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Jacob goes back to Bethel
35 After these things had happened, God said to Jacob, ‘Go to Bethel and live there. Build an altar to worship me. I am the God who appeared to you when you were running away from Esau.’ 2 So Jacob told the people in his house and everyone who was with him, ‘Throw out all the foreign idols that you have with you. Wash your body very well and put on clean clothes. 3 Then we will go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to worship God. He is the one who answered me when I was in trouble. And he has been with me everywhere that I went.’
4 So the people gave to Jacob all their idols and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried these things under the oak tree near Shechem city. 5 Then they began their journey. All the towns near there were afraid of God's power. So no one attacked Jacob and his people.
6 Jacob and everyone with him arrived at Luz, now called Bethel. That is in the land of Canaan. 7 Jacob built an altar there. He called the place El Bethel, because that was where God appeared to him.[a] God had appeared to him when he was running away from his brother Esau.
8 Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died at that time. Jacob buried her under the oak tree near Bethel. That is why they call the place Allon Bacuth.[b]
9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again. God blessed Jacob. 10 He said to Jacob, ‘Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.’ So God gave the name Israel to Jacob.[c]
11 Then God said to him, ‘I am Almighty God. Give birth to many children so that your descendants become very many. They will become many nations and some of them will be kings. 12 I give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give this land to your descendants that come after you.’[d]
13 Then God went away from the place where he spoke to Jacob. 14 Jacob set up a special stone on the ground. It showed the place where God had spoken to him. He poured a drink offering on the stone. He also poured olive oil on it. 15 In that way, Jacob called the place where God spoke to him Bethel.
16 Then they left Bethel and they continued to travel. When they were still a long way from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth. She had a lot of pain. 17 As she was having even more pain, the woman who was helping her said, ‘Do not be afraid. You have another son!’ 18 But Rachel was dying. With her last breath, she gave to her son the name Ben-Oni. But Jacob, his father, called him Benjamin.[e]
19 After Rachel died, they buried near the road that goes to Ephrath.[f] 20 Jacob set up a special stone over the place where they buried Rachel. This stone still shows the place.
21 Israel then travelled on again.[g] He put up his tents beyond Migdal Eder. 22 While Israel stayed there, his son Reuben had sex with Bilhah. She was Israel's slave wife, and Israel heard what had happened.
Jacob had 12 sons:
23 The sons of Leah were Jacob's firstborn, Reuben, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
25 The sons of Rachel's servant, Bilhah, were Dan and Naphtali.
26 The sons of Leah's servant, Zilpah, were Gad and Asher.
Those were Jacob's sons who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27 Jacob arrived back at his father Isaac's home. This was in Mamre, also called Kiriath Arba, or Hebron. It was the place where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28 Isaac lived for 180 years. 29 Then he died and he joined his ancestors. He was an old man who had lived a long life. His sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.
Esau's family
36 This is the report about Esau and his family. (Esau is also called Edom.)
2 Esau took women from Canaan to be his wives. They were:
Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
3 and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
4 Esau's wife Adah gave birth to a son called Eliphaz. Basemath gave birth to a son called Reuel. 5 Oholibamah gave birth to three sons: Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were Esau's sons that were born in the land of Canaan.
6 Esau went to a land that was a long way from his brother Jacob. He took with him his wives, his sons and daughters and everyone in his house. He took his animals and all the things that he had got while he lived in Canaan. 7 Esau and Jacob both had too many animals to live together in the same place. There was not enough land to give food to all their animals. 8 So Esau went to live in the hills of Seir. He was also called Edom.
9 This is a list of Esau's descendants, the Edomites. They lived in the hill country of Seir.
10 These are the names of Esau's sons:
Eliphaz, the son of Esau's wife, Adah,
and Reuel, the son of Esau's wife, Basemath.
11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. 12 Esau's son Eliphaz also had a slave wife. Her name was Timna. She gave birth to a son called Amalek. Those were the grandsons of Esau's wife, Adah.
13 The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. Those were grandsons of Esau's wife, Basemath. 14 Esau's wife Oholibamah was the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon. Her sons were Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
15 These were Esau's descendants who became leaders of their clans: The sons of Esau's firstborn son, Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam and Amalek. These were the clan leaders who were descendants of Eliphaz in Edom. They were grandsons of Adah.
17 The sons of Esau's son, Reuel, who became clan leaders in Edom were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. They were grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath.
18 The sons of Esau's wife, Oholibamah, who became clan leaders were Jeush, Jalam and Korah. Oholibamah was the daughter of Anah.
19 All those were the sons of Esau and they became the leaders of their clans.
20 These were the descendants of Seir the Horite. They lived in that land before Esau arrived there. They were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These descendants of Seir were leaders of the Horite clans in Edom. 22 Lotan's sons were Hori and Homam. Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 Shobal's sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 24 Zibeon's sons were Aiah and Anah. This was the same Anah who found a place with hot water in the wilderness when he was taking care of his father Zibeon's donkeys. 25 Anah's children were Dishon and Oholibamah (his daughter). 26 Dishon's sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. 27 Ezer's sons were Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. 28 Dishan's sons were Uz and Aran.
29 These were the leaders of the Horite clans in the land of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.
31 Before any kings ruled over the Israelites, these kings ruled in the land of Edom: 32 Beor's son Bela became king of Edom. His city was called Dinhabah. 33 When Bela died, Zerah's son Jobab became the next king. 34 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became the next king. 35 When Husham died, Bedad's son Hadad became the next king. Bedad had won the war against the Midianites in the region of Moab. Hadad's city was called Avith. 36 When Hadad died, Samlah became the next king. He was from Masrekah. 37 When Samlah died, Shaul became the next king. He was from Rehoboth on the river. 38 When Shaul died, Akbor's son Baal-Hanan became the next king. 39 When Baal-Hanan died, Hadad became the next king. His city was called Pau. Hadad's wife was Mehetabel. She was the daughter of Matred, and the granddaughter of Me-Zahab.
40 These descendants of Esau were the leaders of their clans: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel and Iram. These were the leaders who lived with their families in different places in the land. Each place was called the same name as the clan leader who lived there.
All those people are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.
The Pharisees watch what Jesus does on the day of rest
12 On a Jewish day of rest, Jesus was walking through some fields where wheat was growing. His disciples were hungry. So they began to pick some of the grains of wheat. They began to eat them. 2 While the disciples were picking the grains, some Pharisees saw them. They said to Jesus, ‘Look at what your disciples are doing! It is against God's Law to do that on our day of rest.’
3 Jesus replied, ‘You have certainly read about what David did one day. He and the men who were with him were hungry. 4 David went into the temple. He ate the special bread that was there. He also gave some of it to his men to eat as well. But it is against God's Law for anyone except the priests to eat that special bread.[a]
5 Also, you certainly know what God's Law says about the priests. They work in the temple, even on the day of rest. They have not obeyed the Law about the day of rest. But God's Law tells us that they have not done anything that is wrong. 6 But I tell you this. There is someone here now who has greater authority even than the temple. 7 You should understand what the Bible teaches. God says there, “I want people to be kind to each other. I do not just want them to offer sacrifices to me.” If you had understood this, then you would not have said to me, “Your disciples are doing something wrong.” 8 The Son of Man has authority over the Law about the day of rest.’
9 Then Jesus left that place. He went into the Jewish meeting place. 10 A man was there. His hand was very small and weak, so he could not use it. Some Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘Is it right to make someone well again on our day of rest?’ They wanted to find a reason to say that Jesus was doing wrong things.
11 Jesus said to them, ‘Maybe one of you has a sheep that falls into a deep hole on our day of rest. What will you do? You will take hold of it and you will lift it out of the hole. 12 You know that a man is much more valuable than a sheep. So it is right for us to do good things on our day of rest.’
13 Then Jesus said to the man with the weak hand, ‘Lift up your hand.’ So the man lifted up his hand and it became well again. It was now as strong as his other hand. 14 Then the Pharisees went out from the meeting place. They began to talk to each other about how they could kill Jesus.
God chose Jesus to do an important job
15 Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted to kill him. So he went away from that place. A large crowd of people followed him. He made all the sick people become well again. 16 He said to these people, ‘You must not tell anyone about me.’ 17 This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah had spoken long ago became true. Isaiah wrote what God said:
18 ‘Here is my servant.
I have chosen him to serve me.
I love him and he makes me very happy.
I will give him the strength of my Spirit.
He will tell all the nations that I will judge them fairly.
19 He will not argue with people. He will not shout at them.
People will not hear his loud voice in the streets.
20 He will not hurt weak people.
He will be kind to people who are not strong.
He will do this until there is justice everywhere.
21 All the nations will trust him to save them.’
David wrote this song.
How may we worship God?
15 Lord, who may stay with you,
in your own home?
Who may live there,
on your holy hill?[a]
2 It is the person who does only things that are right.
It is the person who lives in a completely good way,
and who speaks only what he knows is true.
3 He says nothing bad against other people.
He does nothing that will hurt his friends,
nor does he insult them.
4 He does not respect wicked people,
but he does respect people who serve the Lord.
When he promises to do something,
he always does it.
5 He lends his money to help other people,
and he does not ask for more money in return.
He does not accept a bribe,
to speak against people who have done nothing wrong.
People who live in this way will always be safe.
21 My child, always keep hold of wisdom and a good mind. Make sure that you keep them safe. 22 They will give you strength in life. You will enjoy life, like a beautiful necklace that you wear.
23 You will be safe as you travel through life. There will be no danger to make you fall down. 24 When you lie down to sleep, you will not be afraid. You will sleep well with peace in your mind. 25 You will not be frightened of any trouble that might surprise you. Trouble may destroy wicked people, but you will know that you are safe. 26 The Lord is the one who will take care of you. He will protect you, so that no danger can hurt you.
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