Genesis 32:3-32

Genesis 32

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the region of Edom. ⁴ He gave them a command. “Tell my lord, Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says: I have lived as an alien with Laban until very recently. ⁵ I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent this message to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We came to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you, and he has four hundred men with him.”

⁷ So Jacob was terrified and very distressed. He divided the people who were with him, as well as the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps. ^{[1] 8} He said, “If Esau comes to one camp and strikes it, then the other camp will escape.” ⁹ Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will do good for you,’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of even a bit of all the mercy and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for I crossed over this Jordan with just my staff, and now I have grown into two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid that he will come and strike me and the mothers, as well as the children. ¹² You said, ‘I will surely do good for you and make your descendants like the grains of sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because there are so many.’”

¹³ Jacob spent that night there and selected a gift for Esau his brother from the possessions he had with him: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys with ten foals. ¹⁶ He handed them over to his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Cross over in front of me, and keep some space between each herd and the next one.” ¹⁷ He commanded the one in front, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks, ‘Whose people are you? Where are you going? Whose herds are these in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. It is a gift sent to you, my lord Esau. Look, he is right behind us.’” ¹⁹ He commanded the second group, and the third, and all those who followed the herds, “This is how you shall speak to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ You shall say, ‘What’s more, look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob said, “I will win his favor with the gift that I have sent ahead of me, and after that I will see his face, and perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹ So the gift was sent over ahead of him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² He got up that night and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and he also sent his possessions across. ²⁴ Jacob was left alone, and he wrestled with a man there until daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled. ²⁶ The man said, “Let me go. It’s daybreak.”

Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ Then he said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

²⁸ Then he said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men, and you have won.”

²⁹ Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”

He said, “Why do you ask what my name is?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ Jacob named the place Peniel, ^[2] because he said, “I have seen God face-to-face, and my life has been spared.” ³¹ The sun rose as he crossed over at Peniel, and he was limping because of his thigh. ³² For that reason, to this day the people of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip that is on the socket of the thigh, because God touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh on the tendon of the hip.

Genesis 31:1 – 32:2

Genesis 31

¹ Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything from our father. He has acquired all his wealth from things that belonged to our father.” ² From the look on Laban’s face Jacob realized that his attitude toward him was not what it had been before. ³ The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

⁴ Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah and told them to come to the field where his flock was. ⁵ He said to them, “I see the look on your father’s face, and it is not favorable toward me as it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. ⁷ Your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ then all the flock gave birth to speckled young. If he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wages,’ then all the flock gave birth to streaked young. ⁹ In this way God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ Once during mating season, in a dream I watched and saw male goats that were streaked, speckled, and spotted ^[1] mating with the flock. ¹¹ The Angel of God called out to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I answered, ‘I am here.’ ¹² He said, ‘Look! All the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone, and where you made a vow to me. Now get going, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.’”

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we still have any share of the inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Isn’t he treating us like foreigners? First he sold us. Now he has used up almost all the money he received for us. ¹⁶ All the riches that God has taken away from our father belong to us and our children. Now do whatever God has told you to do.”

¹⁷ Then Jacob got ready to go. He placed his sons and his wives on camels. ¹⁸ He took with him all his livestock and all his possessions that he had accumulated, including the livestock that he had acquired in Paddan Aram. He set out to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

¹⁹ Now when Laban had gone off to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ^[2]

²⁰ Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had. He set out, crossed over the Euphrates River, and headed toward the hill country ^[3] of Gilead.

²² On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ He took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days. He overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream during the night and said to him, “Be careful that you do not say anything to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ Laban caught up with Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban along with his relatives also set up camp in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? Why have you deceived me and carried away my daughters like prisoners of war? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly and steal from me? Why didn’t you tell me, so that I could have sent you away with a celebration and with songs, with drums and with lyres? ²⁸ Why didn’t you allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? ^[4] By doing this you have acted foolishly. ²⁹ I have it in my power to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be careful that you do not say anything to Jacob either good or bad.’ ³⁰ But even if you were so eager to leave because of your strong desire to return to your father’s house, why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹ Jacob answered Laban, “I was afraid, because I thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force. ³² But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, identify anything I have that belongs to you, and take it.” (Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household gods.)

³³ So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the gods. After he had left Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Rachel had taken the household gods and put them into her camel’s saddle, and she was sitting on them. Laban felt all around the tent, but he did not find them. ³⁵ Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry, my lord, because I cannot stand up in your presence. I’m having my period.” He searched, but he did not find the gods.

³⁶ Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. Jacob responded to Laban, “What is my crime? What is my sin that set you off in hot pursuit after me? ³⁷ Now that you have rummaged through all my belongings, what have you found there that came from your house? Set it out here in front of my relatives and your relatives, so that they can settle the case between the two of us. ³⁸ These twenty years that I have been with you, your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten rams from your flocks. ³⁹ I did not bring to you those that were torn up by wild animals. I bore the loss myself. You made me pay for all the losses, whether they were stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ I was the one out there, consumed by the scorching heat of the day and by the frost at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ These twenty years I put up with this in your house: I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for a share of your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. ⁴² Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the God revered ^[5] by Isaac, had been with me, you certainly would have now sent me away empty-handed. But God saw the oppression I suffered and the labor of my hands, and he rebuked you last night.”

⁴³ Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters. These children are my children. These flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine, but what can I do today about these daughters of mine or about the children to whom they have given birth? ⁴⁴ Now come, let us make a covenant, ^[6] you and I, and let it stand as a witness between me and you.” ^[7]

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial stone. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They collected stones and piled them up. They ate there beside the pile of stones. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, ^[8] but Jacob called it Galeed. ^{[9] 48} Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness between me and you this day.” So it was named Galeed ⁴⁹ and Mizpah, ^[10] for he also said, “May the Lord watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take any wives in addition to my daughters, even if no one else sees it, understand that God is a witness between me and you.”

⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, “See this pile of stones and see the memorial stone that I have set between me and you. ⁵² May this pile be a witness, and may the memorial stone be a witness that I will not cross over beyond this pile to you, and that you will not cross over beyond this pile and this memorial stone to harm me. ⁵³ May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.”

Then Jacob swore by the God revered by his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Jacob offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to eat bread with him. They ate bread and stayed all night in the hill country. ⁵⁵ Early in the morning Laban got up, kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob Meets Esau

Genesis 32

¹ Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ^{[11] 2} When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He named that place Mahanaim. ^[12]

Genesis 29:31 – 30:43

Genesis 29

Jacob’s Family

³¹ The Lord saw that Leah was not loved, and he allowed her to conceive, but Rachel had no children. ³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, ^[1] because she had said, “The Lord has looked at my misery. So now my husband will love me.”

³³ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. ^[2]

³⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son. She said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ^[3]

³⁵ She conceived again and gave birth to a son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. ^[4] Then she stopped having children.

Genesis 30

¹ When Rachel saw that she was bearing no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”

² Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you fruit from your womb?”

³ She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go to her, so that she may bear a child for me, and my family will be built up through her.” ⁴ So she gave her servant girl Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he went to her. ⁵ Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor. He has heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. ^[5]

⁷ Bilhah, Rachel’s servant girl, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸ Rachel said, “I have had a desperate struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Naphtali. ^[6]

⁹ When Leah saw that she was no longer bearing sons, she took her servant girl Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ Zilpah, Leah’s servant girl, bore Jacob a son. ¹¹ Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. ^[7]

¹² Zilpah, Leah’s servant girl, bore a second son for Jacob. ¹³ Leah said, “I am blessed, for women will call me blessed.” She named him Asher. ^[8]

¹⁴ At the time of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found mandrakes ^[9] in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ She said to her, “Isn’t it bad enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you want to take away my son’s mandrakes as well?”

Rachel said, “He will sleep with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come to me, because I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”

So he slept with her that night. ¹⁷ God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me the wages I deserve, because I gave my servant girl to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ^[10]

¹⁹ Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰ Leah said, “God has given me a great reward. Now my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulun. ^[11]

²¹ Afterward, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. ²³ She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph ^[12] and said, “May the Lord add another son to me.”

Jacob Versus Laban

²⁵ After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go home to my own place in my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, because you know how much I have served you.”

²⁷ Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have learned by divination ^[13] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ So he said, “Set your wages for me, and I will pay them.”

²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You know how well I have served you, and how your livestock have fared under my care. ³⁰ For before I came, you had very little, and it has been multiplied many times over. The Lord has blessed you wherever I set foot. Now isn’t it time for me to provide for my own household as well?”

³¹ Laban asked, “What shall I give you?”

Jacob said, “You do not have to give me anything. But if you will do this thing for me, I will continue to take your flock to pasture and watch over it: ³² I will pass through all your flocks today and take all the speckled and spotted sheep, every dark brown sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled goats. These will be my wages. ³³ This is how I will be able to prove my honesty whenever you demand an accounting of my wages: Any goats that are not spotted or speckled, and any lambs that are not dark brown that are found with me will be treated as stolen.”

³⁴ Laban said, “Very well. We will do what you have said.” ³⁵ But that day Laban removed all the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had any white on it, and all the dark brown sheep, and handed them over to his sons. ³⁶ Then he separated himself from Jacob by a three days’ journey, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Jacob took fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He peeled stripes on them so that the white inside the branches was visible. ³⁸ He put the branches that he had peeled into the gutters of the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so the flocks would see them. They conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹ The flocks conceived in front of the branches, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted animals. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the lambs, and he made the flocks face toward the streaked animals and all the black animals in the flock of Laban, and he kept his own herds separate and did not put them into Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ And whenever the stronger animals in the flock were in heat, Jacob laid the branches in the gutters where the flocks could see them, so that they would conceive while looking at the branches. ⁴² But when the weak animals in the flock were in heat, he did not put the branches in. So the weaker animals were Laban’s, and the stronger were Jacob’s. ⁴³ The man became much wealthier and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 29:1-30

Genesis 29

Jacob and Laban

¹ Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. ^[1]

² He looked around and noticed a well in the field, and he saw three flocks of sheep lying there beside it. (That well was used to water the flocks. There was a large stone over the mouth of the well. ³ All the flocks would gather there. Then the shepherds would roll the stone away from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.)

⁴ Jacob said to the men waiting there, “My brothers, where are you from?”

They said, “We are from Haran.”

⁵ He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nahor?”

They said, “We know him.”

⁶ He said to them, “Is he doing well?”

They said, “He is. Look, there is his daughter Rachel, coming with the sheep.”

⁷ He said, “Look, it is still the middle of the day. It is not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep and go pasture them.”

⁸ They said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.”

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep because she took care of them. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went up, rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother’s brother. ¹¹ Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly. ¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

¹³ When Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob repeated all these things to Laban. ¹⁴ Laban said to him, “Certainly you are my own flesh and blood.” ^[2]

Jacob lived with him for a month. ¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, is that any reason you should serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

¹⁶ Laban had two daughters. The name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah had attractive eyes, ^[3] but Rachel had a beautiful face and figure. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”

¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to another man. Stay with me.”

²⁰ Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him like a few days, because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time of service is finished, so that I may go to her.”

²² Laban gathered together all the local people and made a feast. ²³ When evening had arrived, he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob went to her. ²⁴ (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.) ²⁵ When morning came, Jacob realized it was Leah. So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I serve you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶ Laban said, “That is not the way we do it here. We do not give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Fulfill the marriage week for this one, and we will give you the other one too—for seven more years of service.”

²⁸ So that is what Jacob did. When he fulfilled the marriage week, Laban gave him Rachel his daughter as his wife. ²⁹ (Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her maid.) ³⁰ Jacob also went to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Laban seven more years.

Genesis 27:46 – 28:22

Genesis 27

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, these daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”

Jacob’s Flight to Laban

Genesis 28

¹ So Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ² Get up. Go to Paddan Aram, ^[1] to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ³ May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you may become a community of peoples. ⁴ May he give you and your descendants along with you the blessing he gave to Abraham, so that you may inherit the land where you have been living as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Esau observed that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him, he had commanded him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” ⁷ When he saw that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram, ⁸ Esau realized that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac, his father. ⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael, and he took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, in addition to the wives that he already had.

¹⁰ Jacob set out from Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. ¹¹ He came to a certain place and decided to spend the night there, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from that place, put it under his head, and lay down to sleep in that place. ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. There were angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There at the top stood the Lord, who said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I give to you and to your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed ^[2] all the families of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁵ Now, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back again into this land. Indeed, I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you.”

¹⁶ Jacob woke up from his sleep, and he said, “Certainly the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid ^[3] and he said, “How awe- inspiring is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate to heaven.”

¹⁸ Jacob got up early in the morning. He took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a sacred memorial stone and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He named that place Bethel. (Before this, the name of the city had been Luz.) ²⁰ Jacob took a vow, “If God will be with me to keep me safe on this journey I am making, and if he gives me food to eat and clothing to put on, ²¹ and I come back to my father’s house in safety, the Lord will be my God, ²² and this stone that I have set up as a memorial stone will be God’s house, and I will certainly give you a tenth of everything that you give me.”

Genesis 27:1-45

Genesis 27

¹ When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could hardly see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son?”

He said to him, “I am here.”

² Isaac said, “Look, I am very old, and I do not know when I am going to die. ³ So please take your gear, your quiver, and your bow, and go out to the open country, and get some wild game for me. ⁴ Make me tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me, so that I may eat and I may bless you with all my soul before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah had been listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. After Esau went to the open country to hunt for game and to bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son and said, “Listen, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother and tell him, ⁷ ‘Bring me some wild game and make tasty food for me, that I may eat and give you a blessing from the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ Therefore, my son, obey my voice and do what I am commanding you. ⁹ Go now to the flock, and get me two of the best young goats. I will make them into tasty food for your father, the kind he loves. ¹⁰ You will bring it to your father, so that he can eat it and bless you before his death.”

¹¹ Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “But Esau my brother is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. ¹² What if my father touches me? I will be exposed to him as a deceiver, and I will bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³ His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice, and go get them for me.”

¹⁴ He went and got them and brought them to his mother. His mother made tasty food, the kind his father loved. ¹⁵ Rebekah took the good clothing of Esau, her older son, which was with her in the house, and put it on Jacob, her younger son. ¹⁶ She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and forearms and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She put the tasty food and the bread that she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ He came to his father and said, “My father?”

He said, “I am here. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please get up, and sit here and eat some of my wild game, so that you may bless me with all your soul.”

²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

He said, “Because the Lord your God gave me success.”

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob went close to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. That was why he blessed him. ²⁴ But he asked again, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat some of my son’s wild game, so that I may bless you.”

Jacob brought it to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ He came near and kissed him. He smelled his clothing, so he blessed him and said:

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also prepared tasty food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat his son’s wild game, so that you may bless me with all your soul.”

³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?”

He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³ Isaac trembled violently and said, “Then who was it that hunted wild game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him. And, yes, he will be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he let out a very loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father.”

³⁵ He said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶ Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has tripped me up these two times. He took away my birthright. And look, now he has taken away my blessing.” He also asked, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, “You see, I have made him your lord, and I have given all his brothers to him as servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me too, my father.” And Esau wept loudly.

³⁹ Isaac his father answered him,

⁴¹ Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² The words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself in regard to you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice. Get up. Flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and get you from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?”

Luke 19:11-28

Luke 19

Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹ As they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. ¹² So he said, “A man of noble birth traveled to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then to return. ¹³ He called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ^[1] ‘Conduct business until I return,’ he said to them.

¹⁴ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us.’

¹⁵ “When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what they had gained by conducting business.

¹⁶ “The first one came to him and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten more minas.’

¹⁷ “He said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you were faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’

¹⁸ “The second one came and said, ‘Master, your mina has produced five more minas.’

¹⁹ “So he said to him, ‘You will be over five cities.’

²⁰ “And another one came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina that I laid away in a piece of cloth. ²¹ For I was afraid of you, since you are a demanding man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’

²² “He said to him, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you with your own words! You knew that I am a demanding man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. ²³ Then why did you not put my money in the bank? Then, when I returned, I could have collected it with interest!’

²⁴ “He said to those standing there, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

²⁵ “But they said to him, ‘Master, he already has ten minas!’

²⁶ “‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem

²⁸ After Jesus had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

Luke 18:35 – 19:10

Luke 18

Blind Bartimaeus

³⁵ As he approached Jericho, a blind man sat by the road, begging. ³⁶ When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. ³⁸ He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ Those who were at the front of the crowd rebuked him, telling him to be quiet. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?”

He said, “Lord, I want to see again.”

⁴² Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.”

⁴³ Immediately he received his sight and began following Jesus, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw this, gave praise to God.

Zacchaeus

Luke 19

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but since he was short, he could not see because of the crowd. ⁴ He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was about to pass by that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ He came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. ⁷ When the people saw it, they were all grumbling because he went to be a guest of a sinful man.

⁸ Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I am going to give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 18:18-34

Luke 18

The Rich Young Ruler

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹ Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.’” ^[1]

²¹ “I have kept all these since I was a child,” he said.

²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³ But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich.

²⁴ When Jesus saw that the man became very sad, he said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷ He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible for God.”

²⁸ And Peter said, “Look, we have left our possessions ^[2] and followed you.”

²⁹ He said to them, “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection Again

³¹ He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. ³² Indeed, he will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, mistreat him, spit on him, ³³ flog him, and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”

³⁴ They did not understand any of these things. What he said was hidden from them, and they did not understand what was said.

Luke 18:1-17

Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

¹ Jesus told them a parable about the need to always pray and not lose heart: ² “There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God and did not care about people. ³ There was a widow in that town, and she kept going to him, saying, ‘Give me justice from my adversary!’ ⁴ For some time he refused, but after a while he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God or care about people, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not wear me out with her endless pleading.’”

⁶ The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ Will not God give justice to his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night? Will he put off helping them? ⁸ I tell you that he will give them justice quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ Jesus told this parable to certain people who trusted in themselves (that they were righteous) and looked down on others: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple courts to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all my income.’

¹³ “However the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴ “I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus Loves Little Children

¹⁵ People were bringing even their babies to Jesus, so that he would touch them. When the disciples saw this, they began to rebuke them. ¹⁶ But Jesus invited them, saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Amen I tell you: Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Luke 17:20-37

Luke 17

The Kingdom of God Is Within You

²⁰ The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in a way you can observe, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘Look, there it is!’ because the kingdom of God is within ^[1] you.”

Jesus Will Return

²² He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³ They will tell you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them, ²⁴ for the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning that flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other side. ²⁵ But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ²⁶ Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ They were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, ²⁹ but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On that day, the person who is on the roof and has belongings in the house should not go down to get them. Likewise, the person in the field should not turn back for anything. ³² Remember Lot’s wife! ³³ Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken, and the other will be left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding grain at the same place. One will be taken, and the other will be left.” ^[2]

³⁷ “Where, Lord?” they asked him.

He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered.”

Luke 17:1-19

Luke 17

Do Not Cause Little Believers to Fall Into Sin

¹ Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ² It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³ Watch yourselves.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. ⁴ Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Increase Our Faith

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

⁶ The Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. ⁷ Which one of you who has a servant plowing or taking care of sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’? ⁸ Won’t the master tell him instead, ‘Prepare my supper, and after you are properly dressed, serve me while I eat and drink. After that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ He does not thank the servant because he did what he was commanded to do, does he? ¹⁰ So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.’”

Ten Lepers Healed—One Thanks God

¹¹ On another occasion, as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² When he entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, ¹³ they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴ When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed.

¹⁵ One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

Luke 16:1-31

Luke 16

The Shrewd Manager

¹ Jesus also said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager who was accused of wasting his possessions. ² The rich man called him in and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be manager.’

³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking away the management position from me? I am not strong enough to dig. I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from my position as manager, people will receive me into their houses.’

⁵ “He called each one of his master’s debtors to him. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ He said, ‘Six hundred gallons ^[1] of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write three hundred.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘Six hundred bushels ^[2] of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write four hundred and eighty.’

⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children ^[3] of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation ^[4] than the children of the light are. ⁹ I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, ^[5] so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. ¹⁰ The person who is faithful with very little is also faithful with much. And the person who is unrighteous with very little is also unrighteous with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with what is really valuable? ¹² If you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you something to be your own? ¹³ No servant can serve two masters. Indeed, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, also heard all these things and sneered at him. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of people, but God knows your hearts. In fact, what is highly regarded among people is an abomination in God’s sight. ¹⁶ The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is trying to force his way into it. ^[6]

¹⁷ “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for even one part of a letter in the Law to fail. ¹⁸ Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another is committing adultery, and the man who marries a woman divorced from her husband is committing adultery.

The Rich Man and Poor Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. ²⁰ A beggar named Lazarus had been laid at his gate. Lazarus was covered with sores and ²¹ longed to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Besides this, the dogs also came and licked his sores. ²² Eventually the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In hell, ^[7] where he was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ He called out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in misery in this flame.’

²⁵ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in misery. ²⁶ Besides all this, a great chasm has been set in place between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷ “He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s home, ²⁸ because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹ “Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’

³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹ “Abraham replied to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Luke 15

The Lost Sheep

¹ All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ He told them this parable: ⁴ “Which one of you, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls together his friends and his neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷ I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.

The Lost Coin

⁸ “Or what woman who has ten silver coins, ^[1] if she loses one coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Lost Son

¹¹ Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³ Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all that he had and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted his wealth with reckless living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He would have liked to fill his stomach with the carob pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, and I am dying from hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

²⁰ “He got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, hugged his son, and kissed him. ²¹ The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate, ²⁴ because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “His older son was in the field. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. ²⁷ The servant told him, ‘Your brother is here! Your father killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ The older brother was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.

²⁹ “He answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I’ve been serving you, and I never disobeyed your command, but you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours arrived after wasting your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

³¹ “The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’”