Strong Disciples One

Exploring Easter

God's Road Map for Life | Bringing All of Life Into God's Presence

Cabrini Devotional

Hagar, Treated Unjustly but Seen by God

"And Such Were Some of You" - a Christian Response to an Unchristian Culture

Pain & Suffering

The Power of a United Family Identity

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch27" data-usfm="GEN.27">
 <div class="label">27</div><div class="p"> 1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, &#8220;My son.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Here I am,&#8221; he answered.</div><div class="p"> 2Isaac said, &#8220;I am now an old man and don&#8217;t know the day of my death. 3Now then, get your equipment&#8212;your quiver and bow&#8212;and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, &#8220;Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7&#8216;Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.&#8217; 8Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, &#8220;But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13His mother said to him, &#8220;My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.</div><div class="p"> 18He went to his father and said, &#8220;My father.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes, my son,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;Who is it?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Jacob said to his father, &#8220;I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20Isaac asked his son, &#8220;How did you find it so quickly, my son?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;The Lord your God gave me success,&#8221; he replied.</div><div class="p"> 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, &#8220;Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, &#8220;The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.&#8221; 23He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24&#8220;Are you really my son Esau?&#8221; he asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am,&#8221; he replied.</div><div class="p"> 25Then he said, &#8220;My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, &#8220;Come here, my son, and kiss me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Ah, the smell of my son</div><div class="q2">is like the smell of a field</div><div class="q2">that the Lord has blessed.</div><div class="q1"> 28May God give you heaven&#8217;s dew</div><div class="q2">and earth&#8217;s richness&#8212;</div><div class="q2">an abundance of grain and new wine.</div><div class="q1"> 29May nations serve you</div><div class="q2">and peoples bow down to you.</div><div class="q1">Be lord over your brothers,</div><div class="q2">and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.</div><div class="q1">May those who curse you be cursed</div><div class="q2">and those who bless you be blessed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father&#8217;s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, &#8220;My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32His father Isaac asked him, &#8220;Who are you?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am your son,&#8221; he answered, &#8220;your firstborn, Esau.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33Isaac trembled violently and said, &#8220;Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him&#8212;and indeed he will be blessed!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34When Esau heard his father&#8217;s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, &#8220;Bless me&#8212;me too, my father!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 35But he said, &#8220;Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36Esau said, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t he rightly named Jacob#27:36 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he&#8217;s taken my blessing!&#8221; Then he asked, &#8220;Haven&#8217;t you reserved any blessing for me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37Isaac answered Esau, &#8220;I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Esau said to his father, &#8220;Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!&#8221; Then Esau wept aloud.</div><div class="p"> 39His father Isaac answered him,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Your dwelling will be</div><div class="q2">away from the earth&#8217;s richness,</div><div class="q2">away from the dew of heaven above.</div><div class="q1"> 40You will live by the sword</div><div class="q2">and you will serve your brother.</div><div class="q1">But when you grow restless,</div><div class="q2">you will throw his yoke</div><div class="q2">from off your neck.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, &#8220;The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 42When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, &#8220;Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44Stay with him for a while until your brother&#8217;s fury subsides. 45When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I&#8217;ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, &#8220;I&#8217;m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch28" data-usfm="GEN.28">
 <div class="label">28</div><div class="p"> 1So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: &#8220;Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2Go at once to Paddan Aram,#28:2 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7 to the house of your mother&#8217;s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother&#8217;s brother. 3May God Almighty#28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.&#8221; 5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.</div><div class="p"> 6Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, &#8220;Do not marry a Canaanite woman,&#8221; 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.</div><div class="s1">Jacob&#8217;s Dream at Bethel</div><div class="p"> 10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it#28:13 Or There beside him stood the Lord, and he said: &#8220;I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.#28:14 Or will use your name and the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20) 15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, &#8220;Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.&#8221; 17He was afraid and said, &#8220;How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19He called that place Bethel,#28:19 Bethel means house of God. though the city used to be called Luz.</div><div class="p"> 20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, &#8220;If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21so that I return safely to my father&#8217;s household, then the Lord#28:20,21 Or Since God&#8230; father&#8217;s household, the Lord will be my God 22and#28:21,22 Or household, and the Lord will be my God, 22 then this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God&#8217;s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkLUK">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="LUK.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Jesus at a Pharisee&#8217;s House</div><div class="p"> 1One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, &#8220;Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?&#8221; 4But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.</div><div class="p"> 5Then he asked them, &#8220;If one of you has a child#14:5 Some manuscripts donkey or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?&#8221; 6And they had nothing to say.</div><div class="p"> 7When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8&#8220;When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, &#8216;Give this person your seat.&#8217; Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, &#8216;Friend, move up to a better place.&#8217; Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then Jesus said to his host, &#8220;When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Parable of the Great Banquet</div><div class="p"> 15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, &#8220;Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Jesus replied: &#8220;A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, &#8216;Come, for everything is now ready.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 18 &#8220;But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, &#8216;I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 19 &#8220;Another said, &#8216;I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I&#8217;m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 20 &#8220;Still another said, &#8216;I just got married, so I can&#8217;t come.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 21 &#8220;The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, &#8216;Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 22 &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Sir,&#8217; the servant said, &#8216;what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 23 &#8220;Then the master told his servant, &#8216;Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Cost of Being a Disciple</div><div class="p"> 25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26&#8220;If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters&#8212;yes, even their own life&#8212;such a person cannot be my disciple. 27And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.</div><div class="p"> 28 &#8220;Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won&#8217;t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30saying, &#8216;This person began to build and wasn&#8217;t able to finish.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 31 &#8220;Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won&#8217;t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.</div><div class="p"> 34 &#8220;Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.</div><div class="p"> &#8220;Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.&#8221;</div>
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