Tell of All His Wondrous Works

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

29 Then Jacob went on his journey and came to ^(A)the land of the people of the east. ² As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large, ³ and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, ^(B)“We are from Haran.” ⁵ He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.” ⁶ He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!” ⁷ He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.” ⁸ But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”

¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(A)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(B)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(C)though you have countless^[a] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(D)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(E)be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why ^(F)I sent^[b] you Timothy, ^(G)my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,^{[c] (H)}as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some are ^(I)arrogant, ^(J)as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But ^(K)I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰ For ^(L)the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.