Today's Reading

¹Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

²Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

³May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,

⁴and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham."

⁵Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,"

⁷and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram.

⁸Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac, his father.

⁹Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

¹⁰Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

¹¹He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

¹²He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

¹³Behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed.

¹⁴Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.

¹⁵Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."

¹⁶Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

¹⁷He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven."

¹⁸Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top.

¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

²⁰Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,

²¹so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and the Lord will be my God,

²²then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."

¹Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east.

²He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was large.

³There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place.

⁴Jacob said to them, "My relatives, where are you from?" They said, "We are from Haran."

⁵He said to them, "Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him."

⁶He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep."

⁷He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them."

⁸They said, "We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep."

⁹While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them.

¹⁰It happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.

¹¹Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.

¹²Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son. She ran and told her father.

¹³It happened, when Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.

¹⁴Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. He lived with him for a month.

¹⁵Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?"

¹⁶Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive.

¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel. He said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

¹⁹Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me."

²⁰Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.

²¹Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her."

²²Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

²³It happened in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. He went in to her.

²⁴Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid.

²⁵It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"

²⁶Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.

²⁷Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years."

²⁸Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife.

²⁹Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her handmaid.

³⁰He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

³¹The Lord saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

³²Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, "Because the Lord has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me."

³³She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, "Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also." She named him Simeon.

³⁴She conceived again, and bore a son. Said, "Now this time will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore was his name called Levi.

³⁵She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, "This time will I praise the Lord." Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

¹When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."

²Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

³She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."

⁴She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.

⁵Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.

⁶Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan.

⁷Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.

⁸Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.

¹¹Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.

¹²Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.

¹³Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy." She named him Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."

¹⁵She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

¹⁶Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night.

¹⁷God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.

¹⁸Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.

¹⁹Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

²⁰Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.

²¹Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

²²God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.

²³She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."

²⁴She named him Joseph, saying, "May the Lord add another son to me."

²⁵It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.

²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."

²⁷Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that the Lord has blessed me for your sake."

²⁸He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."

²⁹He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.

³⁰For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. The Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"

³¹He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

³²I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.

³³So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."

³⁴Laban said, "Behold, I desire it to be according to your word."

³⁵That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

³⁶He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

³⁸He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

³⁹The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

⁴⁰Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and did not put them into Laban's flock.

⁴¹It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;

⁴²but when the flock were feeble, he did not put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

⁴³The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

¹And he called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.

²Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter; and Andrew his brother; and Jacob the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; Jacob the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

⁴Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

⁵Jesus sent these twelve out, and commanded them, saying, "Do not go among the Gentiles, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans.

⁶Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

⁷And as you go, proclaim, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is near!'

⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.

⁹Do not take any gold, nor silver, nor brass in your money belts.

¹⁰Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food.

¹¹And into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you go on.

¹²And as you enter into the household, greet it.

¹³And if the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

¹⁴And whoever does not receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust from your feet.

¹⁵Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

¹⁶"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

¹⁷But beware of people: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.

¹⁸Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.

¹⁹But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say.

²⁰For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹"And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.

²²And you will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

²³But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man has come.

²⁴"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.

²⁵It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!

²⁶Therefore do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known.

²⁷What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.

²⁸And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

²⁹"Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father's will,

³⁰but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

³¹Therefore do not be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

³²Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

³³But whoever denies me before people, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

³⁴"Do not think that I came to send peace on the earth. I did not come to send peace, but a sword.

³⁵For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

³⁶And a man's foes will be those of his own household.

³⁷He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me.

³⁹He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

⁴⁰He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

⁴¹He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.

⁴²And whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple, truly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward."

¹ Why do you stand far off, Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

²In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

³For the wicked boasts of his heart's cravings. He blesses the greedy, and condemns the Lord.

⁴The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.

⁵His ways are prosperous at all times. Your judgments are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

⁶He says in his heart, "I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble."

⁷His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

⁸He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.

⁹He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.

¹⁰The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength.

¹¹He says in his heart, "God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it."

¹²Arise, Lord! God, lift up your hand! Do not forget the helpless.

¹³Why does the wicked person condemn God, and say in his heart, "God won't call me into account?"

¹⁴But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

¹⁶The Lord is King forever and ever! The nations will perish out of his land.

¹⁷Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear,

¹⁸to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

¹The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

²Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.

³The Lord will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked.

⁴He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.

⁵He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.

⁶Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

⁷The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸The wise in heart accept commandments, but a chattering fool will fall.

⁹He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.

¹⁰One winking with the eye causes sorrow, but a chattering fool will fall.

¹¹The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

¹²Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.

¹⁴Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin.

¹⁵The rich man's wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

¹⁶The labor of the righteous leads to life. The increase of the wicked leads to sin.

¹⁷He is in the way of life who heeds correction, but he who forsakes reproof leads others astray.

¹⁸He who hides hatred has lying lips. He who utters a slander is a fool.

¹⁹In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth.

²¹The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.

²²The Lord's blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

²³It is a fool's pleasure to do wickedness, but wisdom is a man of understanding's pleasure.

²⁴What the wicked fear, will overtake them, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

²⁵When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever.

²⁶As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

²⁷The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

²⁸The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.

²⁹The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

³⁰The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.

³¹The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

³²The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked is perverse.