26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 1 in the days of Abraham. 2 Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. 26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 3 settle down in the land that I will point out to you. 4 26:3 Stay 5 in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, 6 for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, 7 and I will fulfill 8 the solemn promise I made 9 to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them 10 all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. 11 26:5 All this will come to pass 12 because Abraham obeyed me 13 and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 14 26:6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” 15 He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, 16 “The men of this place will kill me to get 17 Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
26:8 After Isaac 18 had been there a long time, 19 Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed 20 Isaac caressing 21 his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really 22 your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” 23
26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? 24 One of the men 25 might easily have had sexual relations with 26 your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches 27 this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” 28
26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, 29 because the Lord blessed him. 30 26:13 The man became wealthy. 31 His influence continued to grow 32 until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had 33 so many sheep 34 and cattle 35 and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous 36 of him. 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up 37 all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.
26:16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, 38 for you have become much more powerful 39 than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. 40 26:18 Isaac reopened 41 the wells that had been dug 42 back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up 43 after Abraham died. Isaac 44 gave these wells 45 the same names his father had given them. 46
26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing 47 water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled 48 with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac 49 named the well 50 Esek 51 because they argued with him about it. 52 26:21 His servants 53 dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it 54 Sitnah. 55 26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac 56 named it 57 Rehoboth, 58 saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”
26:23 From there Isaac 59 went up to Beer Sheba. 26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 26:25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped 60 the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. 61
26:26 Now Abimelech had come 62 to him from Gerar along with 63 Ahuzzah his friend 64 and Phicol the commander of his army. 26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me 65 and sent me away from you.” 26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see 66 that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be 67 a pact between us 68 – between us 69 and you. Allow us to make 70 a treaty with you 26:29 so that 71 you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed 72 you, but have always treated you well 73 before sending you away 74 in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” 75
26:30 So Isaac 76 held a feast for them and they celebrated. 77 26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. 78 Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. 79
26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. 80 26:33 So he named it Shibah; 81 that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba 82 to this day.
26:34 When 83 Esau was forty years old, 84 he married 85 Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 26:35 They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety. 86
27:1 When 87 Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, 88 he called his older 89 son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau 90 replied. 27:2 Isaac 91 said, “Since 92 I am so old, I could die at any time. 93 27:3 Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game 94 for me. 27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then 95 I will eat it so that I may bless you 96 before I die.”
27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. 97 When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, 98 27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, 27:7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat 99 it and bless you 100 in the presence of the Lord 101 before I die.’ 27:8 Now then, my son, do 102 exactly what I tell you! 103 27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare 104 them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 27:10 Then you will take 105 it to your father. Thus he will eat it 106 and 107 bless you before he dies.”
27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! 108 27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him 109 and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, 110 my son! Just obey me! 111 Go and get them for me!”
27:14 So he went and got the goats 112 and brought them to his mother. She 113 prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. 27:15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 27:16 She put the skins of the young goats 114 on his hands 115 and the smooth part of his neck. 27:17 Then she handed 116 the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac 117 replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?” 118 27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up 119 and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” 120 27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world 121 did you find it so quickly, 122 my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” 123 he replied. 124 27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you, 125 my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau.” 126 27:22 So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.” 27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. 127 27:24 Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob 128 replied. 27:25 Isaac 129 said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. 130 Then I will bless you.” 131 So Jacob 132 brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac 133 drank. 27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.” 27:27 So Jacob 134 went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent 135 of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,
“Yes, 136 my son smells
like the scent of an open field
which the Lord has blessed.
27:28 May God give you
the dew of the sky 137
and the richness 138 of the earth,
and plenty of grain and new wine.
27:29 May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
You will be 139 lord 140 over your brothers,
and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. 141
May those who curse you be cursed,
and those who bless you be blessed.”
27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left 142 his father’s 143 presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. 144 27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau 145 said to him, “My father, get up 146 and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” 147 27:32 His father Isaac asked, 148 “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” 149 he replied, “Esau!” 27:33 Isaac began to shake violently 150 and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. 151 He will indeed be blessed!”
27:34 When Esau heard 152 his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. 153 He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 27:35 But Isaac 154 replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away 155 your blessing.” 27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! 156 He has tripped me up 157 two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”
27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?” 27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” 158 Then Esau wept loudly. 159
27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,
“Indeed, 160 your home will be
away from the richness 161 of the earth,
and away from the dew of the sky above.
27:40 You will live by your sword
but you will serve your brother.
When you grow restless,
you will tear off his yoke
from your neck.” 162
27:41 So Esau hated 163 Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. 164 Esau said privately, 165 “The time 166 of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill 167 my brother Jacob!”
27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, 168 she quickly summoned 169 her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 170 27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. 171 Run away immediately 172 to my brother Laban in Haran. 27:44 Live with him for a little while 173 until your brother’s rage subsides. 27:45 Stay there 174 until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. 175 Why should I lose both of you in one day?” 176
27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed 177 because of these daughters of Heth. 178 If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!” 179
28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman! 180 28:2 Leave immediately 181 for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 28:3 May the sovereign God 182 bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! 183 Then you will become 184 a large nation. 185 28:4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham 186 so that you may possess the land 187 God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.” 188 28:5 So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
28:6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. 189 As he blessed him, 190 Isaac commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.” 191 28:7 Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram. 28:8 Then Esau realized 192 that the Canaanite women 193 were displeasing to 194 his father Isaac. 28:9 So Esau went to Ishmael and married 195 Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, along with the wives he already had.
28:10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beer Sheba and set out for Haran. 28:11 He reached a certain place 196 where he decided to camp because the sun had gone down. 197 He took one of the stones 198 and placed it near his head. 199 Then he fell asleep 200 in that place 28:12 and had a dream. 201 He saw 202 a stairway 203 erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it 28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. 204 I will give you and your descendants the ground 205 you are lying on. 28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, 206 and you will spread out 207 to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another 208 using your name and that of your descendants. 209 28:15 I am with you! 210 I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”
28:16 Then Jacob woke up 211 and thought, 212 “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!” 28:17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”
28:18 Early 213 in the morning Jacob 214 took the stone he had placed near his head 215 and set it up as a sacred stone. 216 Then he poured oil on top of it. 28:19 He called that place Bethel, 217 although the former name of the town was Luz. 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food 218 to eat and clothing to wear, 28:21 and I return safely to my father’s home, 219 then the Lord will become my God. 28:22 Then this stone 220 that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely 221 give you back a tenth of everything you give me.” 222
29:1 So Jacob moved on 223 and came to the land of the eastern people. 224 29:2 He saw 225 in the field a well with 226 three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now 227 a large stone covered the mouth of the well. 29:3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds 228 would roll the stone off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the well’s mouth.
29:4 Jacob asked them, “My brothers, where are you from?” They replied, “We’re from Haran.” 29:5 So he said to them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson 229 of Nahor?” “We know him,” 230 they said. 29:6 “Is he well?” 231 Jacob asked. They replied, “He is well. 232 Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.” 29:7 Then Jacob 233 said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, 234 it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.” 235 29:8 “We can’t,” they said, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well. Then we water 236 the sheep.”
29:9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was tending them. 237 29:10 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, 238 and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he 239 went over 240 and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban. 241 29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep loudly. 242 29:12 When Jacob explained 243 to Rachel that he was a relative of her father 244 and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father. 29:13 When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob 245 told Laban how he was related to him. 246 29:14 Then Laban said to him, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” 247 So Jacob 248 stayed with him for a month. 249
29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work 250 for me for nothing because you are my relative? 251 Tell me what your wages should be.” 29:16 (Now Laban had two daughters; 252 the older one was named Leah, and the younger one Rachel. 29:17 Leah’s eyes were tender, 253 but Rachel had a lovely figure and beautiful appearance.) 254 29:18 Since Jacob had fallen in love with 255 Rachel, he said, “I’ll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.” 29:19 Laban replied, “I’d rather give her to you than to another man. 256 Stay with me.” 29:20 So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. 257 But they seemed like only a few days to him 258 because his love for her was so great. 259
29:21 Finally Jacob said 260 to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time of service is up. 261 I want to have marital relations with her.” 262 29:22 So Laban invited all the people 263 of that place and prepared a feast. 29:23 In the evening he brought his daughter Leah 264 to Jacob, 265 and Jacob 266 had marital relations with her. 267 29:24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) 268
29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! 269 So Jacob 270 said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! 271 Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked 272 me?” 29:26 “It is not our custom here,” 273 Laban replied, “to give the younger daughter in marriage 274 before the firstborn. 29:27 Complete my older daughter’s bridal week. 275 Then we will give you the younger one 276 too, in exchange for seven more years of work.” 277
29:28 Jacob did as Laban said. 278 When Jacob 279 completed Leah’s bridal week, 280 Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 281 29:29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) 282 29:30 Jacob 283 had marital relations 284 with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban 285 for seven more years. 286
29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, 287 he enabled her to become pregnant 288 while Rachel remained childless. 29:32 So Leah became pregnant 289 and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, 290 for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. 291 Surely my husband will love me now.”
29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, 292 he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. 293
29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, 294 because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. 295
29:35 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” That is why she named him Judah. 296 Then she stopped having children.
30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she 297 became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children 298 or I’ll die!” 30:2 Jacob became furious 299 with Rachel and exclaimed, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?” 300 30:3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with 301 her so that she can bear 302 children 303 for me 304 and I can have a family through her.” 305
30:4 So Rachel 306 gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with 307 her. 30:5 Bilhah became pregnant 308 and gave Jacob a son. 309 30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer 310 and given me a son.” That is why 311 she named him Dan. 312
30:7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son. 313 30:8 Then Rachel said, “I have fought a desperate struggle with my sister, but I have won.” 314 So she named him Naphtali. 315
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave 316 her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. 30:10 Soon Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son. 317 30:11 Leah said, “How fortunate!” 318 So she named him Gad. 319
30:12 Then Leah’s servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son. 320 30:13 Leah said, “How happy I am, 321 for women 322 will call me happy!” So she named him Asher. 323
30:14 At the time 324 of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants 325 in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 30:15 But Leah replied, 326 “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” 327 Rachel said, “he may sleep 328 with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 30:16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep 329 with me because I have paid for your services 330 with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations 331 with her that night. 30:17 God paid attention 332 to Leah; she became pregnant 333 and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. 334 30:18 Then Leah said, “God has granted me a reward 335 because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife.” 336 So she named him Issachar. 337
30:19 Leah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a son for the sixth time. 338 30:20 Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 339
30:21 After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
30:22 Then God took note of 340 Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. 341 30:23 She became pregnant 342 and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” 343 30:24 She named him Joseph, 344 saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”
30:25 After Rachel had given birth 345 to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send 346 me on my way so that I can go 347 home to my own country. 348 30:26 Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. 349 Then I’ll depart, 350 because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.” 351
30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, 352 for I have learned by divination 353 that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.” 30:28 He added, “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.” 354
30:29 “You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, 355 “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. 356 30:30 Indeed, 357 you had little before I arrived, 358 but now your possessions have increased many times over. 359 The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. 360 But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” 361
30:31 So Laban asked, 362 “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” 363 Jacob replied, 364 “but if you agree to this one condition, 365 I will continue to care for 366 your flocks and protect them: 30:32 Let me walk among 367 all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, 368 and the spotted or speckled goats. 369 These animals will be my wages. 370 30:33 My integrity will testify for me 371 later on. 372 When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, 373 if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” 374 30:34 “Agreed!” said Laban, “It will be as you say.” 375
30:35 So that day Laban 376 removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care 377 of his sons. 30:36 Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, 378 while 379 Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.
30:37 But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible. 30:38 Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink. 380 30:39 When the sheep mated 381 in front of the branches, they 382 gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 30:40 Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face 383 the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks. 30:41 When the stronger females were in heat, 384 Jacob would set up the branches in the troughs in front of the flock, so they would mate near the branches. 30:42 But if the animals were weaker, he did not set the branches there. 385 So the weaker animals ended up belonging to Laban 386 and the stronger animals to Jacob. 30:43 In this way Jacob 387 became extremely prosperous. He owned 388 large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.
31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, 389 “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich 390 at our father’s expense!” 391 31:2 When Jacob saw the look on Laban’s face, he could tell his attitude toward him had changed. 392
31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers 393 and to your relatives. I will be with you.” 394 31:4 So Jacob sent a message for Rachel and Leah 395 to come to the field 396 where his flocks were. 397 31:5 There he said to them, “I can tell that your father’s attitude toward me has changed, 398 but the God of my father has been with me. 31:6 You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could, 399 31:7 but your father has humiliated 400 me and changed my wages ten times. But God has not permitted him to do me any harm. 31:8 If he said, 401 ‘The speckled animals 402 will be your wage,’ then the entire flock gave birth to speckled offspring. But if he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wage,’ then the entire flock gave birth to streaked offspring. 31:9 In this way God has snatched away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
31:10 “Once 403 during breeding season I saw 404 in a dream that the male goats mating with 405 the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 31:11 In the dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here I am!’ I replied. 31:12 Then he said, ‘Observe 406 that all the male goats mating with 407 the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you. 31:13 I am the God of Bethel, 408 where you anointed 409 the sacred stone and made a vow to me. 410 Now leave this land immediately 411 and return to your native land.’”
31:14 Then Rachel and Leah replied to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance 412 in our father’s house? 31:15 Hasn’t he treated us like foreigners? He not only sold us, but completely wasted 413 the money paid for us! 414 31:16 Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you.”
31:17 So Jacob immediately put his children and his wives on the camels. 415 31:18 He took 416 away all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac. 417
31:19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, 418 Rachel stole the household idols 419 that belonged to her father. 31:20 Jacob also deceived 420 Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was leaving. 421 31:21 He left 422 with all he owned. He quickly crossed 423 the Euphrates River 424 and headed for 425 the hill country of Gilead.
31:22 Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left. 426 31:23 So he took his relatives 427 with him and pursued Jacob 428 for seven days. 429 He caught up with 430 him in the hill country of Gilead. 31:24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, 431 “Be careful 432 that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.” 433
31:25 Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too. 434 31:26 “What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me 435 and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war! 436 31:27 Why did you run away secretly 437 and deceive me? 438 Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? 439 31:28 You didn’t even allow me to kiss my daughters and my grandchildren 440 good-bye. You have acted foolishly! 31:29 I have 441 the power to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, ‘Be careful 442 that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.’ 443 31:30 Now I understand that 444 you have gone away 445 because you longed desperately 446 for your father’s house. Yet why did you steal my gods?” 447
31:31 “I left secretly because I was afraid!” 448 Jacob replied to Laban. “I thought 449 you might take your daughters away from me by force. 450 31:32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! 451 In the presence of our relatives 452 identify whatever is yours and take it.” 453 (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) 454
31:33 So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. 455 Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. 456 31:34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle 457 and sat on them.) 458 Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them. 459 31:35 Rachel 460 said to her father, “Don’t be angry, 461 my lord. I cannot stand up 462 in your presence because I am having my period.” 463 So he searched thoroughly, 464 but did not find the idols.
31:36 Jacob became angry 465 and argued with Laban. “What did I do wrong?” he demanded of Laban. 466 “What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit? 467 31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? 468 Set it here before my relatives and yours, 469 and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! 470
31:38 “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 31:39 Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself. 471 You always made me pay for every missing animal, 472 whether it was taken by day or at night. 31:40 I was consumed by scorching heat 473 during the day and by piercing cold 474 at night, and I went without sleep. 475 31:41 This was my lot 476 for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave 477 for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times! 31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears 478 – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, 479 and he rebuked you last night.”
31:43 Laban replied 480 to Jacob, “These women 481 are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, 482 and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today 483 or the children to whom they have given birth? 31:44 So now, come, let’s make a formal agreement, 484 you and I, and it will be 485 proof that we have made peace.” 486
31:45 So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial pillar. 31:46 Then he 487 said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they brought stones and put them in a pile. 488 They ate there by the pile of stones. 31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, 489 but Jacob called it Galeed. 490
31:48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement 491 today.” That is why it was called Galeed. 31:49 It was also called Mizpah 492 because he said, “May the Lord watch 493 between us 494 when we are out of sight of one another. 495 31:50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one else is with us, realize 496 that God is witness to your actions.” 497
31:51 “Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you,” Laban said to Jacob. 498 31:52 “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me. 499 31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, 500 the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. 501 31:54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice 502 on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. 503 They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.
31:55 (32:1) 504 Early in the morning Laban kissed 505 his grandchildren 506 and his daughters goodbye and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home. 507
19:21 Now after all these things had taken place, 513 Paul resolved 514 to go to Jerusalem, 515 passing through Macedonia 516 and Achaia. 517 He said, 518 “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” 519
24:1 After five days the high priest Ananias 533 came down with some elders and an attorney 534 named 535 Tertullus, and they 536 brought formal charges 537 against Paul to the governor.
1:1 From Paul, 538 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful 539 brothers and sisters 540 in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you 541 from God our Father! 542
1:3 We always 543 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,