Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Heth.
57 The Lord is my (A)portion;
I have [a]promised to (B)keep Your words.
58 I (C)sought Your favor (D)with all my heart;
(E)Be gracious to me (F)according to Your [b]word.
59 I (G)considered my ways
And 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 ordinances.
63 I am a (L)companion of all those who [c]fear You,
And of those who keep Your precepts.
64 (M)The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O Lord;
(N)Teach me Your statutes.
Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan
31 Now [a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this [b]wealth.” 2 Jacob saw the [c]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, 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 property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, (A)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 When 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 Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of (C)Gilead.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 then he took his [c]kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 (D)God came to Laban the Aramean in a (E)dream of the night and said to him, “[d](F)Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his [e]kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done [f]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and [g]deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with (G)timbrel and with (H)lyre; 28 and did not allow me (I)to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in [h]my power to do you harm, but (J)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘[i](K)Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ 30 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 replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would 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]kinsmen [k]point out what is yours [l]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” For 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 maids, 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 [m]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 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 [n](O)household idols.
36 Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob 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? Set it here before my [o]kinsmen and your [p]kinsmen, 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 [q]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 fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. (S)God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He (T)rendered judgment last night.”
The Covenant of Mizpah
43 Then Laban replied 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 my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? 44 So now come, let us (V)make a covenant, [r]you and I, and (W)let it be a witness between [s]you and me.” 45 Then Jacob took (X)a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Jacob said to his [t]kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Now Laban (Y)called it [u]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it [v]Galeed. 48 Laban said, “(Z)This heap is a witness between [w]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49 and [x](AA)Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between [y]you and me when we are [z]absent one from the other. 50 If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, (AB)God is witness between [aa]you and me.”
14 (A)Pursue peace with all men, and the (B)sanctification without which no one will (C)see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one (D)comes 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 there be no (G)immoral or (H)godless person like Esau, (I)who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.