Jacob Meets Esau

¹And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, oEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ²And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³He himself went on before them, pbowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴qBut Esau ran to meet him and embraced him rand fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, s“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸Esau said, “What do you mean by tall this company1 that I met?” Jacob answered, u“To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. vFor I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹Please accept my wblessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he xurged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of2 you.” ¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord yin Seir.”

¹⁵So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? zLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to aSeir. ¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to bSuccoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.3

¹⁸And Jacob came safely4 to the city of cShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. ¹⁹And from the sons of dHamor, Shechem's father, ehe bought for a hundred pieces of money5 the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.6

The Parable of the Sower

¹Again vhe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, wso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ²And xhe was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³“Listen! Behold, ya sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶And zwhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ait withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among bthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ca hundredfold.” ⁹And he said, d“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And ewhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, f“To you has been given gthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for hthose outside everything is in parables, ¹²iso that

“‘they jmay indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they kshould turn and be forgiven.’”

¹³lAnd he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴mThe sower sows nthe word. ¹⁵And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it owith joy. ¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but pendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately qthey fall away.1 ¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹but rthe cares of sthe world and tthe deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ubear fruit, vthirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp Under a Basket

²¹wAnd he said to them, x“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ²²yFor nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ²³zIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: awith the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵bFor to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶And he said, c“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; dhe knows not how. ²⁸The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once ehe puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰fAnd he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹It is like ga grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³hWith many such parables he spoke ithe word to them, jas they were able to hear it. ³⁴He did not speak to them kwithout a parable, but lprivately to his own disciples he mexplained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

³⁵nOn that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷And a great windstorm arose, and the waves owere breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹And he awoke and prebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and qthere was a great calm. ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you rso afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, s“Who then is this, that even tthe wind and the sea obey him?”

Esther 9

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

¹sNow in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, ton the thirteenth day of the same, uwhen the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, jon the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. ²vThe Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, wfor the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. ³All the officials of the provinces and xthe satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew ymore and more powerful. ⁵The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, ⁷and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha ⁸and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha ⁹and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, ¹⁰zthe ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, athe enemy of the Jews, bbut they laid no hand on the plunder.

¹¹That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king. ¹²And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! cNow what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” ¹³And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed dtomorrow also to do according to this day's edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.”1 ¹⁴So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. ¹⁵The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.

¹⁶eNow the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also fgathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder. ¹⁷This was gon the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁸But the Jews who were in Susa gathered gon the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested hon the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in ithe rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as ja holiday, and kas a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Inaugurated

²⁰And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, ²²as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into ja holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, lthe enemy of all the Jews, mhad plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and nhad cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. ²⁵But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing othat his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews pshould return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. ²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term nPur. Therefore, because of all that was written in qthis letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, ²⁷the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and rall who joined them, that without fail they would keep sthese two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, ²⁸that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

²⁹Then Queen Esther, tthe daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming uthis second letter about Purim. ³⁰Letters were sent to all the Jews, vto the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, ³¹that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to wtheir fasts and their lamenting. ³²The command of Esther confirmed these practices of xPurim, and it was recorded in writing.

Esther 10

The Greatness of Mordecai

¹King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on ythe coastlands of the sea. ²And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, zto which the king advanced him, are they not written in athe Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³For Mordecai the Jew was bsecond in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he csought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

Abraham Justified by Faith

¹What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, tour forefather according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but unot before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? v“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now wto the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵And to the one who does not work but xbelieves in1 him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷y“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

⁸blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not zcount his sin.”

⁹Is this blessing then only for athe circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? bFor we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. ¹¹cHe received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was dto make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, ¹²and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Promise Realized Through Faith

¹³For ethe promise to Abraham and his offspring fthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴gFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For hthe law brings wrath, but iwhere there is no law jthere is no transgression.

¹⁶That is why it depends on faith, kin order that the promise may rest on grace and lbe guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, mwho is the father of us all, ¹⁷as it is written, n“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, owho gives life to the dead and calls into existence pthe things that do not exist. ¹⁸In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, q“So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ras good as dead (ssince he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered tthe barrenness2 of Sarah's womb. ²⁰No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹fully convinced that uGod was able to do what he had promised. ²²That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” ²³But vthe words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be counted to us wwho believe in xhim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, ²⁵ywho was delivered up for our trespasses and raised zfor our justification.