Wrestling with God, Defending Before Kings

1. When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.” 2. Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3. She said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.” 4. She gave him Bilhah her servant as wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5. Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. 6. Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore called she his name Dan. 7. Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. 8. Rachel said, “I have wrestled with my sister with mighty wrestlings, and have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali. 9. When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10. Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a son. 11. Leah said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad. 12. Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a second son. 13. Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher. 14. Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15. She said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes, also?” Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.” 16. 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.” He lay with her that night. 17. God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18. Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my servant to my husband.” She named him Issachar. 19. Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. 20. Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun. 21. Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah. 22. God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. 23. She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24. She named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son to me.” 25. When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. 26. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.” 27. Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake.” 28. He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.” 29. He said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. 30. For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” 31. He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. 32. I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. 33. So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be considered stolen.” 34. Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.” 35. That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36. He set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. 37. Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38. He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. 39. The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40. Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban’s flock. 41. Whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, Jacob laid the rods in front of the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods; 42. but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43. The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys. 1. He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.” 2. Jacob saw the expression on Laban’s face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. 3. Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” 4. Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, 5. and said to them, “I see the expression on your father’s face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6. You know that I have served your father with all of my strength. 7. Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn’t allow him to hurt me. 8. If he said this, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then all the flock bore streaked. 9. Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me. 10. During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. 11. The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ 12. He said, ‘Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you. 13. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’” 14. Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15. Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money. 16. For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.” 17. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 18. and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 19. Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s. 20. Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn’t tell him that he was running away. 21. So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. 22. Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled. 23. He took his relatives with him, and pursued him seven days’ journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. 24. God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.” 25. Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead. 26. Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27. Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; 28. and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly. 29. It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’ 30. Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?” 31. Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.’ 32. Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it.” For Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them. 33. Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn’t find them. He went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. 34. Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them. 35. She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim. 36. Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 37. Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two. 38. “These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks. 39. That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes. 41. These 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. 42. Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.” 43. Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne? 44. Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you.” 45. Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 46. Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. 47. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. 48. Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed 49. and Mizpah, for he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. 50. If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.” 51. Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. 52. May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be 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 harm. 53. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac. 54. Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain. 55. Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place. 1. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2. When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3. Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4. He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. 5. I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’” 6. The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” 7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; 8. and he said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.” 9. Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’ 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. 12. You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’” 13. He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esau, his brother: 14. two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15. thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16. He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.” 17. He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’ 18. Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’” 19. He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him. 20. You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.” 21. So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. 22. He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. 23. He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. 24. Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. 25. When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled. 26. The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go, unless you bless me.” 27. He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”. 28. He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29. Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” He blessed him there. 30. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31. The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh. 32. Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

1. Festus therefore, having come into the province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2. Then the high priest and the principal men of the Jews informed him against Paul, and they begged him, 3. asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem; plotting to kill him on the way. 4. However Festus answered that Paul should be kept in custody at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to depart shortly. 5. “Let them therefore”, said he, “that are in power among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong in the man, let them accuse him.” 6. When he had stayed among them more than ten days, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he sat on the judgment seat, and commanded Paul to be brought. 7. When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing against him many and grievous charges which they could not prove, 8. while he said in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I sinned at all.” 9. But Festus, desiring to gain favor with the Jews, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, and be judged by me there concerning these things?” 10. But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also know very well. 11. For if I have done wrong, and have committed anything worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die; but if none of those things is true that they accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” 12. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go.” 13. Now when some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea, and greeted Festus. 14. As he stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix; 15. about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, asking for a sentence against him. 16. To whom I answered that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction, before the accused has met the accusers face to face, and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the matter laid against him. 17. When therefore they had come together here, I didn’t delay, but on the next day sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought. 18. Concerning whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought no charge of such things as I supposed; 19. but had certain questions against him about their own religion, and about one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. 20. Being perplexed how to inquire concerning these things, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters. 21. But when Paul had appealed to be kept for the decision of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar.” 22. Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.” 23. So on the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and they had entered into the place of hearing with the commanding officers and the principal men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24. Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all men who are here present with us, you see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. 25. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and as he himself appealed to the emperor I determined to send him, 26. of whom I have no certain thing to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him out before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, that, after examination, I may have something to write. 27. For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to also specify the charges against him.” 1. Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense. 2. “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you today concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews, 3. especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. 4. “Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem; 5. having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 6. Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, 7. which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa! 8. Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead? 9. “I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10. This I also did in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. 11. Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. 12. “Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests, 13. at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. 14. When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15. “I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16. But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you; 17. delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, 18. to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 19. “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20. but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. 21. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple, and tried to kill me. 22. Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen, 23. how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.” 24. As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!” 25. But he said, “I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness. 26. For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. 27. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” 28. Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?” 29. Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.” 30. The king rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them. 31. When they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” 32. Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

1. Deliver me from my enemies, my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me. 2. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from the bloodthirsty men. 3. For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh. 4. I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me! 5. You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah. 6. They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city. 7. Behold, they spew with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, “For”, they say, “who hears us?” 8. But you, Yahweh, laugh at them. You scoff at all the nations. 9. Oh, my Strength, I watch for you, for God is my high tower. 10. My God will go before me with his loving kindness. God will let me look at my enemies in triumph. 11. Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield. 12. For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter. 13. Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah. 14. At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city. 15. They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied. 16. But I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress. 17. To you, my strength, I will sing praises. For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.