Genesis 31; Genesis 32; Matthew 9:18-38

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Genesis 31

1 One day Jacob heard Laban's sons talking. They said, "Jacob has taken everything our father owned, and in this way he has become rich."

2 Then Jacob noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been before.

3 The Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to the land where your ancestors lived, and I will be with you."

4 So Jacob told Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where he kept his flocks.

5 He said to them, "I have seen that your father is not as friendly with me as he used to be, but the God of my father has been with me.

6 You both know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father,

7 but he cheated me and changed my pay ten times. But God has not allowed your father to harm me.

8 When Laban said, 'You can have all the speckled animals as your pay,' all the animals gave birth to speckled young ones. But when he said, 'You can have all the streaked animals as your pay,' all the flocks gave birth to streaked babies.

9 So God has taken the animals away from your father and has given them to me.

10 "I had a dream during the season when the flocks were mating. I saw that the only male goats who were mating were streaked, speckled, or spotted.

11 The angel of God spoke to me in that dream and said, 'Jacob!' I answered, 'Yes!'

12 The angel said, 'Look! Only the streaked, speckled, or spotted male goats are mating. I have seen all the wrong things Laban has been doing to you.

13 I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you poured olive oil on the stone you set up on end and where you made a promise to me. Now I want you to leave here and go back to the land where you were born.'"

14 Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, "Our father has nothing to give us when he dies.

15 He has treated us like strangers. He sold us to you, and then he spent all of the money you paid for us.

16 God took all this wealth from our father, and now it belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you to do."

17 So Jacob put his children and his wives on camels,

18 and they began their journey back to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. All the flocks of animals that Jacob owned walked ahead of them. He carried everything with him that he had gotten while he lived in Northwest Mesopotamia.

19 While Laban was gone to cut the wool from his sheep, Rachel stole the idols that belonged to him.

20 And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving.

21 Jacob and his family left quickly, crossed the Euphrates River, and traveled toward the mountains of Gilead.

22 Three days later Laban learned that Jacob had run away,

23 so he gathered his relatives and began to chase him. After seven days Laban found him in the mountains of Gilead.

24 That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, "Be careful! Do not say anything to Jacob, good or bad."

25 So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had made his camp in the mountains, so Laban and his relatives set up their camp in the mountains of Gilead.

26 Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done? You cheated me and took my daughters as if you had captured them in a war.

27 Why did you run away secretly and trick me? Why didn't you tell me? Then I could have sent you away with joy and singing and with the music of tambourines and harps.

28 You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. You were very foolish to do this!

29 I have the power to harm you, but last night the God of your father spoke to me and warned me not to say anything to you, good or bad.

30 I know you want to go back to your home, but why did you steal my idols?"

31 Jacob answered Laban, "I left without telling you, because I was afraid you would take your daughters away from me.

32 If you find anyone here who has taken your idols, that person will be killed! Your relatives will be my witnesses. You may look for anything that belongs to you and take anything that is yours." (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban's idols.)

33 So Laban looked in Jacob's tent, in Leah's tent, and in the tent where the two slave women stayed, but he did not find his idols. When he left Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's tent.

34 Rachel had hidden the idols inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Although Laban looked through the whole tent, he did not find them.

35 Rachel said to her father, "Father, don't be angry with me. I am not able to stand up before you because I am having my monthly period." So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find his idols.

36 Then Jacob became very angry and said, "What wrong have I done? What law have I broken to cause you to chase me?

37 You have looked through everything I own, but you have found nothing that belongs to you. If you have found anything, show it to everyone. Put it in front of your relatives and my relatives, and let them decide which one of us is right.

38 I have worked for you now for twenty years. During all that time none of the lambs and kids died during birth, and I have not eaten any of the male sheep from your flocks.

39 Any time an animal was killed by wild beasts, I did not bring it to you, but made up for the loss myself. You made me pay for any animal that was stolen during the day or night.

40 In the daytime the sun took away my strength, and at night I was cold and could not sleep.

41 I worked like a slave for you for twenty years -- the first fourteen to get your two daughters and the last six to earn your flocks. During that time you changed my pay ten times.

42 But the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, was with me. Otherwise, you would have sent me away with nothing. But he saw the trouble I had and the hard work I did, and last night he corrected you."

43 Laban said to Jacob, "These girls are my daughters. Their children belong to me, and these flocks are mine. Everything you see here belongs to me, but I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children.

44 Let us make an agreement, and let us set up a pile of stones to remind us of it."

45 So Jacob took a large rock and set it up on its end.

46 He told his relatives to gather rocks, so they took the rocks and piled them up; then they ate beside the pile.

47 Laban named that place in his language A Pile to Remind Us, and Jacob gave the place the same name in Hebrew.

48 Laban said to Jacob, "This pile of rocks will remind us of the agreement between us." That is why the place was called A Pile to Remind Us.

49 It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, "Let the Lord watch over us while we are separated from each other.

50 Remember that God is our witness even if no one else is around us. He will know if you harm my daughters or marry other women.

51 Here is the pile of rocks that I have put between us and here is the rock I set up on end.

52 This pile of rocks and this rock set on end will remind us of our agreement. I will never go past this pile to hurt you, and you must never come to my side of them to hurt me.

53 Let the God of Abraham, who is the God of Nahor and the God of their fathers, punish either of us if we break this agreement." So Jacob made a promise in the name of the God whom his father Isaac worshiped.

54 Then Jacob killed an animal and offered it as a sacrifice on the mountain, and he invited his relatives to share in the meal. After they finished eating, they spent the night on the mountain.

55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them, and then he left to return home.

Genesis 32

1 When Jacob also went his way, the angels of God met him.

2 When he saw them, he said, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.

3 Jacob's brother Esau was living in the area called Seir in the country of Edom. Jacob sent messengers to Esau,

4 telling them, "Give this message to my master Esau: 'This is what Jacob, your servant, says: I have lived with Laban and have remained there until now.

5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I send this message to you and ask you to accept us.'"

6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, "We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him."

7 Then Jacob was very afraid and worried. He divided the people who were with him and all the flocks, herds, and camels into two camps.

8 Jacob thought, "Esau might come and destroy one camp, but the other camp can run away and be saved."

9 Then Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham! God of my father Isaac! Lord, you told me to return to my country and my family. You said that you would treat me well.

10 I am not worthy of the kindness and continual goodness you have shown me. The first time I traveled across the Jordan River, I had only my walking stick, but now I own enough to have two camps.

11 Please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid he will come and kill all of us, even the mothers with the children.

12 You said to me, 'I will treat you well and will make your children as many as the sand of the seashore. There will be too many to count.'"

13 Jacob stayed there for the night and prepared a gift for Esau from what he had with him:

14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep,

15 thirty female camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys.

16 Jacob gave each separate flock of animals to one of his servants and said to them, "Go ahead of me and keep some space between each herd."

17 Jacob gave them their orders. To the servant with the first group of animals he said, "My brother Esau will come to you and ask, 'Whose servant are you? Where are you going and whose animals are these?'

18 Then you will answer, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. He sent them as a gift to you, my master Esau, and he also is coming behind us.'"

19 Jacob ordered the second servant, the third servant, and all the other servants to do the same thing. He said, "Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.

20 Say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.'" Jacob thought, "If I send these gifts ahead of me, maybe Esau will forgive me. Then when I see him, perhaps he will accept me."

21 So Jacob sent the gifts to Esau, but he himself stayed that night in the camp.

22 During the night Jacob rose and crossed the Jabbok River at the crossing, taking with him his two wives, his two slave girls, and his eleven sons.

23 He sent his family and everything he had across the river.

24 So Jacob was alone, and a man came and wrestled with him until the sun came up.

25 When the man saw he could not defeat Jacob, he struck Jacob's hip and put it out of joint.

26 Then he said to Jacob, "Let me go. The sun is coming up." But Jacob said, "I will let you go if you will bless me."

27 The man said to him, "What is your name?" And he answered, "Jacob."

28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with people, and you have won."

29 Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But the man said, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed Jacob there.

30 So Jacob named that place Peniel, saying, "I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved."

31 Then the sun rose as he was leaving that place, and Jacob was limping because of his leg.

32 So even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle that is on the hip joint of animals, because Jacob was touched there.

Matthew 9:18-38

18 While Jesus was saying these things, a leader of the synagogue came to him. He bowed down before Jesus and said, "My daughter has just died. But if you come and lay your hand on her, she will live again."

19 So Jesus and his followers stood up and went with the leader.

20 Then a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat.

21 She was thinking, "If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed."

22 Jesus turned and saw the woman and said, "Be encouraged, dear woman. You are made well because you believed." And the woman was healed from that moment on.

23 Jesus continued along with the leader and went into his house. There he saw the funeral musicians and many people crying.

24 Jesus said, "Go away. The girl is not dead, only asleep." But the people laughed at him.

25 After the crowd had been thrown out of the house, Jesus went into the girl's room and took hold of her hand, and she stood up.

26 The news about this spread all around the area.

27 When Jesus was leaving there, two blind men followed him. They cried out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

28 After Jesus went inside, the blind men went with him. He asked the men, "Do you believe that I can make you see again?" They answered, "Yes, Lord."

29 Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, "Because you believe I can make you see again, it will happen."

30 Then the men were able to see. But Jesus warned them strongly, saying, "Don't tell anyone about this."

31 But the blind men left and spread the news about Jesus all around that area.

32 When the two men were leaving, some people brought another man to Jesus. This man could not talk because he had a demon in him.

33 After Jesus forced the demon to leave the man, he was able to speak. The crowd was amazed and said, "We have never seen anything like this in Israel."

34 But the Pharisees said, "The prince of demons is the one that gives him power to force demons out."

35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News about the kingdom, and healing all kinds of diseases and sicknesses.

36 When he saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them because they were hurting and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

37 Jesus said to his followers, "There are many people to harvest but only a few workers to help harvest them.

38 Pray to the Lord, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to gather his harvest."

Genesis 31; Genesis 32; Matthew 9:18-38

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Genesis 31

Genesis 32

Matthew 9:18-38