Genesis 31 - 32, Matthew 23-24:31, Psalm 18:1-24

Jacob Leaves While Laban Is Gone

31Then ¹Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ²wealth.” ²And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. ³Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “^aReturn to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and ^bI will be with you.” ⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵and he said to them, “^aI see your father’s face, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but ^bthe God of my father has been with me. ⁶“^aYou also know that I have served your father with all my power. ⁷“Yet your father has ^acheated me and ^bchanged my wages ten times; however, ^cGod did not allow him to harm me. ⁸“If ^ahe spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock bore striped. ⁹“Thus God has ^adelivered your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰“Now it happened at the time when the flock were ¹mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were ²mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. ¹¹“Then ^athe angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²“He said, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are ¹mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for ^aI have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³‘I am ^athe God of Bethel, where you ^banointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ¹leave this land, and ^creturn to the land of your kin.’” ¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵“Are we not counted by him as foreigners? For ^ahe has sold us and has also ¹entirely consumed ²our purchase price. ¹⁶“Surely all the riches which God has delivered over to us from our father belong to us and our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; ¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had accumulated, his acquired livestock which he had accumulated in Paddan-aram, in order ^ato go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the ¹^,^ahousehold idols that were her father’s. ²⁰And Jacob ¹deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. ²¹So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the ¹River and set his face toward the hill country of ^aGilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²²Then it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled; ²³so he took his ¹relatives with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴^aAnd God came to Laban the Aramean in a ^bdream of the night and said to him, “¹^,^cBeware lest you speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his ¹relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done ¹by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷“Why did you flee secretly and ¹deceive me and not tell me—so that I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with ^atambourine and with ^blyre— ²⁸and not allow me ^ato kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly. ²⁹“It is in my hand to do evil against you, but ^athe God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘¹^,^bBeware of speaking either good or evil to Jacob.’ ³⁰“So now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal ^amy gods?” ³¹Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, because I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ ³²“^aThe one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our ¹relatives recognize what is yours ²among my belongings and take it for yourself.” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the ¹household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle, and she sat on them. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. ³⁵And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^arise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the ¹^,^bhousehold idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me? ³⁷“Though you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all your household goods? Place it here before my ¹relatives and your ²relatives, that they may decide between us two. ³⁸“These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks. ³⁹“That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it myself. You required it of my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰“Thus I was: by day the ¹heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹“These twenty years I have been in your house; ^aI served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you ^bchanged my wages ten times. ⁴²“If ^athe God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the dread of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. ^bGod has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He ^crendered the decision last night.”

The Covenant at Mizpah

⁴³Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and ^athe flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these daughters of mine or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴“So now come, let us ^acut a covenant, ¹you and I, and ^blet it be a witness between ²you and me.” ⁴⁵Then Jacob took ^aa stone and raised it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said to his ¹relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷And Laban ^acalled it ¹Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ²Galeed. ⁴⁸Then Laban said, “^aThis heap is a witness between ¹you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, ⁴⁹and ¹^,^aMizpah, for he said, “May Yahweh watch between ²you and me when we are ³absent one from the other. ⁵⁰“If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, ^aGod is witness between ¹you and me.” ⁵¹And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between ¹you and me. ⁵²“This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me for harm. ⁵³“^aThe God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, ^bjudge between us.” So Jacob swore by ^cthe dread of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Then Jacob ^aoffered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his ¹relatives to eat a ²meal; and they ate ³the meal and spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵¹And Laban arose early in the morning and ^akissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32Now Jacob went on his way, ^aand the angels of God met him. ²Then Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s ¹camp.” So he named that place ²^,^aMahanaim.

³Then Jacob ^asent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of ^bSeir, the ¹country of ^cEdom. ⁴He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord, to Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban and have been ^adelayed until now; ⁵^aand I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, ^bthat I may find favor in your sight.”’”

⁶Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and furthermore ^ahe is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷Then Jacob was ^agreatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two camps. ⁸And he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp which remains will escape.”

⁹And Jacob said, “O ^aGod of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘^bReturn to your land and to your kin, and I will ¹prosper you,’ ¹⁰¹I am unworthy ^aof all the lovingkindness and of all the truth which You have shown to Your slave; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹“^aDeliver me, I pray, ^bfrom the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me down with the ^cmothers and the children. ¹²“For You said, ‘^aI will surely ¹prosper you and ^bmake your seed as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”

¹³So he spent the night there. Then he took from what ¹he had with him a ^apresent for his brother Esau: ¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶And he gave them into the hand of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me and put a space between flocks.” ¹⁷And he commanded the first one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ ¹⁸then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹Then he commanded also the second and the third and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease his face with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face.” ²¹So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²²And he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two servant-women and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the ^aJabbok. ²³And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²⁴Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^awrestled with him until the ¹breaking of dawn. ²⁵And he saw that he had not prevailed against him, so he touched the socket of his thigh; and so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is ¹breaking.” But he said, “^aI will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸^aThen he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ¹Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then ^aJacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰So Jacob named the place ¹Peniel, for he said, “^aI have seen God face to face, yet my ²life has been delivered.” ³¹And the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^aPenuel, and he was limping on his thigh. ³²Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

The Scribes and Pharisees Denounced

23^aThen Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, ²saying: “^aThe scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; ³therefore all that they tell you, do and keep, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. ⁴“^aAnd they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. ⁵“But they do all their deeds ^ato be noticed by men; for they ^bbroaden their ¹phylacteries and lengthen ^cthe tassels of their garments. ⁶“And they ^alove the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called ^aRabbi by men. ⁸“But ^ado not be called ^bRabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹“And do not call anyone on earth your father; for ^aOne is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰“Do not be called instructors; for One is your Instructor, that is, Christ. ¹¹“^aBut the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²“^aAnd whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

¹³“^aBut woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, ^bbecause you shut off the kingdom of heaven ¹from ²people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ¹⁴¹[“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ^ayou devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one ¹^,^aproselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of ²^,^bhell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, ^ablind guides, who say, ‘^bWhoever swears by the ¹sanctuary, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the ²sanctuary is obligated.’ ¹⁷“You fools and blind men! For ^awhich is ¹more important, the gold or the sanctuary that sanctified the gold? ¹⁸“And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the ¹offering on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹“You blind men, ^awhich is ¹more important, the ²offering, or the altar that sanctifies the ³offering? ²⁰“Therefore, ¹whoever swears by the altar, swears both by ²the altar and by everything on it. ²¹“And ¹whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears both by the ²sanctuary and by Him who ^adwells within it. ²²“And ¹whoever swears by heaven, ^aswears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³“^aWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and ¹cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ²⁴“You ^ablind guides, who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^ayou clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full ¹of robbery and self-indulgence. ²⁶“You blind Pharisee, first ^aclean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

²⁷“^aWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸“In this way, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“^aWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹“So you bear witness against yourselves, that you ^aare ¹sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²“Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³“You serpents, ^ayou brood of vipers, how ¹will you escape the ²sentence of ³^,^bhell?

³⁴“^aOn account of this, behold, ^bI am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will ^cflog in your synagogues, and ^dpersecute from city to city, ³⁵so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^aAbel to the blood of Zechariah, the ^bson of Berechiah, whom ^cyou murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶“Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon ^athis generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷“^aJerusalem, Jerusalem, who ^bkills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ^cthe way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it. ³⁸“Behold, ^ayour house is being left to you desolate! ³⁹“For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘^aBlessed is He who comes in the name of the ¹Lord!’”

Signs of Christ’s Return

24^aAnd coming ^bout from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ²And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, ^anot one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³Now as He was sitting on ^athe Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of ^bYour coming and of the ¹end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “^aSee to it that no one deceives you. ⁵“For ^amany will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the ¹Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶“And you are going to hear of ^awars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷“For ^anation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be ^bfamines and earthquakes. ⁸“^aBut all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“^aThen they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and ^byou will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰“And at that time many will ¹^,^afall away and will ²betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹“Many ^afalse prophets will arise and will deceive many. ¹²“And because lawlessness is multiplied, ¹most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³“^aBut the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴“And this ^agospel of the kingdom ^bshall be proclaimed in the whole ¹^,^cworld as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Abomination of Desolation and the Tribulation

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ^aabomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in ^bthe holy place (^clet the reader understand), ¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷“¹Whoever is on ^athe housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸“And ¹whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. ¹⁹“But ^awoe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰“But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹“For then there will be a ^agreat tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²²“And unless those days had been cut short, no ¹life would have been saved; but for ^athe sake of the ²elect those days will be cut short. ²³“^aThen if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the ¹Christ,’ or ‘²There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴“For false christs and ^afalse prophets will arise and will ¹show great ²^,^bsigns and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even ^cthe ³elect. ²⁵“Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶“Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷“^aFor just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the ^bcoming of the ^cSon of Man be. ²⁸“^aWherever the corpse is, there the ¹vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹“But immediately after the ^atribulation of those days ^bthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^cthe stars will fall from ¹the sky, and the powers of ²the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰“And then ^athe sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ^bthe Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. ³¹“And ^aHe will send forth His angels with ^ba great trumpet and they will gather together His ¹^,^celect from ^dthe four winds, from one end of the sky to the ²other.

Yahweh Is My Rock and My Fortress

For the choir director. Of the servant of Yahweh, of David, ¹who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

He said, “I love You, O Yahweh, ^amy strength.”²Yahweh is ^amy ¹rock and ^bmy fortress and my ^cdeliverer,My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;My ^dshield and the ^ehorn of my salvation, my ^fstronghold.³I call upon Yahweh, who is ^aworthy to be praised,And I am ^bsaved from my enemies.⁴The ^acords of death encompassed me,And the ^btorrents of vileness ¹terrified me.⁵The ^acords of Sheol surrounded me;The snares of death confronted me.⁶In my ^adistress I called upon Yahweh,And cried to my God for help;He heard my voice ^bout of His temple,And my ^ccry for help before Him came into His ears.⁷Then the ^aearth shook and quaked;And the ^bfoundations of the mountains were tremblingAnd were shaken, because He was angry.⁸Smoke went up ¹out of His nostrils,And ^afire from His mouth devoured;Coals were kindled by it.⁹He ^abowed the heavens and came downWith thick ^bdarkness under His feet.¹⁰He rode upon a ^acherub and flew;And He sped upon the ^bwings of the wind.¹¹He made ^adarkness His hiding place, ^bHis ¹canopy around Him,Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.¹²From the ^abrightness before Him passed His thick clouds,Hailstones and ^bcoals of fire.¹³Yahweh also ^athundered in the heavens,And the Most High gave forth His voice,Hailstones and coals of fire.¹⁴He ^asent out His arrows, and scattered them,And lightning flashes in abundance, and ¹threw them into confusion.¹⁵Then the ^achannels of water appeared,And the foundations of the world were ¹laid bareAt Your ^brebuke, O Yahweh,At the blast of the ^cbreath of Your nostrils.¹⁶He ^asent from on high, He took me;He drew me out of ^bmany waters.¹⁷He ^adelivered me from my strong enemy,And from those who hated me, for they were ^btoo mighty for me.¹⁸They confronted me in ^athe day of my disaster,But ^bYahweh was my support.¹⁹He brought me forth also into a ^abroad place;He rescued me, because ^bHe delighted in me.²⁰Yahweh has ^arewarded me according to my righteousness;According to the ^bcleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.²¹For I have ^akept the ways of Yahweh,And have ^bnot wickedly departed from my God.²²For all ^aHis judgments were before me,And I did not put away His ^bstatutes from me.²³I was also ¹^,^ablameless with Him,And I ^bkept myself from my iniquity.²⁴Therefore Yahweh has ^arecompensed me according to my righteousness,According to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes.