VayetzeiAnd he went out

1Reading 1 Genesis 28:10–22Chapter page with footnotes →

Jacob’s Ladder

^28:10And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. ¹¹And he came upon the place, and stayed the night there, because the sun had set; and he took of the stones of the place, and put them at his head, and lay down in that place.

¹²And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reaching to the heavens; and behold, the messengers of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³And behold, the LORD stood over him, and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, to you I will give it, and to your seed. ¹⁴And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall break forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward; and in you shall all the families of the ground be blessed, and in your seed. ¹⁵And behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this ground; for I will not forsake you, ad(עד) I have done that which I have spoken to you of."

¹⁶And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is nothing but the house of God, and this is the gate of the heavens."

The Stone of Bethel

¹⁸And Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. ¹⁹And he called the name of that place Bethel; but Luz was the name of the city at first.

²⁰And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and a garment to put on, ²¹and I return in peace to my father's house, then the LORD shall be my God, ²²and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be the house of God; and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you."

2Reading 2 Genesis 29:1–17Chapter page with footnotes →

Jacob Meets Rachel

^29:1And Jacob lifted up his feet, and went toward the land of the sons of the east. ²And he looked, and behold, a well in the field, and behold, there three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks; and the stone upon the mouth of the well was great. ³And all the flocks were gathered there, and they rolled the stone from upon the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep, and put the stone back upon the mouth of the well in its place.

⁴And Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where are you from?" And they said, "We are from Haran."

⁵And he said to them, "Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?" And they said, "We know him."

⁶And he said to them, "Is there peace to him?" And they said, "Peace; and behold, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep."

⁷And he said, "Behold, the day is yet great; it is not the time for the cattle to be gathered; water the sheep, and go, feed them."

⁸And they said, "We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from upon the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep."

⁹He was yet speaking with them, and Rachel came with the sheep that were her father's, for she was a shepherdess. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob drew near, and rolled the stone from upon the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban his mother's brother. ¹¹And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹²And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son; and she ran and told her father.

¹³And it came to pass, when Laban heard the report of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house; and he recounted to Laban all these things.

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

¹⁴And Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh." And he dwelt with him a month of days. ¹⁵And Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my brother, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?"

¹⁶And Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷And Leah's eyes were tender, but Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.

3Reading 3 Genesis 29:18–30:13Chapter page with footnotes →

^29:18And Jacob loved Rachel; and he said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter."

¹⁹And Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I give her to another man; dwell with me." ²⁰And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his eyes as a few days, in his love for her.

²¹And Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her."

²²And Laban gathered all the men of the place, and made a feast. ²³And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in to her. ²⁴And Laban gave to her Zilpah his maidservant, to Leah his daughter for a maidservant.

²⁵And it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah; and he said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"

²⁶And Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you also the other, for the service which you shall serve with me yet seven other years."

²⁸And Jacob did so, and fulfilled the week of this one; and he gave him Rachel his daughter to him for a wife. ²⁹And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his maidservant, to her for a maidservant.

³⁰And he went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah; and he served with him yet seven other years.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah

³¹And the LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, "Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me."

³³And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this one also"; and she called his name Simeon.

³⁴And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons"; therefore his name was called Levi.

³⁵And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "This time I will praise the LORD"; therefore she called his name Judah. And she ceased from bearing.

Dan and Naphtali

^30:1And Rachel saw that she had not borne to Jacob, and Rachel envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, "Give me sons, and if not, I am a dead woman."

²And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

³And she said, "Behold, my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may be built up from her."

⁴And she gave him Bilhah her maidservant for a wife; and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ⁶And Rachel said, "God has judged me, and also heard my voice, and given me a son"; therefore she called his name Dan.

⁷And Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸And Rachel said, "With wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed"; and she called his name Naphtali.

Gad and Asher

⁹And Leah saw that she had ceased from bearing, and she took Zilpah her maidservant, and gave her to Jacob for a wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, bore Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said, "Fortune has come!" and she called his name Gad.

¹²And Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, bore a second son to Jacob. ¹³And Leah said, "In my happiness! for the daughters will call me happy"; and she called his name Asher.

4Reading 4 Genesis 30:14–27Chapter page with footnotes →

^30:14And Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother; and Rachel said to Leah, "Give me, I pray, of your son's mandrakes."

¹⁵And she said to her, "Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? and would you take also my son's mandrakes?" And Rachel said, "Therefore let him lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."

¹⁶And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes"; and he lay with her that night.

Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah

¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸And Leah said, "God has given my hire, because I gave my maidservant to my husband"; and she called his name Issachar.

¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰And Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good endowment; this time my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons"; and she called his name Zebulun.

²¹And afterward she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

Joseph

²²And God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bore a son, and said, "God has gathered up my reproach." ²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying, "May the LORD add to me another son."

Jacob Prospers

²⁵And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my land. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you yourself know my service which I have served you."

²⁷And Laban said to him, "If, I pray, I have found favor in your eyes — I have divined that the LORD has blessed me for your sake."

5Reading 5 Genesis 30:28–31:16Chapter page with footnotes →

^30:28And he said, "Specify your wages to me, and I will give it."

²⁹And he said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you, and how your cattle have been with me. ³⁰For it was little that you had before me, and it has burst forth into abundance; and the LORD has blessed you at my foot; and now, when shall I also provide for my own house?"

³¹And he said, "What shall I give you?" And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything; if you will do for me this thing, I will return, I will feed your flock, I will keep it. ³²I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every dark one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and that shall be my wages. ³³And my righteousness will answer for me in the day to come, when it comes concerning my wages before you; every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and dark among the lambs, it is stolen with me."

³⁴And Laban said, "Behold, would that it might be according to your word."

³⁵And he removed on that day the he-goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and every dark one among the lambs, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob was feeding the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷And Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree, and peeled in them white peelings, laying bare the white which was on the rods. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had peeled in the troughs, in the watering channels, where the flocks came to drink, opposite the flocks; and they conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks bore streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and every dark one in the flock of Laban; and he set his own droves apart, and did not set them with Laban's flock.

⁴¹And it came to pass, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the troughs, that they might conceive among the rods; ⁴²but when the flock were feeble, he did not lay them; so the feeble were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

⁴³And the man increased exceedingly, exceedingly, and he had many flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and asses.

Jacob Flees from Laban

^31:1And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken all that was our father's, and from that which was our father's he has made all this wealth." ²And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and behold, it was not with him as yesterday and the day before.

³And the LORD said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you."

⁴And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, ⁵and said to them, "I see the face of your father, that it is not toward me as yesterday and the day before; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶And you yourselves know that with all my strength I have served your father. ⁷And your father has deceived me, and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do evil with me. ⁸If he said thus, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus, 'The streaked shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked. ⁹And God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰And it came to pass at the time the flock conceived, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the he-goats going up upon the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. ¹¹And the messenger of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.'

¹²And he said, 'Lift up now your eyes and see: all the he-goats going up upon the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'

¹⁴And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there yet for us a portion or an inheritance in our father's house? ¹⁵Are we not reckoned by him as foreign women? for he has sold us, and has also utterly devoured our money. ¹⁶For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, it is ours and our children's; and now, all that God has said to you, do."

6Reading 6 Genesis 31:17–42Chapter page with footnotes →

^31:17Then Jacob rose up, and lifted up his sons and his wives upon the camels; ¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock, and all his goods which he had gathered, the livestock of his acquisition which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

¹⁹And Laban had gone to shear his flock; and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's. ²⁰And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he was fleeing. ²¹And he fled, he and all that he had; and he rose up and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Jacob

²²And it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. ²³And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him a journey of seven days, and overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁴And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself, lest you speak with Jacob from good to evil."

²⁵And Laban overtook Jacob; and Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his brothers pitched in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁶And Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have stolen my heart, and have driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? ²⁷Why did you hide yourself to flee, and steal me, and did not tell me, that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with harp? ²⁸And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters; now you have done foolishly.

²⁹It is in the power of my hand to do you evil; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself from speaking with Jacob from good to evil.' ³⁰And now you have surely gone, because you greatly longed for your father's house; why have you stolen my gods?"

³¹And Jacob answered and said to Laban, "Because I was afraid; for I said, 'Lest you take your daughters from me by force.' ³²With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live; before our brothers discern for yourself what is with me, and take it to you." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³And Laban went into the tent of Jacob, and into the tent of Leah, and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he did not find them. And he went out of the tent of Leah, and went into the tent of Rachel. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the saddle of the camel, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but did not find them.

³⁵And she said to her father, "Let it not be hot in the eyes of my lord that I am not able to rise up before you; for the way of women is upon me." And he searched, but did not find the teraphim.

³⁶And it was hot to Jacob, and he strove with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, "What is my transgression? what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? ³⁷For you have felt about all my goods; what have you found of all the goods of your house? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between us two.

³⁸These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not miscarried, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten. ³⁹That which was torn I did not bring to you; I myself bore its loss; from my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰Thus I was: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹These twenty years I have been in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock; and you have changed my wages ten times. ⁴²Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and gave judgment last night."

7Reading 7 Genesis 31:43–32:3Chapter page with footnotes →

Jacob’s Covenant with Laban

^31:43And Laban answered and said to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine; and to my daughters—what can I do to these this day, or to their sons whom they have borne? ⁴⁴And now come, let us cut a covenant, I and you; and let it be for a witness between me and you."

⁴⁵And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said to his brothers, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸And Laban said, "This heap is a witness between me and you this day." Therefore its name was called Galeed, ⁴⁹and Mizpah, for he said, "May the LORD watch between me and you, when we are hidden each man from his neighbor. ⁵⁰If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters—no man being with us—see, God is witness between me and you."

⁵¹And Laban said to Jacob, "Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set up between me and you. ⁵²This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for evil. ⁵³The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread; and they ate bread and spent the night in the mountain. ^32:1And Laban rose early in the morning, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and returned to his place.

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

²And Jacob went on his way, and the messengers of God met him. ³And Jacob said, when he saw them, "This is the camp of God." And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

PHosea 12:13–14:10Chapter page with footnotes →

^12:13And Jacob fled to the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

¹⁴And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept.

¹⁵Ephraim has provoked bitter anger; so his blood he will leave upon him, and his reproach his Lord will return to him.

God’s Anger against Israel

^13:1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel; but he became guilty through Baal and died.

²And now they sin more and more, and have made for themselves a molten image from their silver, idols by their understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen. To them they say, "Those who sacrifice men kiss calves."

³Therefore they shall be like a morning cloud, and like the dew that goes early away; like chaff whirled from the threshing floor, and like smoke from a window.

⁴And I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; and a God besides me you shall not know, and there is no savior except me.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness, in a land of droughts.

⁶According to their pasture, so they were filled; they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

⁷And I became to them like a lion; like a leopard by the way I watch.

⁸I meet them like a bear bereaved of its cubs, and I tear the enclosure of their heart; and there I devour them like a lioness; the beast of the field tears them.

From the Hand of Sheol I Will Ransom Them

⁹It is your destruction, O Israel, that you are against me, against your help.

¹⁰Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"?

¹¹I give you a king in my anger, and I take him away in my wrath.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is stored away.

¹³The pangs of a woman in labor shall come upon him; he is an unwise son; for at the time he should not stand in the breaking forth of sons.

¹⁴From the hand of Sheol I will ransom them; from death I will redeem them. Where are your plagues, O death? Where is your destruction, O Sheol? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

Judgment on Samaria

¹⁵For he among brothers is fruitful; an east blast shall come, the spirit of the LORD coming up from the wilderness, and his spring shall dry up, and his fountain shall be dried; it shall plunder the treasury of every desirable vessel.

^14:1Samaria shall bear her guilt, for she has rebelled against her God; by the sword they shall fall, their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and his pregnant women ripped open.

A Call to Repentance

²Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God; for you have stumbled in your iniquity.

³Take with you words, and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity, and accept good, and we will render the bulls of our lips.

⁴Assyria shall not save us; upon horses we will not ride, and we will no longer say 'our God' to the work of our hands; for in you the orphan finds compassion."

A Promise of God’s Blessing

⁵I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger has turned away from him.

⁶I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily, and strike his roots like Lebanon.

⁷His shoots shall spread, and his splendor shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁸Those who dwell in his shadow shall return; they shall revive the grain, and blossom like the vine; his memorial shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁹Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I have answered and I will look on him; I am like a luxuriant cypress; from me your fruit is found.

¹⁰Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Discerning, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are straight, and the righteous walk in them; but transgressors stumble in them.

AJohn 1:43–51Chapter page with footnotes →

Yeshua Calls Philip and Nathanael

^1:43The next day He purposed to go into Galilee and found Philip; and Yeshua said to him, "Follow Me." ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the Prophets wrote — Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

⁴⁷Yeshua saw Nathanael coming to Him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"

⁴⁸Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Yeshua answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

⁴⁹Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel."

⁵⁰Yeshua answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these." ⁵¹And He said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, from now on you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."