Old/New Testament
Chapter 31
Jacob Flees from Laban.[a] 1 Jacob came to know what the sons of Laban were saying: “Jacob is taking what belonged to our father, and he has gotten all his wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2 And Jacob saw that Laban’s attitude toward him had changed.
3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, to your homeland, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah who were in the fields with the flocks 5 and he told them, “I see that your father’s attitude to me is not like it was before. Still, the God of my father is with me. 6 You yourselves know that I have served your father with all my strength, 7 while your father has cheated and changed my salary ten times. But God did not let him harm me. 8 If he said, ‘The speckled animals will be your salary,’ then all the animals born were speckled. If he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your salary,’ then all the animals born were streaked. 9 Thus, God took back your father’s animals and gave them to me.
10 “Once, when the animals were in heat, I had a dream. I looked out and saw that the he-goats that were streaked, speckled, and mottled were ready to breed. 11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He continued, ‘Look up and see: all the goats that are ready to breed are streaked, speckled, and mottled because I saw what Laban has done to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made an oath to me. Now, rise, leave this country, and return to your homeland.’ ”
14 Rachel and Leah answered, “Do we still have property or an inheritance in the house of our father? 15 Are we not considered to be outsiders by him? He sold us and then used up our money. 16 All those things that God has taken from our father belong to us and to our children. Do what God has told you to do.”
17 Jacob got up, placed his children and his wives on camels, 18 and led all the animals away. He took all his possessions with him, including the animals that he acquired in Paddan-aram, in order to return to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan.
19 When Laban had gone to shear the sheep, Rachel stole the household idols[b] that belonged to her father. 20 Jacob sneaked away from Laban the Aramean, not letting him know that he was about to flee. 21 This way he was able to go with all his possessions. He rose, crossed the river,[c] and traveled toward the mountains of Gilead.
22 Laban Pursues Jacob.[d] On the third day, Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 He took his kinsmen with him and followed him for seven days. He caught up to him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to do anything to Jacob, not a thing!”
25 Laban therefore went and caught up to Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tents in the mountains, and Laban and his kinsmen were also camped in the mountains of Gilead. 26 Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You sneaked away and carried off my daughters as if they were prisoners of war! 27 Why did you secretly flee away and cheat me? Why did you not let me know? I would have given you a celebration with songs and the music of the tambourines and the harp. 28 You did not let me kiss my grandsons and my daughters. This was surely a foolish thing that you have done. 29 Realize that I could harm you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night. He forbade me to do anything to Jacob, not a thing. 30 I realize that you left because you were homesick for the house of your father, but why have you robbed my household idols?”
31 Jacob answered Laban and said, “I was afraid, and I thought that you would take your daughters back with force. 32 But as for whoever you find has taken your household idols, he will be put to death. With our relatives looking on, see if you can find anything belonging to you and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had robbed them.
33 Laban entered Jacob’s tent and then the tent of Leah and the tent of the two slaves, but he did not find anything. Then he went out from Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. 34 Now Rachel had taken the idols and had placed them under a camel’s saddle and had then sat upon it. Laban searched throughout the whole tent and did not find them.
35 She said to her father, “Please do not be offended, my lord, if I cannot rise in your presence, but I am having my monthly time.”[e] Laban therefore searched in the entire tent and did not find the idols.
36 Jacob was angry now and scolded Laban saying, “What crime have I committed, what sin did I do that you followed me? 37 Now that you have searched all my possessions, what have you found that belongs to you? Place it before me and your relatives and let it serve as evidence for or against me.
38 “I spent twenty years with you. None of your sheep or goats ever miscarried. I never ate any of the rams of your flock. 39 I never brought you an animal that had been injured by a wild beast. I made good for the loss myself. You held me responsible for whatever was robbed during the day and for whatever was robbed during the night. 40 By day I was burnt by the sun and by night I suffered from the cold, and I spent many sleepless nights. 41 Twenty years I was with you. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my salary ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Terror of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing. But God saw my affliction and the work of my hands, and last night he was my judge.”
43 Laban then answered Jacob and said, “These daughters are my daughters and these grandsons are my grandsons. These cattle are my cattle, and all you see is mine. What could I do to you today and to these daughters and to the children whom they have brought into the world? 44 Come, let us make a covenant between me and you, and let it be a witness between me and you.”
45 Jacob took a stone and erected it as a pillar. 46 Then he said to his relatives, “Collect some stones,” and they took stones and made a mound out of them. They then ate sitting upon the mound. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, while Jacob called it Galeed.
48 Laban said, “Let this mound be today a witness between me and you.” Because of this he called it Galeed 49 and also Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between me and you when we will no longer see each other.[f] 50 If you mistreat my daughters and take other wives besides my daughters, be warned that God will be a judge between you and me.”
51 Laban continued and said to Jacob, “Behold this mound and this pillar that I have erected between me and you. 52 Let this mound be a witness, and this pillar be a witness, that I will not cross over past this mound to do you harm and that you will not cross over past this mound and this pillar to do me harm. 53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor be a judge between us.”
Jacob swore an oath by the name of the Terror of his father Isaac. 54 Then he offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat with him. They ate and spent the night on the mountain.
Chapter 32
1 Laban rose early in the morning, kissed his grandsons and daughters, and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
Jacob Prepares To Meet Esau.[g] 2 As Jacob continued his journey, angels of God appeared to him. 3 When Jacob saw them he said, “This is the encampment of God,” and he called the place Mahanaim. 4 Then Jacob sent some messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 5 He gave them this command, “Say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and I remained there until now. 6 I have come to own oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I am sending my lord this information to seek his favor.’ ”
7 The messengers returned to Jacob saying, “We went to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you and he has four hundred men with him.” 8 Jacob was terribly afraid and filled with anxiety. He divided the men of his camp into two groups along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels. 9 He thought, “If Esau were to come to one group and destroy it, the other would be safe.”
10 Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who told me, ‘Return to your land, to your homeland, and I will bless you,’ 11 I am not worthy of the goodness and faithfulness that you have shown your servant. When I passed over the Jordan I had nothing but my staff, and now I have become so rich that I could establish two camps. 12 Save me from the hands of my brother Esau because I am afraid of him. Let him not come and kill all of us, even the mothers and children. 13 Besides, you said, ‘I will make you prosper and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so numerous that you cannot count them.’ ”
14 Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected the following gifts from among his possessions for his brother Esau: 15 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 16 thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 17 He entrusted them to his servants, in separate groups, and told them, “Go ahead of me and leave some space between the groups.”
18 He gave this order to the first group, “When you meet Esau, my brother, and he asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Who owns all these animals that you are driving?’ 19 you are to answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift for my lord Esau. And Jacob himself is behind us.’ ”
20 He gave the same order to the second group and the third and all the other groups: “These are the words that you shall say to Esau when you meet him. 21 Tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” He was thinking, “The gifts that I am sending will calm him down, and then I will come before him. Maybe he will greet me kindly.” 22 Thus, the gifts went ahead of him, while he spent the night in the camp.
23 A Mysterious Struggle.[h] During the night Jacob arose, took his two wives, his two slaves, and his eleven sons and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. 24 He took them, crossed over the brook and carried over all his possessions. 25 So Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn. 26 Seeing that he could not beat him, the man struck Jacob at the hip joint. Jacob’s hip joint became dislocated while he continued to fight with him. 27 The man said, “Let me go because it is dawn.”
Jacob answered, “I will not let go of you until you will have blessed me.”
28 The man asked, “What is your name?”
He answered, “Jacob.”
29 The man then said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel[i] because you have wrestled with God and with man and have won.”
30 Jacob said to him, “Give me your name.” He answered, “Why are you asking my name?” And then he blessed him. 31 Jacob called the place Peniel[j] because he said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive.”
32 The sun rose and Jacob left Penuel limping. 33 This is why Israelites to this day do not eat the sinew of the thigh, because the man had struck Jacob’s hip joint and the sinew shrank.
18 Jesus Heals a Sick Woman and Raises a Dead Girl.[a] While he was saying these things to them, an official[b] came forward. He knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But if you come and lay your hand on her, she will live.” 19 Jesus then rose and followed him, together with his disciples.
20 Suddenly, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak. 21 For she thought to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I shall be healed.” 22 Jesus turned and saw her, and he said, “Take heart, daughter! Your faith has healed you.” And from that moment the woman was cured.
23 When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players[c] and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead; she is asleep,”[d] but they laughed at him. 25 When the people had been sent outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the little girl stood up. 26 And the news of this spread throughout the entire district.
27 Jesus Heals Two Blind Men. As Jesus proceeded from there, two blind men followed him, crying out loudly, “Son of David,[e] have pity on us.” 28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men approached him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” They replied, “Yes, Lord, we do.” 29 Then Jesus touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” 30 And their sight was restored. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “See to it that no one learns about this.” 31 But as soon as they had departed, they spread the news about him throughout that entire district.
32 Jesus Heals a Mute Demoniac. As they left, a man who was possessed and unable to speak was brought to him. 33 When the demon had been driven out, the man who had been mute was able to speak. The crowds were amazed, and they said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees responded, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”[f]
35 The Harvest Is Abundant.[g] Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every kind of illness and disease. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were distressed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers for his harvest.”
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