Genesis 31, 32
1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from our father’s property he acquired all this wealth.” 2 So Jacob saw Laban’s countenance, and indeed, it was not favorable toward him as before. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to your father’s land and to your family, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field where the flocks were, 5 and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 Now you know that with all my might I served your father. 7 Yet your father deceived me and changed my wages ten times with respect to the male lambs, but God did not allow him to harm me. 8 If he said thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. But if he said thus, ‘The white shall be your wages,’ then all the sheep bore white. 9 So God has taken away all your father’s cattle and given them to me. 10 Now it came to pass, when the flocks conceived, I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats and the rams that were speckled, spotted, and ash-colored speckled were mating with the sheep and the goats. 11 Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ Thus I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 So He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the male goats and the rams mating with the sheep and the goats are speckled, spotted, and ash-colored speckled; for I have seen everything Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a vow to Me. Now then, arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your nativity, and I will be with you.’ ”
14 Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15 Are we not considered strangers by him? For he sold us, and also completely consumed our money. 16 For all the riches and glory God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”
17 Then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions acquired in Mesopotamia, everything belonging to him, to go to his father Isaac in Canaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father’s idols. 20 But Jacob had hidden from Laban the Syrian his intention of running away. 21 So he fled with all that he had, and crossed the river, and headed for the mountains of Gilead.
22 Then Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23 So he took all his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey; and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, “Be careful that you do not speak evil things to Jacob at any time.” 25 So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and robbed me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? 27 Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? 28 And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing. 29 It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you do not speak evil things to Jacob at any time.’ 30 Now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?”
31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters and all my possessions from me by force.’ 32 With whomever you find your gods, let him not live in the presence of our brethren. Identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know Rachel had stolen them. 33 Thus Laban went in and searched Leah’s tent, but found nothing. Then he searched Jacob’s and those of the handmaidens, but found nothing. Then he entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. 35 Then she said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.” So he searched the entire tent but did not find the idols.
36 Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my injustice? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me? 37 Although you searched all my things, what part of your household goods have you found? Set them here before my brethren and your brethren, so they may judge between us. 38 These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. 39 That which was caught by wild animals I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of any stolen by day or by night. 40 There I was. In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. 41 Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times with respect to the female lambs. 42 Unless the God of my father Abraham and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these sons are my sons, and these sheep are my sheep; all you see belongs to me and my daughters. But what can I do for them today or for the children they bore? 44 Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.” Then he said, “Look, there is no one with us. God Himself is witness between you and me.”
45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate and drank there on the heap; and Laban said to him, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” 47 Laban called it the Heap of Testimony, but Jacob called it the Witness Heap.
48 Then Laban said, “This heap and this pillar are a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called This-Heap-Witnesses, 49 and also The Vision, because he said, “May God watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. 50 If you humble my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me.” 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Listen, this heap and pillar are a witness. 52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us.” Thus Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren; and they ate bread and drank and stayed all night on the mountain.
1 So early in the morning, Laban arose, and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.
2 So Jacob went on his way, and saw the hosts of God encamped. 3 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s encampment”; and he called the name of that place Encampments.
4 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 5 And he commanded them, saying, “Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says, “I sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in your sight.” ’ ” 6 Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” 7 So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people with him and the oxen and sheep into two companies. 8 Thus Jacob said, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the other company will escape.”
9 Again Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to the land of your nativity, and I will deal well with you,’ 10 let me be satisfied with all the righteousness and all the truth You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me from the hand of my brother, Esau; for I am afraid of him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. 12 For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”
13 So he lodged there that same night, and took some of the things he had brought as a present for Esau his brother: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred sheep and twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels with their offspring, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16 Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, each flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Go on before me, and put some distance between successive droves.” 17 And he commanded the first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these going before you?’ 18 Then you shall say, ‘Your servant Jacob’s. These things are a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.’ ” 19 So he commanded the first, the second, and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; 20 and also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he said to himself, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the present went on before him, but he himself lodged that night in the encampment.
22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them and crossed over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. 26 Then He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have prevailed with God and with men.”
29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And he said, “Why do you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name of that place, the Form of God: “For I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved.” 31 When the Form of God passed by, the sun rose on him, but he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day, the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip, in the muscle that shrank.
Psalms 14
1 A psalm by David.
O Lord, who shall dwell in Your tabernacle?
Who shall live in Your holy mountain?
2 He who walks blamelessly, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart,
3 Who does not deceive with his tongue,
Neither does evil to his neighbor;
And does not find fault with those nearest him.
4 He disdains those who do evil in his presence,
But he holds in honor those who fear the Lord;
He swears an oath to his neighbor and does not set it aside.
5 He does not lend his money at interest,
And he does not take a bribe against the innocent.
6 He who does these things shall never be shaken.
Psalms 15
1 A pillar inscription; by David.
Preserve me, O Lord, because I hope in You.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
You have no need of my good things.”
3 To the saints on His earth,
In them He magnified all His will.
4 Their diseases were multiplied;
They hastened after these things;
I will not join in their assemblies of blood,
Nor will I remember their names with my lips.
5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You are He who restores my inheritance to me.
6 Portions fell to me among the best,
And my inheritance is the very finest.
7 I will bless the Lord who caused me to understand;
Moreover, until night my reins also instructed me.
8 I saw the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart was glad,
And my tongue rejoiced exceedingly;
My flesh also shall dwell in hope.
10 For You will not abandon my soul to Hades
Nor allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You made known to me the ways of life;
You will fill me with gladness in Your presence;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Proverbs 2:17–23
17 My son, do not lay hold of evil counsel,
Nor forsake the teaching of your youth
And forget the divine covenant;
18 For it establishes its house with death,
And its paths beside Hades with the dead;
19 All who journey there do not return,
Nor do they lay hold of straight paths;
For they do not comprehend the years of life.
20 For if they walked in good paths,
They would find the smooth paths of righteousness.
21 The inhabitants of the land will be good,
And the simple will be left in it;
22 For the upright will dwell in the land,
And the holy will be left in it.
23 The ways of the ungodly shall perish from the land,
And the lawless shall be banished from it.
Matthew 8:18–34
18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.
19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.
29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.
31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”
32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.
33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.