Jan 15th

Then he also made a savory dish and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

And Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

Then Isaac trembled exceedingly violently and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him? Indeed, he shall be blessed.”

As Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, O my father!”

And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his fellow brothers I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”

And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,

So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Then the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

So now, my son, listen to my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!

Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s wrath subsides,

until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become an assembly of peoples.

May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”

Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”

and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing in the sight of his father Isaac;

and Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, besides the wives that he had.

Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

And he reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place.

Then he had a dream, and behold, a ladder stood on the earth with its top touching heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, Yahweh stood above it and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your seed.

And your seed will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. And I will bring you back to this land; for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.”

And he was afraid and said, “How fearsome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.

And he called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey on which I am going, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear,

and I return to my father’s house in peace, then Yahweh will be my God.

Now this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Then Jacob took up his journey and came to the land of the sons of the east.

And he looked, and behold, a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they gave water to the flocks to drink. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.

And all the flocks would be gathered there, and they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and give water to the sheep to drink and return the stone back to its place on the mouth of the well.

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

Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.”

And he said to them, “Is it well with him?” And they said, “It is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.”

And he said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Give water to the sheep to drink, and go, pasture them.”

But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we give water to the sheep to drink.”

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

Now it happened, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and gave water to the flock of Laban his mother’s brother to drink.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted his voice and wept.

And Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.

So it happened that when Laban heard the report of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and he embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he recounted to Laban all these things.

And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him one month.

Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.

Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.”

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his sight but a few days because of his love for her.

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”

And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.

Now it happened in the evening that he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her.

Laban also gave his servant-woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a servant-woman.

Now it happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?”

But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to give the younger before the firstborn.

Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.”

And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Laban also gave his servant-woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant-woman.

So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.

Now someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.”

But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”

And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!

On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

And others fell on the good soil and were yielding a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

“Hear then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.