Jacob Leaves Secretly for Canaan

31 Now ^[a]Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what belonged to our father he has made all this ^[b]wealth.” ² Jacob saw the ^[c]attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly. ³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “^(A)Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and ^(B)I will be with you.” ⁴ So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to his flock in the field, ⁵ and said to them, “^(C)I see your father’s ^[d]attitude, that it is not friendly toward me as formerly, but ^(D)the God of my father has been with me. ^6 (E)You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷ Yet your father has ^(F)cheated me and ^(G)changed my wages ten times; however, ^(H)God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸ If ^(I)he spoke thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth speckled; and if he spoke thus, ‘The striped shall be your wages,’ then all the flock brought forth striped. ⁹ Thus God has ^(J)taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰ And it came about at the time when the flock were ^[e]mating that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which were ^[f]mating were striped, speckled, and mottled. ¹¹ Then ^(K)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 ^[g]mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for ^(L)I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am ^(M)the God of Bethel, where you ^(N)anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, ^[h]leave this land, and ^(O)return to the land of your birth.’” ¹⁴ Rachel and Leah said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in our father’s house? ¹⁵ Are we not reckoned by him as foreigners? For ^(P)he has sold us, and has also ^[i]entirely consumed ^[j]our purchase price. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth which God has taken away from our father belongs 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 property which he had gathered, his acquired livestock which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, ^(Q)to go to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. ¹⁹ When Laban had gone to shear his flock, then Rachel stole the ^[k](R)household idols that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[l]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 Euphrates River, and set his face toward the hill country of ^(S)Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²² When it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled, ²³ then he took his ^[m]kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days’ journey, and he overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ^24 (T)God came to Laban the Aramean in a ^(U)dream of the night and said to him, “^[n](V)Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad.”

²⁵ Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his ^[o]kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁶ Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done ^[p]by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷ Why did you flee secretly and ^[q]deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with ^(W)timbrel and with ^(X)lyre; ²⁸ and did not allow me ^(Y)to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly. ²⁹ It is in ^[r]my power to do you harm, but ^(Z)the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘^[s](AA)Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.’ ³⁰ Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house; but why did you steal ^(AB)my gods?” ³¹ Then Jacob replied to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take your daughters from me by force. ^32 (AC)The one with whom you find your gods shall not live; in the presence of our ^[t]kinsmen ^[u]point out what is yours ^[v]among my belongings and take it for yourself.” For 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 maids, 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 ^[w]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 She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot ^(AD)rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the ^[x](AE)household idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became angry and contended with Laban; and Jacob 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? Set it here before my ^[y]kinsmen and your ^[z]kinsmen, 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 ^[aa]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; ^(AF)I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you ^(AG)changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If ^(AH)the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. ^(AI)God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He ^(AJ)rendered judgment last night.”

The Covenant of Mizpah

⁴³ Then Laban replied to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and ^(AK)the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ So now come, let us ^(AL)make a covenant, ^[ab]you and I, and ^(AM)let it be a witness between ^[ac]you and me.” ⁴⁵ Then Jacob took ^(AN)a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ Jacob said to his ^[ad]kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Now Laban ^(AO)called it ^[ae]Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[af]Galeed. ⁴⁸ Laban said, “^(AP)This heap is a witness between ^[ag]you and me this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed, ⁴⁹ and ^[ah](AQ)Mizpah, for he said, “May the Lord watch between ^[ai]you and me when we are ^[aj]absent one from the other. ⁵⁰ If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, ^(AR)God is witness between ^[ak]you and me.” ⁵¹ Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between ^[al]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 (AS)The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, ^(AT)judge between us.” So Jacob swore by ^(AU)the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob ^(AV)offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his ^[am]kinsmen to ^[an]the meal; and they ate ^[ao]the meal and spent the night on the mountain. ^55 [ap]Early in the morning Laban arose, and ^(AW)kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

32 Now as Jacob went on his way, ^(AX)the angels of God met him. ² Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s ^[aq]camp.” So he named that place ^[ar](AY)Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob ^(AZ)sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of ^(BA)Seir, the ^[as]country of ^(BB)Edom. ⁴ He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and ^(BC)stayed until now; ^5 (BD)I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, ^(BE)that I may find favor in your sight.”’”

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ^(BF)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(BG)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[at]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹ Jacob said, “O ^(BH)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘^(BI)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^[au]prosper you,’ ^10 [av]I am unworthy ^(BJ)of all the lovingkindness and of all the ^[aw]faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (BK)Deliver me, I pray, ^(BL)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^[ax]attack me and the ^(BM)mothers with the children. ¹² For You said, ‘^(BN)I will surely ^[ay]prosper you and ^(BO)make your ^[az]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”

¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he ^[ba]selected from what ^[bb]he had with him a ^(BP)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 He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.” ¹⁷ He commanded the ^[bc]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 Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, 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 him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²² Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the ^(BQ)Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^(BR)wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; 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, “^(BS)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 (BT)He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^[bd]Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then ^(BU)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 ^[be]Peniel, for he said, “^(BV)I have seen God face to face, yet my ^[bf]life has been preserved.” ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^(BW)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.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(BX)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ^[bg]among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. ² He put the maids and their children ^[bh]in front, and Leah and her children ^[bi]next, and Rachel and Joseph ^[bj]last. ³ But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^(BY)bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and ^(BZ)fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “^[bk]Who are these with you?” So he said, “^(CA)The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the maids came near ^[bl]with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down. ⁸ And he said, “What do you mean by ^(CB)all this company which I have met?” And he said, “^(CC)To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “^(CD)I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, ^[bm]for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please take my ^[bn](CE)gift which has been brought to you, ^(CF)because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ^[bo]plenty.” Thus he urged him and he took it.

¹² Then ^[bp]Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.” ¹³ But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are ^[bq]a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^(CG)Seir.”

¹⁵ Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “^[br]What need is there? ^(CH)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ Jacob journeyed to ^[bs](CI)Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^(CJ)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(CK)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ^19 (CL)He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred ^[bt]pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ^[bu]El-Elohe-Israel.

John’s Questions

11 ^(A)When Jesus had finished ^[a]giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there ^(B)to teach and ^[b]preach in their cities.

^2 (C)Now when ^(D)John, ^[c]while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to Him, “Are You ^(E)the ^[d]Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” ⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: ^5 (F)the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the ^(G)poor have the ^[e]gospel preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he ^[f]who ^(H)does not ^[g]take offense at Me.”

Jesus’ Tribute to John

⁷ As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into ^(I)the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^8 [h]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ ^[i]palaces! ^9 [j]But what did you go out to see? ^(J)A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it ^[k]is written,

¹¹ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is ^[m]least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ^12 (L)From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven ^[n]suffers violence, and violent men ^[o]take it by force. ¹³ For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is ^(M)Elijah who ^[p]was to come. ^15 (N)He who has ears to hear, ^[q]let him hear.

¹⁶ “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, ¹⁷ and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not ^[r]mourn.’ ¹⁸ For John came neither ^(O)eating nor ^(P)drinking, and they say, ‘^(Q)He has a demon!’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[s]drunkard, ^(R)a friend of tax collectors and ^[t]sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

The Unrepenting Cities

²⁰ Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His ^[u](S)miracles were done, because they did not repent. ²¹ “^(T)Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, ^(U)Bethsaida! For if the ^[v]miracles had occurred in ^(V)Tyre and ^(W)Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in ^[w](X)sackcloth and ashes. ²² Nevertheless I say to you, ^(Y)it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in ^(Z)the day of judgment than for you. ²³ And you, ^(AA)Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will ^(AB)descend to ^(AC)Hades; for if the ^[x]miracles had occurred in ^(AD)Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴ Nevertheless I say to you that ^(AE)it will be more tolerable for the land of ^(AF)Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Come to Me

^25 (AG)At that ^[y]time Jesus said, “I praise You, ^(AH)Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that ^(AI)You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. ²⁶ Yes, ^(AJ)Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. ^27 (AK)All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father ^(AL)except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

²⁸ “^(AM)Come to Me, all ^[z]who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and ^(AN)learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and ^(AO)you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For ^(AP)My yoke is ^[aa]easy and My burden is light.”