The Daily Audio Bible
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Jacob and Esau
28 Isaac called Jacob to come to him. He blessed Jacob. He told him, ‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 Go now to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of your mother's father, Bethuel. Find a wife for yourself from there. Choose one of the daughters of your mother's brother, Laban. 3 I pray that God Almighty will bless you. I pray that he will give you many children, so that your descendants become a large nation of people. 4 May God bless you and your descendants with the good things that he promised to Abraham. The land that he promised to give to Abraham will then belong to you. That is the land where you now live as a foreign person.’
5 Isaac sent Jacob away and Jacob went to Paddan Aram. He went to stay with Laban, who was the son of Bethuel, the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah. Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Esau heard that Isaac had blessed Jacob and then sent him away to Paddan Aram. Isaac had told Jacob to find a woman from Paddan Aram that he would marry. Isaac had said to Jacob, ‘Do not marry a Canaanite woman.’ 7 Esau saw that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother, and that he had gone to Paddan Aram. 8 So Esau then understood that his father, Isaac, did not like the Canaanite women. 9 So Esau went to visit Abraham's son, Ishmael. He married Ishmael's daughter, Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth. When Esau married Mahalath, he kept his Canaanite wives as well.
Jacob's journey
10 Jacob left Beersheba and he went towards Haran. 11 He came to a place where he stayed for the night, because the sun had gone down. He took a stone and he put it under his head. Then he lay down and he went to sleep. 12 He had a dream. In the dream, he saw some steps. The steps went up from the earth into heaven. God's angels were going up and down the steps.
13 The Lord stood at the top of the steps. He said, ‘I am the Lord. I am the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of Isaac, your father. I will give the land that you are lying on to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. They will go to the west and to the east. They will go to the north and to the south. Through you and your descendants I will bless all the families of people on the earth.[a] 15 I am with you. I will take care of you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised to do for you.’
16 Jacob woke from his sleep. He thought, ‘The Lord is in this place and I did not know it.’ 17 Jacob was afraid. He said, ‘How great this place is! This must be the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.’
18 Early in the morning Jacob got up. He took the stone that he had put under his head. He made it stand up straight in the ground. He poured oil on top of it.[b]
19 Jacob called that place Bethel.[c] Before that, the name of the place had been Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a promise to God. He said, ‘While I am on this journey, I want God to be with me and to take care of me. I want him to give me food to eat and clothes to wear. 21 Then I want to return to my father's house. If God keeps me safe, then the Lord will be my God. 22 This special stone that I have put here will be God's house. And from everything that God gives me, I will give God one tenth.’
Jacob and Laban
29 Jacob continued on his journey. He came to the land where the people from the east live. 2 He saw a well in a field. Three groups of sheep lay near it. Shepherds took water from the well to give to their sheep. There was a large stone that covered the top of the well. 3 The shepherds waited until all the sheep were there together. Then they removed the stone from the top of the well. They gave their sheep water to drink, and then they put the stone back on the top of the well.
4 Jacob asked the shepherds, ‘My brothers, where are you from?’ The shepherds replied, ‘We are from Haran.’ 5 Jacob said, ‘Do you know Laban? He is Nahor's grandson.’ The shepherds replied, ‘Yes, we know him.’ 6 Jacob asked them, ‘Is he in good health?’ They replied, ‘Yes, he is. Look. Here comes his daughter now, with their sheep. Her name is Rachel.’ 7 Jacob said to them, ‘The sun is still high in the sky. It is not yet the right time to bring all the sheep together. So give them some water now. Then they can go back to the fields and eat more grass.’ 8 The shepherds said, ‘We cannot do that. We have to wait until all the sheep are here together. Then we can remove the big stone from the well and we can give water to the sheep.’
9 When Jacob was speaking to the shepherds, Rachel arrived there. She brought her father's sheep with her. She was taking care of them.
10 Jacob saw Rachel. She was the daughter of his uncle Laban. Jacob saw that she had Laban's sheep with her. So Jacob went to the well and he removed the big stone. Then he gave water to Laban's sheep. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel. He began to weep loudly.[d]
12 Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father, Laban. He told her that he was Rebekah's son. So Rachel ran home to tell her father.
13 When Laban heard what Rachel said, he went quickly to meet Jacob, his sister's son. He put his arms round Jacob and he kissed him. Laban brought Jacob to his home. Jacob told Laban all his news. 14 Then Laban said, ‘Yes, you really are my own relative.’ So Jacob stayed with Laban for a month.
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘You should not work for me for nothing because you are my relative. Tell me what I should pay you.’ 16 Laban had two daughters. The name of the older daughter was Leah. The name of the younger daughter was Rachel. 17 Leah had weak eyes. But Rachel's face and her body were beautiful. 18 Jacob loved Rachel. He said to Laban, ‘I will work for you for seven years. In return, I want to marry your younger daughter, Rachel.’ 19 Laban said, ‘It is better for you to marry her than another man. Stay here with me.’
20 Jacob worked for seven years to have Rachel as his wife. But the years passed very quickly because Jacob loved Rachel very much. Seven years seemed like only a few days to Jacob.
Jacob marries Leah and Rachel
21 After seven years, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife. My time to work for you is finished and I want to marry her.’ 22 Laban called all the people in that place to come together. He prepared a big meal for them to eat. 23 When evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and he gave her to Jacob. Jacob slept that night with her as his wife. 24 Laban gave his female servant to Leah to be her servant. Her name was Zilpah.
25 When morning came, Jacob saw that he had slept with Leah! He said to Laban, ‘You have done a very bad thing to me! I worked for you to get Rachel as my wife. Why have you deceived me?’ 26 Laban replied, ‘In our land, we do not give the younger daughter to a man first. We let the older daughter marry first. 27 So finish this week of Leah's marriage. Then we will give you Rachel to marry too. But you must work for another seven years.’[e]
28 So Jacob did what Laban said. He finished the marriage week with Leah. Then Laban gave Rachel to Jacob to be his wife. 29 Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to Rachel to become her servant. 30 Jacob also slept with Rachel. He loved Rachel more than he loved Leah. He worked for Laban for seven more years.
31 The Lord saw that Jacob did not love Leah. So he let her become pregnant. But Rachel did not give birth to any children. 32 Leah became pregnant and she gave birth to a son. She called him Reuben. She said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen how sad I am. My husband will love me now because I have given birth to a son.’
33 Leah became pregnant again. She gave birth to another son. She said, ‘The Lord has given me another son because he knows that I am not loved.’ She called this son Simeon.
34 Leah became pregnant again. Later, she gave birth to another son. She said, ‘Now I have given my husband three sons, so he will want to stay with me.’ She called this son Levi.
35 Leah became pregnant again. She gave birth to another son. She said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ She called this son Judah. Then she stopped giving birth to children.
Jesus causes a dead girl to become alive again
18 While Jesus was saying these things to the people, a leader at the Jewish meeting place came to him. The man went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said to him, ‘My daughter has just died. Come to my house. Put your hand on her and then she will live again.’ 19 So Jesus went with the man. His disciples also went with them.
20 There was a sick woman in the crowd. She had been losing blood for 12 years. She came near to Jesus, behind him. She touched the edge of his coat. 21 The woman thought, ‘Even if I only touch his coat, I will become well again.’
22 Jesus turned round and he saw the woman. He said to her, ‘Young woman, do not be afraid. You are now well again because you believed in me.’ And immediately the woman became well again.
23 Then Jesus arrived at the Jewish leader's house. Some people there were making sad music and the crowd was making a loud noise.[a]
24 When Jesus saw this, he said to everybody in the house, ‘Go outside. This girl is not dead. She is only sleeping.’ The people laughed at Jesus when he said that. 25 The family sent all the people out of the house. Jesus went inside and he held the girl's hand. Immediately she stood up. 26 People in all that part of the country heard about what had happened.
Jesus causes two blind men to see again
27 Jesus left the house. While he walked along, two blind men began to follow him. They were shouting out to him, ‘Son of David! Please be kind to us and help us!’[b]
28 Jesus went into a house and the blind men came to him there. Jesus asked them, ‘Do you believe that I can make your eyes become well?’ The men replied, ‘Yes, Master, we believe that you can do this.’
29 So Jesus touched the men's eyes. He said to them, ‘Because you believed in me, you will now see again.’ 30 Then immediately the men could see again. Jesus said strongly to them, ‘You must not tell anyone about this.’ 31 So the men went away. But they told everybody in that part of the country all about what Jesus had done for them.
Jesus causes a man to speak again
32 While those two men were leaving, some people brought another man to Jesus. This man could not speak because of a bad spirit in him. 33 Jesus made the bad spirit go out of the man and leave him. Then the man began to speak again. Everybody there was very surprised. They said, ‘Nobody has seen anything like this happen in Israel before.’
34 But the Pharisees said, ‘This man can send bad spirits out of people because Satan gives him authority. Satan is the one who rules the bad spirits.’
Jesus wants God to send out more disciples
35 Jesus went to visit all the towns and villages near there. He taught the people in the Jewish meeting places. He told them the good news about God's kingdom. He also caused sick people to become well again from all their different pains and illnesses.
36 When Jesus saw the crowds of people, he felt sorry for them. They had trouble in their minds. They had nobody to help them. Jesus thought, ‘These people are like sheep that have nobody to take care of them.’ 37 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Many people are ready to believe God's message. They are like crops in the fields at harvest time. But there are very few workers to bring in the crops. 38 So pray to God to send out workers. The field and the crops belong to him.’[c]
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
Trust the Lord to keep you safe
11 I have run to the Lord to keep me safe.
So do not say this to me:
‘Fly away like a bird to the hills![a]
2 See what the wicked people are doing!
They are preparing their bows and arrows.
They are hiding in dark places,
to shoot their arrows at good, honest people.
3 When the law no longer has authority,
righteous people can do nothing!’
4 The Lord is in his holy temple.
He rules from his throne in heaven.
He carefully watches what people are doing.
He knows about each person.
5 The Lord watches both good people and wicked people.
Good people please him,
but he hates wicked people and cruel people.
6 He will send hot coal and sulphur
to fall like rain on wicked people.
A dangerous wind will be the punishment that they deserve.
7 The Lord always does what is right.
He loves people to do good things.
Those who do what is right will know that God loves them.
11 My child, if the Lord warns you that you have done something wrong, accept it. Do not be upset if he warns you. 12 He is doing it because he loves you. When a father loves his son very much, he warns him when he does something wrong.
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