The Daily Audio Bible

30 Rachel saw that she could not have children for Jacob, and she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

² Jacob became angry with Rachel and asked, “Can I take the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

³ She said, “Here’s my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her. She can have children for me, and I can build a family for myself through her.” ⁴ So she gave him her slave Bilhah as his wife, and Jacob slept with her. ⁵ Bilhah became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ Rachel said, “Now God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son.” So she named him Dan [He Judges].

⁷ Rachel’s slave Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle ^[a] with my sister, and I have won!” So she named him Naphtali [My Struggle].

⁹ When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife. ¹⁰ Leah’s slave Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹ Leah said, “I’ve been lucky!” So she called him Gad [Luck].

¹² Leah’s slave Zilpah gave birth to her second son for Jacob. ¹³ Leah said, “I’ve been blessed! Women will call me blessed.” So she named him Asher [Blessing].

¹⁴ During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrakes.^[b] He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ Leah replied, “Isn’t it enough that you took my husband? Are you also going to take my son’s mandrakes?”

Rachel said, “Very well, Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ As Jacob was coming in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You are to sleep with me,” she said. “You are my reward for my son’s mandrakes.” So he went to bed with her that night. ¹⁷ God answered Leah’s prayer. She became pregnant and gave birth to her fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God has given me my reward because I gave my slave to my husband.” So she named him Issachar [Reward].

¹⁹ She became pregnant again and gave birth to her sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰ Leah said, “God has presented me with a beautiful present. This time my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun [Honor].

²¹ Later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel. God answered her prayer and made it possible for her to have children. ²³ So she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph [May He Give Another] and said, “May the Lord give me another son.”

Jacob’s Flocks Prosper

²⁵ After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Let me go home to my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children for whom I’ve worked, and let me go. You know how much work I’ve done for you.”

²⁷ Laban replied, “Listen to me. I’ve learned from the signs I’ve seen that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” ²⁸ So he offered, “Name your wages, and I’ll pay them.”

²⁹ Jacob responded, “You know how much work I’ve done for you and what has happened to your livestock under my care. ³⁰ The little that you had before I came has grown to a large amount. The Lord has blessed you wherever I’ve been. When can I do something for my own family?”

³¹ Laban asked, “What should I give you?”

“Don’t give me anything,” Jacob answered. “Instead, do something for me, then I’ll go back to taking care of and watching your flocks again. ³² Let me go through all of your flocks today and take every speckled or spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. ³³ My honesty will speak for itself whenever you come to check on my wages. Any goat I have that isn’t speckled or spotted or any lamb that isn’t black will be considered stolen.”

³⁴ Laban answered, “Agreed. We’ll do as you’ve said.” ³⁵ However, that same day Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats (every one with white on it), and every black lamb. He had his sons take charge of them. ³⁶ He traveled three days away from Jacob. Jacob continued to take care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Then Jacob took fresh-cut branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled the bark on them in strips of white, uncovering the white which was on the branches. ³⁸ He placed the peeled branches in the troughs directly in front of the flocks, at the watering places where the flocks came to drink. When they were in heat and came to drink, ³⁹ they mated in front of the branches. Then they gave birth to young that were striped, speckled, or spotted.

⁴⁰ Jacob separated the rams from the flock and made the rest of the sheep face any that were striped or black in Laban’s flocks. So he made separate herds for himself and did not add them to Laban’s flocks. ⁴¹ Whenever the stronger of the flocks were in heat, Jacob would lay the branches in the troughs in front of them so that they would mate by the branches. ⁴² But when the flocks in heat were weak, he didn’t lay down the branches. So the weaker ones belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. ⁴³ As a result, Jacob became very wealthy. He had large flocks, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob’s Second and Third Encounters with God

31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father and has gained all his wealth from him.” ² He also noticed that Laban did not appear as friendly to him as before.

³ Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob sent a message to Rachel and Leah to come out to the open country where his flocks were. ⁵ He said to them, “I have seen that your father isn’t as friendly to me as he was before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father. ⁷ Your father has cheated me. He has changed my wages 10 times. But God hasn’t let him harm me. ⁸ Whenever he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ all the flocks gave birth to speckled young. And whenever he said, ‘The striped ones will be your wages,’ all the flocks gave birth to striped young. ⁹ So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.

¹⁰ “During the mating season I had a dream: I looked up and saw that the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, or spotted. ¹¹ In the dream the Messenger of God called to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I answered, ‘Yes, here I am.’ ¹² He said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, or spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel,^[c] where you poured olive oil on a stone marker for a holy purpose and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land, and go back to the land of your relatives.’ ”

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there anything left in our father’s household for us to inherit? ¹⁵ Doesn’t he think of us as foreigners? Not only did he sell us, but he has used up the money that was paid for us. ¹⁶ Certainly, all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. Now do whatever God has told you.”

Jesus Appoints Twelve Apostles^(A)

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples and gave them authority to force evil spirits out of people and to cure every disease and sickness.

² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first and foremost, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James (son of Alphaeus), and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve^(B)

⁵ Jesus sent these twelve out with the following instructions: “Don’t go among people who are not Jewish or into any Samaritan city. ⁶ Instead, go to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel. ⁷ As you go, spread this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸ Cure the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse those with skin diseases, and force demons out of people. Give these things without charging, since you received them without paying.

⁹ “Don’t take any gold, silver, or even copper coins in your pockets. ¹⁰ Don’t take a traveling bag for the trip, a change of clothes, sandals, or a walking stick. After all, the worker deserves to have his needs met.

¹¹ “When you go into a city or village, look for people who will listen to you there. Stay with them until you leave ⌞that place⌟. ¹² When you go into a house, greet the family. ¹³ If it is a family that listens to you, allow your greeting to stand. But if it is not receptive, take back your greeting. ¹⁴ If anyone doesn’t welcome you or listen to what you say, leave that house or city, and shake its dust off your feet. ¹⁵ I can guarantee this truth: Judgment day will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city.

¹⁶ “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as snakes but as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Watch out for people who will hand you over to the Jewish courts and whip you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ Because of me you will even be brought in front of governors and kings to testify to them and to everyone in the world. ¹⁹ When they hand you over ⌞to the authorities⌟, don’t worry about what to say or how to say it. When the time comes, you will be given what to say. ²⁰ Indeed, you’re not the ones who will be speaking. The Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.

²¹ “Brother will hand over brother to death; a father will hand over his child. Children will rebel against their parents and kill them. ²² Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who patiently endures to the end will be saved. ²³ So when they persecute you in one city, flee to another. I can guarantee this truth: Before you have gone through every city in Israel, the Son of Man will come.

For the choir director; on the sheminith; a psalm by David.