Daily Text and Bible Reading: Thursday, January 9 [Press play below]

28.1 So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, saying: “You must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
28.2 Go away to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and from there take for yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
28.3 God Almighty will bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and you will certainly become a congregation of peoples.
28.4 And he will give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you have been living as a foreigner, which God has given to Abraham.”
28.5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he departed for Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
28.6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there and that when he blessed him, he commanded him, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”
28.7 and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and departed for Paddan-aram.
28.8 Esau then realized that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing to his father Isaac,
28.9 so Esau went to Ishmael and took as wife Mahalath the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, in addition to the other wives he already had.
28.10 Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and kept going toward Haran.
28.11 In time he came to a place and prepared to spend the night there because the sun had set. So he took one of the stones of that place and set it to rest his head on and lay down there.
28.12 Then he had a dream, and look! there was a stairway set on the earth, and its top reached up to the heavens; and there were God’s angels ascending and descending on it.
28.13 And look! there was Jehovah stationed above it, and he said: “I am Jehovah the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, to you I am going to give it and to your offspring.
28.14 And your offspring will certainly become like the dust particles of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and by means of you and by means of your offspring all the families of the ground will certainly be blessed.
28.15 I am with you, and I will safeguard you wherever you go, and I will return you to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
28.16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said: “Truly Jehovah is in this place, and I did not know it.”
28.17 And he grew fearful and added: “How awe-inspiring this place is! This can only be the house of God, and this is the gate of the heavens.”
28.18 So Jacob got up early in the morning and took the stone on which he had rested his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
28.19 So he named that place Bethel, but previously the city’s name was Luz.
28.20 Jacob then made a vow, saying: “If God will continue with me and will protect me on my journey and will give me bread to eat and garments to wear
28.21 and I return in peace to the house of my father, then Jehovah will certainly have proved to be my God.
28.22 And this stone that I have set up as a pillar will become a house of God, and without fail I will give you a tenth of everything you give to me.”
29.1 After that Jacob resumed his journey and traveled on to the land of the people of the East.
29.2 Now he saw a well in the field and three droves of sheep lying down next to it, because they usually watered the droves from that well. There was a large stone over the mouth of the well.
29.3 When all the droves had been gathered there, they rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and they watered the flocks, after which they returned the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
29.4 So Jacob said to them: “My brothers, what place are you from?” to which they said: “We are from Haran.”
29.5 He said to them: “Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor?” to which they said: “We know him.”
29.6 At this he said to them: “Is he well?” They replied: “He is well. And here is his daughter Rachel coming with the sheep!”
29.7 Then he said: “It is still the middle of the day. It is not the time for gathering the herds. Water the sheep, and then go feed them.”
29.8 To this they said: “We are not allowed to do so until all the droves are gathered and they roll the stone away from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.”
29.9 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
29.10 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, Jacob immediately approached and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.
29.11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and raised his voice and burst into tears.
29.12 And Jacob began to tell Rachel that he was the relative of her father and that he was the son of Rebekah. And she ran off and told her father.
29.13 As soon as Laban heard the report about Jacob the son of his sister, he ran to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him into his house. And he began to tell Laban all these things.
29.14 Laban said to him: “You are indeed my bone and my flesh.” So he stayed with him a full month.
29.15 Laban then said to Jacob: “Just because you are my relative, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what are your wages to be?”
29.16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger, Rachel.
29.17 But the eyes of Leah had no luster, whereas Rachel had become a very attractive and beautiful woman.
29.18 Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, so he said: “I am willing to serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
29.19 To this Laban said: “It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to another man. Keep dwelling with me.”
29.20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but in his eyes they were like just a few days because of his love for her.
29.21 Then Jacob said to Laban: “Give over my wife because my days are up, and let me have relations with her.”
29.22 With that Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.
29.23 But during the evening, he resorted to taking his daughter Leah and bringing her to him that he might have relations with her.
29.24 Laban also gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a servant.
29.25 In the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah! So he said to Laban: “What have you done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why have you tricked me?”
29.26 To this Laban said: “It is not our custom here to give the younger woman before the firstborn.
29.27 Celebrate the week of this woman. After that you will also be given this other woman in exchange for serving me seven more years.”
29.28 Jacob did so and celebrated the week of this woman, after which he gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
29.29 Besides, Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant.
29.30 Then Jacob had relations also with Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served him for another seven years.
29.31 When Jehovah saw that Leah was unloved, he then enabled her to become pregnant, but Rachel was barren.
29.32 So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben, for she said: “It is because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will begin to love me.”
29.33 And she again became pregnant and gave birth to a son and then said: “It is because Jehovah has listened, in that I was unloved, so he gave me this one also.” Then she named him Simeon.
29.34 And she became pregnant yet again and gave birth to a son and then said: “Now this time my husband will join himself to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore, he was named Levi.
29.35 And she became pregnant once more and gave birth to a son and then said: “This time I will praise Jehovah.” She therefore named him Judah. After that she stopped giving birth.
30.1 When Rachel saw that she had borne no children to Jacob, she became jealous of her sister and began to say to Jacob: “Give me children or else I will die.”
30.2 At this Jacob’s anger flared up against Rachel, and he said: “Am I in the place of God, who has prevented you from having children?”
30.3 So she said: “Here is my slave girl Bilhah. Have relations with her in order that she may bear children for me and that through her, I too may have children.”
30.4 With that she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had relations with her.
30.5 Bilhah became pregnant and in time bore Jacob a son.
30.6 Then Rachel said: “God has acted as my judge and has also listened to my voice, so that he gave me a son.” That is why she named him Dan.
30.7 Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, became pregnant once more and in time bore Jacob a second son.
30.8 Then Rachel said: “With strenuous wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister. I have also come off the winner!” So she named him Naphtali.
30.9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
30.10 And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore a son to Jacob.
30.11 Then Leah said: “With good fortune!” So she named him Gad.
30.12 After that Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore a second son to Jacob.
30.13 Then Leah said: “With my happiness! For the daughters will certainly pronounce me happy.” So she named him Asher.
30.14 Now Reuben was walking in the days of the wheat harvest, and he found mandrakes in the field. So he brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah: “Give me, please, some of your son’s mandrakes.”
30.15 At this she said to her: “Is it a small matter that you took my husband? Would you now take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said: “Very well. He will lie down with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
30.16 When Jacob was coming from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said: “It is with me you are going to have relations, because I have hired you outright with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay down with her that night.
30.17 And God heard and answered Leah, and she became pregnant and in time bore to Jacob a fifth son.
30.18 Then Leah said: “God has given me my wages because I have given my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
30.19 And Leah became pregnant once more and in time bore a sixth son to Jacob.
30.20 Then Leah said: “God has endowed me, yes, me, with a good endowment. At last, my husband will tolerate me, for I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
30.21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
30.22 Finally God remembered Rachel, and God heard and answered her by enabling her to become pregnant.
30.23 And she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said: “God has taken away my reproach!”
30.24 So she named him Joseph, saying: “Jehovah is adding another son to me.”
30.25 After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob immediately said to Laban: “Send me away so that I may go to my place and to my land.
30.26 Give over my wives and my children, for whom I have served with you, that I may go, for you well know how I have served you.”
30.27 Then Laban said to him: “If I have found favor in your eyes,—I have understood by the omens that Jehovah is blessing me because of you.”
30.28 And he added: “Stipulate your wages to me, and I will give them.”
30.29 So Jacob said to him: “You know how I have served you and how your herd has fared with me;
30.30 you had little before my coming, but your herd has increased and multiplied, and Jehovah has blessed you since I arrived. So when will I do something for my own house?”
30.31 Then he said: “What should I give you?” And Jacob said: “You will give me nothing whatsoever! If you will do this one thing for me, I will resume shepherding your flock and guarding it.
30.32 I will pass through your whole flock today. You set aside from there every sheep speckled and with color patches and every dark-brown sheep among the young rams and any color-patched and speckled one among the she-goats. From now on, these must become my wages.
30.33 And my righteousness must speak for me on a future day when you come to look over my wages; every one that is not speckled and color-patched among the she-goats and dark brown among the young rams will be considered stolen if it is with me.”
30.34 To this Laban said: “That is fine! Let it be according to your word.”
30.35 Then on that day, he set aside the he-goats striped and color-patched and all the she-goats speckled and color-patched, every one in which there was any white and every one dark brown among the young rams, and gave them into the care of his sons.
30.36 After that he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was shepherding the flocks of Laban that remained over.
30.37 Jacob then took freshly cut staffs of the storax, almond, and plane trees, and he peeled white spots in them by exposing the white wood of the staffs.
30.38 Then he placed the staffs that he had peeled in front of the flock, in the gutters, in the drinking troughs, where the flocks would come to drink, that they might get into heat in front of them when they came to drink.
30.39 So the flocks would get into heat in front of the staffs, and the flocks would produce striped, speckled, and color-patched offspring.
30.40 Then Jacob separated the young rams and turned the flocks to face the striped ones and all the dark-brown ones among the flocks of Laban. Then he separated his own flocks and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks.
30.41 And whenever the robust animals would get into heat, Jacob would place the staffs in the gutters before the eyes of the flocks, that they might get into heat by the staffs.
30.42 But when the animals were weak, he would not place the staffs there. So the weak ones always came to be Laban’s, but the robust ones became Jacob’s.
30.43 And the man grew very prosperous, and he acquired great flocks and male and female servants and camels and donkeys.