One Year Bible.

Jacob Meets Rachel

¹Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. ²He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

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

“We are from Haran,” they answered.

⁵“Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” Jacob asked.

“We know him,” they replied.

⁶“Is he well?” Jacob inquired.

“Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”

⁷“Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”

⁸But they replied, “We cannot, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, with Laban’s sheep, he went up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹²He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

¹⁴Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.”

After Jacob had stayed with him a month, ¹⁵Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. ¹⁷Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. ¹⁸Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

¹⁹Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.” ²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

²¹Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”

²²So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast. ²³But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.

²⁵When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. ²⁷Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”

²⁸And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ²⁹Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.

³⁰Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah

³¹When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

³⁵And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

Dan and Naphtali

¹When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

²Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

³Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.”

⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her, ⁵and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.

⁷And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali.

Gad and Asher

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad.

¹²When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, ¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?”

“Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. ¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰“God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun.

²¹After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

Joseph

²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb, ²³and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. ²⁴She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

Jacob Prospers

²⁵Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland. ²⁶Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care. ³⁰Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”

³¹“What can I give you?” Laban asked.

“You do not need to give me anything,” Jacob replied. “If you do this one thing for me, I will keep on shepherding and keeping your flocks. ³²Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. These will be my wages. ³³So my honesty will testify for me when you come to check on my wages in the future. If I have any goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not dark-colored, they will be considered stolen.”

³⁴“Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.”

³⁵That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat— every one that had any white on it— and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons. ³⁶Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches. ³⁸Then he set the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of the flocks coming in to drink. So when the flocks were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob set apart the young, but made the rest face the streaked dark-colored sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and did not put them with Laban’s animals.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger females of the flock were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they would breed in front of the branches. ⁴²But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

⁴³Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

God’s Judgment on the Earth

¹Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth

and leaves it in ruins.

He will twist its surface

and scatter its inhabitants—

²people and priest alike, servant and master,

maid and mistress, buyer and seller,

lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

³The earth will be utterly laid waste

and thoroughly plundered.

For the LORD has spoken this word.

⁴The earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and fades;

the exalted of the earth waste away.

⁵The earth is defiled by its people;

they have transgressed the laws;

they have overstepped the decrees

and broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,

and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;

the earth’s dwellers have been burned,

and only a few survive.

⁷The new wine dries up, the vine withers.

All the merrymakers now groan.

⁸The joyful tambourines have ceased;

the noise of revelers has stopped;

the joyful harp is silent.

⁹They no longer sing and drink wine;

strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.

¹⁰The city of chaos is shattered;

every house is closed to entry.

¹¹In the streets they cry out for wine.

All joy turns to gloom;

rejoicing is exiled from the land.

¹²The city is left in ruins;

its gate is reduced to rubble.

¹³So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

¹⁴They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.

¹⁵Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.

Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel

in the islands of the sea.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away!

Woe is me.”

The treacherous betray;

the treacherous deal in treachery.

¹⁷Terror and pit and snare await you,

O dweller of the earth.

¹⁸Whoever flees the sound of panic

will fall into the pit,

and whoever climbs from the pit

will be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are open,

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

¹⁹The earth is utterly broken apart,

the earth is split open,

the earth is shaken violently.

²⁰The earth staggers like a drunkard

and sways like a shack.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹In that day the LORD will punish

the host of heaven above

and the kings of the earth below.

²²They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.

They will be confined to a dungeon

and punished after many days.

²³The moon will be confounded

and the sun will be ashamed;

for the LORD of Hosts will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before His elders with great glory.

A Call to Endurance

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

God Disciplines His Sons

⁴In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord,

and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one He loves,

and He chastises every son He receives.”

⁷Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

¹²Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees. ¹³Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

A Call to Holiness

¹⁴Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many. ¹⁶See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright. ¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.

An Unshakable Kingdom

¹⁸For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm; ¹⁹to a trumpet blast or to a voice that made its hearers beg that no further word be spoken. ²⁰For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” ²¹The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

²²Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels ²³in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.” ²⁷The words “Once more” signify the removal of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that the unshakable may remain.

²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. ²⁹“For our God is a consuming fire.”