To The Word – Day 9

₁Jacob continued on his way and went towards the land of the East. ₂Suddenly he came upon a well out in the fields with three flocks of sheep lying round it. The flocks were watered from this well, which had a large stone over the opening. ₃Whenever all the flocks came together there, the shepherds would roll the stone back and water them. Then they would put the stone back in place.

₄Jacob asked the shepherds, “My friends, where are you from?”

“From Haran,” they answered.

₅He asked, “Do you know Laban, grandson of Nahor?”

“Yes, we do,” they answered.

₆“Is he well?” he asked.

“He is well,” they answered. “Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with his flock.”

₇Jacob said, “Since it is still broad daylight and not yet time to bring the flocks in, why don't you water them and take them back to pasture?”

₈They answered, “We can't do that until all the flocks are here and the stone has been rolled back; then we will water the flocks.”

₉While Jacob was still talking to them, Rachel arrived with the flock. ₁₀When Jacob saw Rachel with his uncle Laban's flock, he went to the well, rolled the stone back, and watered the sheep. ₁₁Then he kissed her and began to cry for joy. ₁₂He told her, “I am your father's relative, the son of Rebecca.”

She ran to tell her father; ₁₃and when he heard the news about his nephew Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him and kissed him, and brought him into the house. When Jacob told Laban everything that had happened, ₁₄Laban said, “Yes, indeed, you are my own flesh and blood.” Jacob stayed there a whole month.

₁₅Laban said to Jacob, “You shouldn't work for me for nothing just because you are my relative. How much pay do you want?” ₁₆Laban had two daughters; the elder was named Leah, and the younger Rachel. ₁₇Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

₁₈Jacob was in love with Rachel, so he said, “I will work seven years for you, if you will let me marry Rachel.”

₁₉Laban answered, “I would rather give her to you than to anyone else; stay here with me.” ₂₀Jacob worked seven years so that he could have Rachel, and the time seemed like only a few days to him, because he loved her.

₂₁Then Jacob said to Laban, “The time is up; let me marry your daughter.” ₂₂So Laban gave a wedding feast and invited everyone. ₂₃But that night, instead of Rachel, he took Leah to Jacob, and Jacob had intercourse with her. ₂₄(Laban gave his slave woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.) ₂₅Not until the next morning did Jacob discover that it was Leah. He went to Laban and said, “Why did you do this to me? I worked to get Rachel. Why have you tricked me?”

₂₆Laban answered, “It is not the custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the elder. ₂₇Wait until the week's marriage celebrations are over, and I will give you Rachel, if you will work for me another seven years.”

₂₈Jacob agreed, and when the week of marriage celebrations was over, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ₂₉(Laban gave his slave woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) ₃₀Jacob had intercourse with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Then he worked for Laban another seven years.

₃₁When the LORD saw that Leah was loved less than Rachel, he made it possible for her to have children, but Rachel remained childless. ₃₂Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “The LORD has seen my trouble, and now my husband will love me”; so she named him Reuben. ₃₃She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “The LORD has given me this son also, because he heard that I was not loved”; so she named him Simeon. ₃₄Once again she became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She said, “Now my husband will be bound more tightly to me, because I have borne him three sons”; so she named him Levi. ₃₅Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, “This time I will praise the LORD”; so she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

₁But Rachel had not borne Jacob any children, and so she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die.”

₂Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “I can't take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.”

₃She said, “Here is my slave Bilhah; sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. In this way I can become a mother through her.” ₄So she gave Bilhah to her husband, and he had intercourse with her. ₅Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. ₆Rachel said, “God has judged in my favour. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son”; so she named him Dan. ₇Bilhah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son. ₈Rachel said, “I have fought a hard fight with my sister, but I have won”; so she named him Naphtali.

₉When Leah realized that she had stopped having children, she gave her slave Zilpah to Jacob as his wife. ₁₀Then Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ₁₁Leah said, “I have been lucky”; so she named him Gad. ₁₂Zilpah bore Jacob another son, ₁₃and Leah said, “How happy I am! Now women will call me happy”; so she named him Asher.

₁₄During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the fields and found mandrakes, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.”

₁₅Leah answered, “Isn't it enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you are even trying to take away my son's mandrakes.”

Rachel said, “If you will give me your son's mandrakes, you can sleep with Jacob tonight.”

₁₆When Jacob came in from the fields in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You are going to sleep with me tonight, because I have paid for you with my son's mandrakes.” So he had intercourse with her that night.

₁₇God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. ₁₈Leah said, “God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband”; so she named her son Issachar. ₁₉Leah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a sixth son. ₂₀She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now my husband will accept me, because I have borne him six sons”; so she named him Zebulun. ₂₁Later she bore a daughter, whom she named Dinah.

₂₂Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children. ₂₃She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, “God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son. ₂₄May the LORD give me another son”; so she named him Joseph.

₂₅After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go, so that I can return home. ₂₆Give me my wives and children that I have earned by working for you, and I will leave. You know how well I have served you.”

₂₇Laban said to him, “Let me say this: I have learnt by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you. ₂₈Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

₂₉Jacob answered, “You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care. ₃₀The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I went. Now it is time for me to look out for my own interests.”

₃₁“What shall I pay you?” Laban asked.

Jacob answered, “I don't want any wages. I will continue to take care of your flocks if you agree to this suggestion: ₃₂Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want. ₃₃In the future you can easily find out if I have been honest. When you come to check up on my wages, if I have any goat that isn't speckled or spotted or any sheep that isn't black, you will know that it has been stolen.”

₃₄Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.” ₃₅But that day Laban removed the male goats that had stripes or spots and all the females that were speckled and spotted or which had white on them; he also removed all the black sheep. He put his sons in charge of them, ₃₆and then went away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban's flocks.

₃₇Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. ₃₈He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink. ₃₉So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.

₄₀Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban's flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban's.

₄₁When the healthy animals were mating, Jacob put the branches in front of them at the drinking troughs, so that they would breed among the branches. ₄₂But he did not put the branches in front of the weak animals. Soon Laban had all the weak animals, and Jacob all the healthy ones. ₄₃In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.

₁Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. All his wealth has come from what our father owned.” ₂He also saw that Laban was no longer as friendly as he had been earlier. ₃Then the LORD said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. I will be with you.”

₄So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flocks were. ₅He said to them, “I have noticed that your father is not as friendly towards me as he used to be; but my father's God has been with me. ₆You both know that I have worked for your father with all my strength. ₇Yet he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not let him harm me. ₈Whenever Laban said, ‘The speckled goats shall be your wages,’ all the flocks produced speckled young. When he said, ‘The striped goats shall be your wages,’ all the flocks produced striped young. ₉God has taken flocks away from your father and given them to me.

₁₀“During the breeding season I had a dream, and I saw that the male goats that were mating were striped, spotted, and speckled. ₁₁The angel of God spoke to me in the dream and said, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Yes,’ I answered. ₁₂‘Look,’ he continued, ‘all the male goats that are mating are striped, spotted, and speckled. I am making this happen because I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ₁₃I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you dedicated a stone as a memorial by pouring olive oil on it and where you made a vow to me. Now get ready to go back to the land where you were born.’ ”

₁₄Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, “There is nothing left for us to inherit from our father. ₁₅He treats us like foreigners. He sold us, and now he has spent all the money he was paid for us. ₁₆All this wealth which God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children. Do whatever God has told you.”

_17-18So Jacob got ready to go back to his father in the land of Canaan. He put his children and his wives on the camels, and drove all his flocks ahead of him, with everything that he had acquired in Mesopotamia. ₁₉Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and during his absence Rachel stole the household gods that belonged to her father. ₂₀Jacob deceived Laban by not letting him know that he was leaving. ₂₁He took everything he owned and left in a hurry. He crossed the River Euphrates and started for the hill country of Gilead.

₂₂Three days later Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ₂₃He took his men with him and pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ₂₄In a dream that night God came to Laban and said to him, “Be careful not to threaten Jacob in any way.” ₂₅Jacob had set up his camp on a mountain, and Laban set up his camp with his relatives in the hill country of Gilead.

₂₆Laban said to Jacob, “Why did you deceive me and carry off my daughters like women captured in war? ₂₇Why did you deceive me and slip away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have sent you on your way with rejoicing and singing to the music of tambourines and harps. ₂₈You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. That was a foolish thing to do! ₂₉I have the power to do you harm, but last night the God of your father warned me not to threaten you in any way. ₃₀I know that you left because you were so anxious to get back home, but why did you steal my household gods?”

₃₁Jacob answered, “I was afraid, because I thought that you might take your daughters away from me. ₃₂But if you find that anyone here has your gods, he will be put to death. Here, with our men as witnesses, look for anything that belongs to you and take what is yours.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban's gods.

₃₃Laban went and searched Jacob's tent; then he went into Leah's tent, and the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find his gods. Then he went into Rachel's tent. ₃₄Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in a camel's saddlebag and was sitting on them. Laban searched through the whole tent, but did not find them. ₃₅Rachel said to her father, “Do not be angry with me, sir, but I am not able to stand up in your presence; I am having my monthly period.” Laban searched but did not find his household gods.

₃₆Then Jacob lost his temper. “What crime have I committed?” he asked angrily. “What law have I broken that gives you the right to hunt me down? ₃₇Now that you have searched through all my belongings, what household article have you found that belongs to you? Put it out here where your men and mine can see it, and let them decide which one of us is right. ₃₈I have been with you now for twenty years; your sheep and your goats have not failed to reproduce, and I have not eaten any rams from your flocks. ₃₉Whenever a sheep was killed by wild animals, I always bore the loss myself. I didn't take it to you to show that it was not my fault. You demanded that I make good anything that was stolen during the day or during the night. ₄₀Many times I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was not able to sleep. ₄₁It was like that for the whole twenty years I was with you. For fourteen years I worked to win your two daughters — and six years for your flocks. And even then, you changed my wages ten times. ₄₂If the God of my fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac, had not been with me, you would have already sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my trouble and the work I have done, and last night he gave his judgement.”

₄₃Laban answered Jacob, “These young women are my daughters; their children belong to me, and these flocks are mine. In fact, everything you see here belongs to me. But since I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children, ₄₄I am ready to make an agreement with you. Let us make a pile of stones to remind us of our agreement.”

₄₅So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial. ₄₆He told his men to gather some rocks and pile them up. Then they ate a meal beside the pile of rocks. ₄₇Laban named it Jegar Sahadutha, while Jacob named it Galeed. ₄₈Laban said to Jacob, “This pile of rocks will be a reminder for both of us.” That is why that place was named Galeed. ₄₉Laban also said, “May the LORD keep an eye on us while we are separated from each other.” So the place was also named Mizpah. ₅₀Laban went on, “If you ill-treat my daughters or if you marry other women, even though I don't know about it, remember that God is watching us. ₅₁Here are the rocks that I have piled up between us, and here is the memorial stone. ₅₂Both this pile and this memorial stone are reminders. I will never go beyond this pile to attack you, and you must never go beyond it or beyond this memorial stone to attack me. ₅₃The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor will judge between us.” Then, in the name of the God whom his father Isaac worshipped, Jacob solemnly vowed to keep this promise. ₅₄He killed an animal, which he offered as a sacrifice on the mountain, and he invited his men to the meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. ₅₅Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye, and left to go back home.

₁As Jacob went on his way, some angels met him. ₂When he saw them, he said, “This is God's camp”; so he called the place Mahanaim.

₃Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the country of Edom. ₄He instructed them to say: “I, Jacob, your obedient servant, report to my master Esau that I have been staying with Laban and that I have delayed my return until now. ₅I own cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and slaves. I am sending you word, sir, in the hope of gaining your favour.”

₆When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you. He has 400 men with him.” ₇Jacob was frightened and worried. He divided into two groups the people who were with him, and also his sheep, goats, cattle, and camels. ₈He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks the first group, the other may be able to escape.”

₉Then Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac, hear me! You told me, LORD, to go back to my land and to my relatives, and you would make everything go well for me. ₁₀I am not worth all the kindness and faithfulness that you have shown me, your servant. I crossed the Jordan with nothing but a walking stick, and now I have come back with these two groups. ₁₁Save me, I pray, from my brother Esau. I am afraid — afraid that he is coming to attack us and destroy us all, even the women and children. ₁₂Remember that you promised to make everything go well for me and to give me more descendants than anyone could count, as many as the grains of sand along the seashore.”

_13-15After spending the night there, Jacob chose from his livestock as a present for his brother Esau: 200 female goats and twenty males, 200 female sheep and twenty males, thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten males. ₁₆He divided them into herds and put one of his servants in charge of each herd. He said to them, “Go ahead of me, and leave a space between each herd and the one behind it.” ₁₇He ordered the first servant, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these animals in front of you?’ ₁₈you must answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sends them as a present to his master Esau. Jacob himself is just behind us.’ ” ₁₉He gave the same order to the second, the third, and to all the others who were in charge of the herds: “This is what you must say to Esau when you meet him. ₂₀You must say, ‘Yes, your servant Jacob is just behind us.’ ” Jacob was thinking, “I will win him over with the gifts, and when I meet him, perhaps he will forgive me.” ₂₁He sent the gifts on ahead of him and spent that night in camp.

₂₂That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the River Jabbok. ₂₃After he had sent them across, he also sent across all that he owned, ₂₄but he stayed behind, alone.

Then a man came and wrestled with him until just before daybreak. ₂₅When the man saw that he was not winning the struggle, he struck Jacob on the hip, and it was thrown out of joint. ₂₆The man said, “Let me go; daylight is coming.”

“I won't, unless you bless me,” Jacob answered.

₂₇“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he answered.

₂₈The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have struggled with God and with men, and you have won; so your name will be Israel.”

₂₉Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.”

But he answered, “Why do you want to know my name?” Then he blessed Jacob.

₃₀Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive”; so he named the place Peniel. ₃₁The sun rose as Jacob was leaving Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ₃₂Even today the descendants of Israel do not eat the muscle which is on the hip joint, because it was on this muscle that Jacob was struck.

₁After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you. ₂For you gave him authority over all humanity, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. ₃And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent. ₄I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. ₅Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

₆“I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word, ₇and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. ₈I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

₉“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those you gave me, for they belong to you. ₁₀All I have is yours, and all you have is mine; and my glory is shown through them. ₁₁And now I am coming to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one. ₁₂While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me. I protected them, and not one of them was lost, except the man who was bound to be lost — so that the scripture might come true. ₁₃And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they might have my joy in their hearts in all its fullness. ₁₄I gave them your message, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ₁₅I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One. ₁₆Just as I do not belong to the world, they do not belong to the world. ₁₇Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth; your word is truth. ₁₈I sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world. ₁₉And for their sake I dedicate myself to you, in order that they, too, may be truly dedicated to you.

₂₀“I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message. ₂₁I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. ₂₂I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: ₂₃I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.

₂₄“Father! You have given them to me, and I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, the glory you gave me; for you loved me before the world was made. ₂₅Righteous Father! The world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me. ₂₆I made you known to them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and so that I also may be in them.”