The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels; ¹⁸ and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan. ¹⁹ Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s. ²⁰ And Jacob ^[a]stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. ²¹ So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over ^[b]the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

²² And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. ²³ And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁴ And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. ²⁵ And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and Laban with his brethren encamped in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword? ²⁷ Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and ^[c]steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp; ²⁸ and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? now hast thou done foolishly. ²⁹ It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. ³⁰ And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? ³¹ And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. ³² With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.

³³ And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not. ³⁵ And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the teraphim.

³⁶ And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me? ³⁷ Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two. ³⁸ These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten. ³⁹ That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰ Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes. ⁴¹ These twenty years have I been in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. ⁴² Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.

⁴³ And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. ⁴⁵ And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: and they did eat there by the heap. ⁴⁷ And Laban called it ^[d]Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it ^[e]Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed: ⁴⁹ and ^[f]Mizpah, for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are ^[g]absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. ⁵¹ And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set betwixt me and thee. ⁵² This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the ^[h]God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain. ⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.

32 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place ^[i]Mahanaim.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now: ⁵ and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight. ⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. ⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape. ⁹ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good: ^10 [j]I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies. ¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. ¹² And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

²⁴ A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a ^[a]servant above his lord. ²⁵ It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the ^[b]servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house ^[c]Beelzebub, how much more them of his household! ²⁶ Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the house-tops. ²⁸ And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in ^[d]hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father: ³⁰ but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. ³² Every one therefore who shall confess ^[e]me before men, ^[f]him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. ³³ But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

³⁴ Think not that I came to ^[g]send peace on the earth: I came not to ^[h]send peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: ³⁶ and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. ³⁷ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. ³⁹ He that ^[i]findeth his life shall lose it; and he that ^[j]loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

⁴⁰ He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. ⁴¹ He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward: and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.

11 And it came to pass when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their cities.

² Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples ³ and said unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another? ⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which ye hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have ^[k]good tidings preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me.

Prayer for help in affliction.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.