One Year Bible.

Jacob Flees from Laban

¹Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” ²And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

³Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, ⁵and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. ⁹Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

¹⁰When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. ¹¹In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’

And I replied, ‘Here I am.’

¹²‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”

¹⁴And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. ¹⁶Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”

¹⁷Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

¹⁹Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. ²⁰Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. ²¹So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²²On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. ²³So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

²⁵Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! ²⁷Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. ²⁸But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing.

²⁹I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”

³¹“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. ³²If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.

³⁵Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.

³⁶Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me? ³⁷You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us.

³⁸I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹Thus for twenty years I have served in your household— fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks— and you have changed my wages ten times! ⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

⁴³But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, ⁴⁶and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.”

Therefore the place was called Galeed. ⁴⁹It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other. ⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”

⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me. ⁵²This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me. ⁵³May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.”

So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

¹Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you— he and four hundred men with him.”

⁷In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

⁹Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. ¹²But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

¹³Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, ¹⁵30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. ¹⁶He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

¹⁷He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ ¹⁸then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”

¹⁹He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. ²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²²During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

²⁴So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. ²⁶Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

²⁸Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

²⁹And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

The Captivity of Ephraim

¹Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,

to the fading flower of his glorious splendor,

set on the summit above the fertile valley,

the pride of those overcome by wine.

²Behold, the Lord has one

who is strong and mighty.

Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest,

like a driving rain or flooding downpour,

he will smash that crown to the ground.

³The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards

will be trampled underfoot.

⁴The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,

set on the summit above the fertile valley,

will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest:

Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.

⁵On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory,

a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,

⁶a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

⁷These also stagger from wine

and stumble from strong drink:

Priests and prophets reel from strong drink

and are befuddled by wine.

They stumble because of strong drink,

muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

⁸For all their tables are covered with vomit;

there is not a place without filth.

⁹Whom is He trying to teach?

To whom is He explaining His message?

To infants just weaned from milk?

To babies removed from the breast?

¹⁰For they hear:

“Order on order, order on order,

line on line, line on line;

a little here, a little there.”

¹¹Indeed, with mocking lips and foreign tongues,

He will speak to this people ¹²to whom He has said:

“This is the place of rest, let the weary rest;

this is the place of repose.”

But they would not listen.

¹³Then the word of the LORD to them will become:

“Order on order, order on order,

line on line, line on line;

a little here, a little there,”

so that they will go stumbling backward

and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

¹⁵For you said, “We have made a covenant with death;

we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol.

When the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not touch us,

because we have made lies our refuge

and falsehood our hiding place.”

¹⁶So this is what the Lord GOD says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;

the one who believes will never be shaken.

¹⁷I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the level.

Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies,

and water will flood your hiding place.

¹⁸Your covenant with death will be dissolved,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be trampled by it.

¹⁹As often as it passes through,

it will carry you away;

it will sweep through morning after morning,

by day and by night.”

The understanding of this message

will bring sheer terror.

²⁰Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket too small to wrap around you.

²¹For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim.

He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon,

to do His work, His strange work,

and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

²²So now, do not mock,

or your shackles will become heavier.

Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts

a decree of destruction against the whole land.

Listen and Hear

²³Listen and hear my voice.

Pay attention and hear what I say.

²⁴Does the plowman plow for planting every day?

Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?

²⁵When he has leveled its surface,

does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?

He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,

and rye within its border.

²⁶For his God instructs

and teaches him properly.

²⁷Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge,

and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin.

But caraway is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

²⁸Grain for bread must be ground,

but it is not endlessly threshed.

Though the wheels of the cart roll over it,

the horses do not crush it.

²⁹This also comes from the LORD of Hosts,

who is wonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.

Brotherly Love

¹Continue in brotherly love. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. ³Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.

⁴Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Christ’s Unchanging Nature

⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said:

“Never will I leave you,

never will I forsake you.”

⁶So we say with confidence:

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?”

⁷Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them. ¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood. ¹³Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore. ¹⁴For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Sacrifice, Obedience, and Prayer

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name. ¹⁶And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.

¹⁸Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. ¹⁹And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you soon.

Benediction and Farewell

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

²²I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.

²³Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.

²⁴Greet all your leaders and all the saints.

Those from Italy send you greetings.

²⁵Grace be with all of you.