Genesis 31 - 32 - Legacy Standard Bible

Genesis 31 - 32

Jacob Leaves While Laban Is Gone

Then Jacob 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 wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. 3 Then Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kin, and I will be with you.” 4 So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, 5 and he said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You also know that I have served your father with all my power. 7 Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to harm me. 8 If he 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 delivered your father’s livestock and given them to me. 10 Now it happened at the time when the flock were mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. 11 Then the 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 mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your kin.’” 14 Then 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 he has sold us and has also entirely consumed our 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.” 17 Then Jacob arose and put his children and his wives upon camels; 18 and 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 to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his flock. Then Rachel stole the household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he arose and crossed the River and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

22 Then it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled; 23 so he took his relatives with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, “Beware lest you speak to Jacob either good or bad.” 25 So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his relatives camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me—so that I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with tambourine and with lyre— 28 and not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have acted foolishly. 29 It is in my hand to do evil against you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Beware 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 my gods?” 31 Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, because I said, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ 32 The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our relatives recognize what is yours among my belongings and take it for yourself.” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 33 So 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. 34 Now Rachel had taken the household 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. 35 And she said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the household idols. 36 Then 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 relatives and your relatives, 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 heat consumed me and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41 These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times. 42 If the 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. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered the decision last night.”

The Covenant at Mizpah

43 Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the 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 cut a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.” 45 Then Jacob took a stone and raised it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 Then Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, 49 and Mizpah, for he said, “May Yahweh watch between you and me when we are absent 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, God is witness between you and me.” 51 And Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you 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 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the dread of his father Isaac. 54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his relatives to eat a meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain. 55 And Laban arose early in the morning and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

Now Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 Then Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim. 3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He 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 delayed until now; 5 and I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.”’” 6 Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two camps. 8 And he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp which remains will escape.” 9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your kin, and I will prosper you,’ 10 I am unworthy of 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 Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me down with the mothers and the children. 12 For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’” 13 So he spent the night there. Then he took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 And 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.” 17 And 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?’ 18 then 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.’” 19 Then 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; 20 and 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.” 21 So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp. 22 And 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 Jabbok. 23 And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles with God

24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of dawn. 25 And 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. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob 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. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered.” 31 And the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. 32 Therefore, 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.

Matthew 23:1 - 24:31

The Scribes and Pharisees Denounced

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore 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 And 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 to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 And they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by men. 8 But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 Do not be called instructors; for One is your Instructor, that is, Christ. 11 But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 [Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you 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 proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is obligated.’ 17 You fools and blind men! For which is more 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 offering on it, he is obligated.’ 19 You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20 Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears both by the sanctuary and by Him who dwells within it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, 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 blind guides, who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe 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 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and 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 are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? 34 “On account of this, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

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

Signs of Christ’s Return

And coming out from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” 3 Now as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you are going to hear of wars 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 nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 And at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will arise and will deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness is multiplied, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world 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 abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. 19 But woe 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 great 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 life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 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 For just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the 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 the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Psalm 18:1 - 18:24

Yahweh Is My Rock and My Fortress

For the choir director. Of the servant of Yahweh, of David, who 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, my strength.”

Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised,

And I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death encompassed me,

And the torrents of vileness terrified me.

The cords of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon Yahweh,

And cried to my God for help;

He heard my voice out of His temple,

And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

Then the earth shook and quaked;

And the foundations of the mountains were trembling

And were shaken, because He was angry.

Smoke went up out of His nostrils,

And fire from His mouth devoured;

Coals were kindled by it.

He bowed the heavens and came down

With thick darkness under His feet.

He rode upon a cherub and flew;

And He sped upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him,

Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

Yahweh also thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High gave forth His voice,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

He sent out His arrows, and scattered them,

And lightning flashes in abundance, and threw them into confusion.

Then the channels of water appeared,

And the foundations of the world were laid bare

At Your rebuke, O Yahweh,

At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

He sent from on high, He took me;

He drew me out of many waters.

He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

But Yahweh was my support.

He brought me forth also into a broad place;

He rescued me, because He delighted in me.

Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.

For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all His judgments were before me,

And I did not put away His statutes from me.

I was also blameless with Him,

And I kept myself from my iniquity.

Therefore Yahweh has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

According to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes.