the hill country of (C)Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 Then it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled; 23 so he took his [d]relatives with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 (D)And God came to Laban the Aramean in a (E)dream of the night and said to him, “[e](F)Beware lest you speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25 So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his [f]relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done [g]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and [h]deceive me and not tell me—so that I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with (G)tambourine and with (H)lyre— 28 and not allow me (I)to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly. 29 It is in my hand to do evil against you, but (J)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘[i](K)Beware of speaking either good or evil to Jacob.’ 30 So now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal (L)my gods?” 31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, because I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ 32 (M)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our [j]relatives recognize what is yours [k]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the [l]household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot (N)rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the [m](O)household idols.
36 Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? 37 Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Place it here before my [n]relatives and your [o]relatives, that they may decide between us two. 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. 39 That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 Thus I was: by day the [p]heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house; (P)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you (Q)changed my wages ten times. 42 If (R)the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the dread of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. (S)God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He (T)rendered the decision last night.”
The Covenant at Mizpah
43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and (U)the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children whom they have borne? 44 So now come, let us (V)cut a covenant, [q]you and I, and (W)let it be a witness between [r]you and me.” 45 Then Jacob took (X)a stone and raised it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his [s]relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 And Laban (Y)called it [t]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it [u]Galeed. 48 Then Laban said, “(Z)This heap is a witness between [v]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49 and [w](AA)Mizpah, for he said, “May Yahweh watch between [x]you and me when we are [y]absent one from the other. 50 If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, (AB)God is witness between [z]you and me.”
14 (A)Pursue peace with all men, and the (B)sanctification without which no one will (C)see the Lord, 15 seeing to it that no one (D)falls short of the grace of God; that no (E)root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be (F)defiled; 16 that also there be no (G)sexually immoral or (H)godless person like Esau, (I)who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.