Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for Protection against Oppressors.
A Prayer of David.
17 Hear a (A)just cause, O Lord, (B)give heed to my cry;
(C)Give ear to my prayer, which is not from (D)deceitful lips.
2 Let (E)my [a]judgment come forth from Your presence;
Let Your eyes look with (F)equity.
3 You have (G)tried my heart;
You have visited me by night;
You have (H)tested me and (I)You find [b]nothing;
I have (J)purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
4 As for the deeds of men, (K)by the word of Your lips
I have kept from the (L)paths of the violent.
5 My (M)steps have held fast to Your [c]paths.
My (N)feet have not slipped.
Laban Pursues Jacob
22 When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, 23 then he took his [a]kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 (A)God came to Laban the Aramean in a (B)dream of the night and said to him, “[b](C)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 [c]kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done [d]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and [e]deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with (D)timbrel and with (E)lyre; 28 and did not allow me (F)to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in [f]my power to do you harm, but (G)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘[g](H)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 (I)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 (J)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our [h]kinsmen [i]point out what is yours [j]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 [k]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 (K)rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the [l](L)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 [m]kinsmen and your [n]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 [o]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; (M)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you (N)changed my wages ten times. 42 If (O)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. (P)God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He (Q)rendered judgment last night.”
8 First, (A)I thank my God through Jesus Christ [a]for you all, because (B)your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For (C)God, whom I (D)serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly (E)I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by (F)the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For (G)I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be [b]established; 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 (H)I do not want you to be unaware, (I)brethren, that often I (J)have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some (K)fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 (L)I am [c]under obligation both to Greeks and to (M)barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to (N)preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.