1
Jacob continued on his way and went toward the land of the East.
2
Suddenly he came upon a well out in the fields with three flocks of sheep lying around it. The flocks were watered from this well, which had a large stone over the opening.
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Whenever 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.
4
Jacob asked the shepherds, "My friends, where are you from?" "From Haran," they answered.
5
He 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."
7
Jacob 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?"
8
They 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."
9
While Jacob was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with the flock.
10
When Jacob saw Rachel with his uncle Laban's flock, he went to the well, rolled the stone back, and watered the sheep.
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Then he kissed her and began to cry for joy.
12
He told her, "I am your father's relative, the son of Rebecca." She ran to tell her father;
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and 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,
14
Laban said, "Yes, indeed, you are my own flesh and blood." Jacob stayed there a whole month.
15
Laban said to Jacob, "You shouldn't work for me for nothing just because you are my relative. How much pay do you want?"
16
Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger Rachel.
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Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
18
Jacob was in love with Rachel, so he said, "I will work seven years for you, if you will let me marry Rachel."
19
Laban answered, "I would rather give her to you than to anyone else; stay here with me."
20
Jacob worked seven years so that he could have Rachel, and the time seemed like only a few days to him, because he loved her.
21
Then Jacob said to Laban, "The time is up; let me marry your daughter."
22
So Laban gave a wedding feast and invited everyone.
23
But 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.)
25
Not 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?"
26
Laban answered, "It is not the custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older.
27
Wait until the week's marriage celebrations are over, and I will give you Rachel, if you will work for me another seven years."
28
Jacob 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.)
30
Jacob had intercourse with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Then he worked for Laban another seven years.
31
When the LORD saw that Leah was loved less than Rachel, he made it possible for her to have children, but Rachel remained childless.
32
Leah 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.
33
She 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.
34
Once 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.
35
Then 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.
1
But 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."
2
Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "I can't take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children."
3
She 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."
4
So she gave Bilhah to her husband, and he had intercourse with her.
5
Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son.
6
Rachel said, "God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son"; so she named him Dan.
7
Bilhah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a second son.
8
Rachel said, "I have fought a hard fight with my sister, but I have won"; so she named him Naphtali.
9
When Leah realized that she had stopped having children, she gave her slave Zilpah to Jacob as his wife.
10
Then Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11
Leah said, "I have been lucky"; so she named him Gad.
12
Zilpah bore Jacob another son,
13
and Leah said, "How happy I am! Now women will call me happy"; so she named him Asher.
14
During 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."
15
Leah 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."
16
When 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.
17
God answered Leah's prayer, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18
Leah said, "God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband"; so she named her son Issachar.
19
Leah became pregnant again and bore Jacob a sixth son.
20
She 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.
21
Later she bore a daughter, whom she named Dinah.
22
Then God remembered Rachel; he answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children.
23
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, "God has taken away my disgrace by giving me a son.
24
May the LORD give me another son"; so she named him Joseph.
25
After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Let me go, so that I can return home.
26
Give 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."
27
Laban said to him, "Let me say this: I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.
28
Name your wages, and I will pay them."
29
Jacob answered, "You know how I have worked for you and how your flocks have prospered under my care.
30
The 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:
32
Let 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.
33
In 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."
34
Laban answered, "Agreed. We will do as you suggest."
35
But 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,
36
and 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.
37
Jacob 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.
38
He 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.
39
So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40
Jacob 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.
41
When 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.
42
But 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.
43
In this way Jacob became very wealthy. He had many flocks, slaves, camels, and donkeys.
1
As thousands of people crowded together, so that they were stepping on each other, Jesus said first to his disciples, "Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees---I mean their hypocrisy.
2
Whatever is covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known.
3
So then, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight, and whatever you have whispered in private in a closed room will be shouted from the housetops.
4
"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterward do anything worse.
5
I will show you whom to fear: fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. Believe me, he is the one you must fear!
6
"Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God.
7
Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!
8
"I assure you that those who declare publicly that they belong to me, the Son of Man will do the same for them before the angels of God.
9
But those who reject me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject them before the angels of God.
10
"Whoever says a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11
"When they bring you to be tried in the synagogues or before governors or rulers, do not be worried about how you will defend yourself or what you will say.
12
For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
13
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us."
14
Jesus answered him, "Friend, who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?"
15
And he went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be."
16
Then Jesus told them this parable: "There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops.
17
He began to think to himself, 'I don't have a place to keep all my crops. What can I do?
18
This is what I will do,' he told himself; 'I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the grain and all my other goods.
19
Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself !'
20
But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself ? ' "
21
And Jesus concluded, "This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight."
22
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body.
23
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
24
Look at the crows: they don't plant seeds or gather a harvest; they don't have storage rooms or barns; God feeds them! You are worth so much more than birds!
25
Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?
26
If you can't manage even such a small thing, why worry about the other things?
27
Look how the wild flowers grow: they don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.
28
It is God who clothes the wild grass---grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!
29
"So don't be all upset, always concerned about what you will eat and drink.
30
(For the pagans of this world are always concerned about all these things.) Your Father knows that you need these things.
31
Instead, be concerned with his Kingdom, and he will provide you with these things.
32
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom.
33
Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor. Provide for yourselves purses that don't wear out, and save your riches in heaven, where they will never decrease, because no thief can get to them, and no moth can destroy them.
34
For your heart will always be where your riches are.
35
"Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit,
36
like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him at once.
37
How happy are those servants whose master finds them awake and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down, and will wait on them.
38
How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later!
39
And you can be sure that if the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, he would not let the thief break into his house.
40
And you, too, must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him."
41
Peter said, "Lord, does this parable apply to us, or do you mean it for everyone?"
42
The Lord answered, "Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master will put in charge, to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time.
43
How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home!
44
Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property.
45
But if that servant says to himself that his master is taking a long time to come back and if he begins to beat the other servants, both the men and the women, and eats and drinks and gets drunk,
46
then the master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know. The master will cut him in pieces and make him share the fate of the disobedient.
47
"The servant who knows what his master wants him to do, but does not get himself ready and do it, will be punished with a heavy whipping.
48
But the servant who does not know what his master wants, and yet does something for which he deserves a whipping, will be punished with a light whipping. Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given.
49
"I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50
I have a baptism to receive, and how distressed I am until it is over!
51
Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, not peace, but division.
52
From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three.
53
Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters, and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
54
Jesus said also to the people, "When you see a cloud coming up in the west, at once you say that it is going to rain---and it does.
55
And when you feel the south wind blowing, you say that it is going to get hot---and it does.
56
Hypocrites! You can look at the earth and the sky and predict the weather; why, then, don't you know the meaning of this present time?
57
"Why do you not judge for yourselves the right thing to do?
58
If someone brings a lawsuit against you and takes you to court, do your best to settle the dispute before you get to court. If you don't, you will be dragged before the judge, who will hand you over to the police, and you will be put in jail.
59
There you will stay, I tell you, until you pay the last penny of your fine."
