Legacy Standard Bible

Genesis 29 - 30

Jacob’s Love for Rachel

29Then Jacob 1took up his journey and came to the land of athe sons of the east. 2And he looked, and behold, aa well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they gave water to the flocks to drink. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large. 3And all the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and give water to the sheep to drink and return the stone back to its place on the mouth of the well.
4And Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from aHaran.” 5Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the ason of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.” 6And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is aRachel his daughter coming with the sheep.” 7And he said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Give water to the sheep to drink, and go, pasture them.” 8But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we give water to the sheep to drink.”
9While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10Now it happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and gave water to the flock of Laban his mother’s brother to drink. 11Then Jacob akissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept. 12And Jacob told Rachel that he was a 1,arelative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and bshe ran and told her father.
13So it happened that when aLaban heard the report of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and he bembraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he recounted to Laban all these things. 14And Laban said to him, “Surely you are amy bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him one month.
15Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my 1relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall ayour wages be?” 16Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was abeautiful in form and beautiful in appearance. 18Now Jacob aloved Rachel, so he said, “bI will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” 19And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.” 20So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his sight but a few days abecause of his love for her.

Laban Deceives Jacob

21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may ago in to her.” 22And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. 23Now it happened in the evening that he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her. 24Laban also gave his servant-woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a servant-woman. 25Now it happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “aWhat is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you bdeceived me?” 26But Laban said, “It is not 1the practice in our place to give the younger before the firstborn. 27“Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which ayou shall serve with me for another seven years.” 28And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. 29Laban also gave his servant-woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant-woman. 30So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed ahe loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with 1Laban for banother seven years.
31And Yahweh saw that Leah was 1unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32So Leah conceived and bore a son and named him 1Reuben, for she said, “Because Yahweh has 2,aseen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” 33Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “aBecause Yahweh has 1heard that I am 2unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. 34And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be 1joined to me because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named aLevi. 35And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will 1praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him 2,aJudah. Then she stopped bearing.

The Sons of Jacob

30Then Rachel saw that ashe bore Jacob no children, so 1she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “bGive me children, or else I die.” 2Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has awithheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3And she said, “aHere is my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her that she may bbear on my knees, that 1,cthrough her I too may obtain children.” 4So ashe gave him her servant-woman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6Then Rachel said, “God has 1,arendered justice to me and has indeed listened to my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him 2Dan. 7And Rachel’s servant-woman Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8So Rachel said, “With 1mighty wrestlings I have 2wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
9Then Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, so she took her servant-woman Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, “1How fortunate!” So she named him 2Gad. 12And Leah’s servant-woman Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, “1Happy am I! For women awill call me happy.” So she named him 2Asher.
14And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found amandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16Then Jacob came in from the field in the evening. And Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18And Leah said, “God has given me my 1wages because I gave my servant-woman to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19Then Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20And Leah said, “God has gifted me a good gift; this time my husband 1will honor me because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. 21Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
22Then aGod remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and bopened her womb. 23So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has ataken away my reproach.” 24And she named him Joseph, saying, “aMay Yahweh 1give me another son.”

Jacob Names His Wages

25Now it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “aSend me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own land. 26“Give me my wives and my children afor whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have 1rendered you.” 27But Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; I have interpreted an omen athat Yahweh has blessed me on your account.” 28And he continued to say, “aName me your wages, and I will give it.” 29But he said to him, “aYou yourself know how I have served you and how your livestock have 1fared with me. 30“For you had little before 1I came, but it has aspread out to a multitude, and Yahweh has blessed you 2at every step of mine. But now, when shall I provide for my own household also?” 31So he said, “What shall I give you?” And Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock: 32let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every aspeckled and spotted sheep and every black 1one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages. 33“So my righteousness will answer for me later, when you come concerning my 1wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.” 34And Laban said, “Behold, 1let it be according to your word.” 35So he removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats, every one with white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the 1care of his sons. 36And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37Then Jacob 1took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and he peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was 2in the rods. 38And he set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the trough, that is, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink; and they 1mated when they came to drink. 39So the flocks 1mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. 40And Jacob separated the lambs, and he 1made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban; and he set his own herds apart and did not set them with Laban’s flock. 41Now it would be that, whenever the 1stronger of the flock 2were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the trough, so that they might 3mate by the rods; 42but when the flock was feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the 1stronger Jacob’s. 43So athe man bspread out exceedingly and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

Matthew 21:18-22:46

The Barren Fig Tree

18aNow in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19And seeing a lone afig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
20And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” 21And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, aif you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22“And aall things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

23aAnd when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him bwhile He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 24And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one 1thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25“The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26“But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd; for they all regard John as aa prophet.” 27And they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

28“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the avineyard.’ 29“And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30“And the man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that athe tax collectors and prostitutes 1will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32“For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but athe tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even regret afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Vine-Growers

33“Listen to another parable. aThere was a 1landowner who bplanted a cvineyard and put a 2wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to 3vine-growers and dwent on a journey. 34“Now when the 1harvest time approached, he asent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. 35“And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36“Again he asent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37“But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38“But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39“And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40“Therefore when the 1owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and awill rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘aThe stone which the builders rejected,This has become the chief corner stone;This came about from the 1Lord,And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it. 44“And ahe who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
45And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He *was speaking about them. 46And although they were seeking to seize Him, they afeared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a bprophet.

Parable of the Wedding Feast

22And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2“aThe kingdom of heaven 1may be compared to 2a king who 3gave a bwedding feast for his son. 3“And he asent out his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4“Again he asent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been called, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ 5“But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own 1farm, another to his business, 6and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7“But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8“Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were called were not worthy. 9‘Go therefore to athe main highways, and as many as you find there, call to the wedding feast.’ 10“And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with 1dinner guests.
11“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw aa man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12and he *said to him, ‘aFriend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into athe outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14“For many are 1,acalled, but few are bchosen.”

Taxes to Caesar

15aThen the Pharisees went and took counsel together about how they might trap Him 1in what He said. 16And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the aHerodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and 1defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. 17“Therefore, tell us, what do You think? Is it 1lawful to give a atax to bCaesar, or not?” 18But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19“Show Me the acoin used for the tax.” And they brought Him a 1denarius. 20And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “aTherefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” 22And hearing this, they marveled, and aleaving Him, they went away.

The Sadducees and the Resurrection

23aOn that day some bSadducees (who say cthere is no resurrection) came to Jesus and asked Him a question, 24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘aIf a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife and raise up a seed for his brother.’ 25“Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no 1seed, he left his wife to his brother; 26so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. 27“And last of all, the woman died. 28“In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”
29But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, anot 1understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30“For in the resurrection they neither amarry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31“But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32‘aI am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33And when the crowds heard this, athey were astonished at His teaching.

The Foremost Commandment

34aBut when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced bthe Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35And one of them, aa scholar of the Law, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And He said to him, “‘aYou shall love the 1Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38“This is the great and 1foremost commandment. 39“And the second is like it, ‘aYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40“aOn these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
41aNow while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying, “What do you think about 1the Christ, whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “aThe son of David.” 43He *said to them, “Then how does David 1,ain the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,
44‘aThe 1Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand,Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet”’?
45“Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” 46aAnd no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him 1another question.

Psalm 17

In the Shadow of Your Wings

17
A Prayer of David.
Hear a arighteous cause, O Yahweh, bgive heed to my cry of lamentation;cGive ear to my prayer, which is not from ddeceitful lips.2May amy 1judgment come from Your presence;May Your eyes behold bwhat is upright.3You have atested my heart;You have visited me by night;You have btried me and cYou find 1nothing;I have dpurposed that my mouth will not 2transgress.4As for the deeds of men, aby the word of Your lipsI have kept from the bpaths of the violent.5My asteps have held fast to Your 1paths.My bfootsteps have not stumbled.6I have acalled upon You, for You will answer me, O God;bIncline Your ear to me, hear my speech.7aMarvelously show Your lovingkindnesses,O bSavior of those who take refuge 1at Your right handFrom those who rise up against them.8Keep me as 1the aapple of the eye;Hide me bin the shadow of Your wings9From the awicked who devastate me,My bdeadly enemies who surround me.10They have aclosed their 1unfeeling heart,With their mouth they bspeak proudly.11They have now asurrounded us in our steps;They set their eyes bto cast us down to the ground.12He is alike a lion that is eager to tear,And as a young lion blurking in hiding places.13aArise, O Yahweh, confront him, bbring him low;cProtect my soul from the wicked with dYour sword,14From men with aYour hand, O Yahweh,From men 1of the world, bwhose portion is in this life,And whose belly You cfill with Your treasure;They are satisfied with children,And leave their excess to their infants.15As for me, I shall abehold Your face in righteousness;bI will be satisfied 1with Your clikeness when I awake.