[Be a Gentleman] Purpose

TheLionWithin.Us: 3 Questions to Unlock Deeper Insights in God’s Word

A Simple Guide to a Better Marriage

The Sermon on the Mount

The Runaway

Words We'll Sing Forever: A 4-Day Devotional

The Benefit of Doubt: How Confronting Your Deepest Questions Can Lead to a Richer Faith

IHCC Daily Bible Reading Plan - March

3-Day Bible Quest: Level 1: Focus Mode

Seek God Passionately

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">
 <div class="book bkMAT">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="MAT.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy</div><div class="p"> 1When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2A man with leprosy#8:2 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin. came and knelt before him and said, &#8220;Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. &#8220;I am willing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Be clean!&#8221; Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4Then Jesus said to him, &#8220;See that you don&#8217;t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Faith of the Centurion</div><div class="p"> 5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6&#8220;Lord,&#8221; he said, &#8220;my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Jesus said to him, &#8220;Shall I come and heal him?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8The centurion replied, &#8220;Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, &#8216;Go,&#8217; and he goes; and that one, &#8216;Come,&#8217; and he comes. I say to my servant, &#8216;Do this,&#8217; and he does it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, &#8220;Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, &#8220;Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.&#8221; And his servant was healed at that moment.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Heals Many</div><div class="p"> 14When Jesus came into Peter&#8217;s house, he saw Peter&#8217;s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.</div><div class="p"> 16When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;He took up our infirmities</div><div class="q2">and bore our diseases.&#8221;#8:17 Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="s1">The Cost of Following Jesus</div><div class="p"> 18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, &#8220;Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20Jesus replied, &#8220;Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Another disciple said to him, &#8220;Lord, first let me go and bury my father.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22But Jesus told him, &#8220;Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Calms the Storm</div><div class="p"> 23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, &#8220;Lord, save us! We&#8217;re going to drown!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26He replied, &#8220;You of little faith, why are you so afraid?&#8221; Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.</div><div class="p"> 27The men were amazed and asked, &#8220;What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men</div><div class="p"> 28When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,#8:28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; other manuscripts Gerasenes two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29&#8220;What do you want with us, Son of God?&#8221; they shouted. &#8220;Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons begged Jesus, &#8220;If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32He said to them, &#8220;Go!&#8221; So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch29" data-usfm="GEN.29">
 <div class="label">29</div><div class="s1">Jacob Arrives in Paddan Aram</div><div class="p"> 1Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 2There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well&#8217;s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.</div><div class="p"> 4Jacob asked the shepherds, &#8220;My brothers, where are you from?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;We&#8217;re from Harran,&#8221; they replied.</div><div class="p"> 5He said to them, &#8220;Do you know Laban, Nahor&#8217;s grandson?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes, we know him,&#8221; they answered.</div><div class="p"> 6Then Jacob asked them, &#8220;Is he well?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes, he is,&#8221; they said, &#8220;and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;Look,&#8221; he said, &#8220;the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;We can&#8217;t,&#8221; they replied, &#8220;until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father&#8217;s sheep, for she was a shepherd. 10When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban&#8217;s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle&#8217;s sheep. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. 12He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.</div><div class="p"> 13As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister&#8217;s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. 14Then Laban said to him, &#8220;You are my own flesh and blood.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel</div><div class="p">After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, 15Laban said to him, &#8220;Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17Leah had weak#29:17 Or delicate eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. 18Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, &#8220;I&#8217;ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Laban said, &#8220;It&#8217;s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.&#8221; 20So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.</div><div class="p"> 21Then Jacob said to Laban, &#8220;Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. 24And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.</div><div class="p"> 25When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, &#8220;What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn&#8217;t I? Why have you deceived me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26Laban replied, &#8220;It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27Finish this daughter&#8217;s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 28And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 29Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. 30Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.</div><div class="s1">Jacob&#8217;s Children</div><div class="p"> 31When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. 32Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben,#29:32 Reuben sounds like the Hebrew for he has seen my misery; the name means see, a son. for she said, &#8220;It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, &#8220;Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.&#8221; So she named him Simeon.#29:33 Simeon probably means one who hears.</div><div class="p"> 34Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, &#8220;Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.&#8221; So he was named Levi.#29:34 Levi sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for attached.</div><div class="p"> 35She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, &#8220;This time I will praise the Lord.&#8221; So she named him Judah.#29:35 Judah sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for praise. Then she stopped having children.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch30" data-usfm="GEN.30">
 <div class="label">30</div><div class="p"> 1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, &#8220;Give me children, or I&#8217;ll die!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2Jacob became angry with her and said, &#8220;Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Then she said, &#8220;Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her, 5and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6Then Rachel said, &#8220;God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son.&#8221; Because of this she named him Dan.#30:6 Dan here means he has vindicated.</div><div class="p"> 7Rachel&#8217;s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8Then Rachel said, &#8220;I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.&#8221; So she named him Naphtali.#30:8 Naphtali means my struggle.</div><div class="p"> 9When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10Leah&#8217;s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11Then Leah said, &#8220;What good fortune!&#8221;#30:11 Or &#8220;A troop is coming!&#8221; So she named him Gad.#30:11 Gad can mean good fortune or troop.</div><div class="p"> 12Leah&#8217;s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13Then Leah said, &#8220;How happy I am! The women will call me happy.&#8221; So she named him Asher.#30:13 Asher means happy.</div><div class="p"> 14During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, &#8220;Please give me some of your son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15But she said to her, &#8220;Wasn&#8217;t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son&#8217;s mandrakes too?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Very well,&#8221; Rachel said, &#8220;he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. &#8220;You must sleep with me,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I have hired you with my son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221; So he slept with her that night.</div><div class="p"> 17God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18Then Leah said, &#8220;God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.&#8221; So she named him Issachar.#30:18 Issachar sounds like the Hebrew for reward.</div><div class="p"> 19Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20Then Leah said, &#8220;God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.&#8221; So she named him Zebulun.#30:20 Zebulun probably means honor.</div><div class="p"> 21Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.</div><div class="p"> 22Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 23She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, &#8220;God has taken away my disgrace.&#8221; 24She named him Joseph,#30:24 Joseph means may he add. and said, &#8220;May the Lord add to me another son.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jacob&#8217;s Flocks Increase</div><div class="p"> 25After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, &#8220;Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I&#8217;ve done for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27But Laban said to him, &#8220;If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.&#8221; 28He added, &#8220;Name your wages, and I will pay them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Jacob said to him, &#8220;You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. 30The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31&#8220;What shall I give you?&#8221; he asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Don&#8217;t give me anything,&#8221; Jacob replied. &#8220;But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;Agreed,&#8221; said Laban. &#8220;Let it be as you have said.&#8221; 35That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban&#8217;s flocks.</div><div class="p"> 37Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban&#8217;s animals. 41Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch31" data-usfm="GEN.31">
 <div class="label">31</div><div class="s1">Jacob Flees From Laban</div><div class="p"> 1Jacob heard that Laban&#8217;s sons were saying, &#8220;Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.&#8221; 2And Jacob noticed that Laban&#8217;s attitude toward him was not what it had been.</div><div class="p"> 3Then the Lord said to Jacob, &#8220;Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5He said to them, &#8220;I see that your father&#8217;s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I&#8217;ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If he said, &#8216;The speckled ones will be your wages,&#8217; then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, &#8216;The streaked ones will be your wages,&#8217; then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9So God has taken away your father&#8217;s livestock and has given them to me.</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11The angel of God said to me in the dream, &#8216;Jacob.&#8217; I answered, &#8216;Here I am.&#8217; 12And he said, &#8216;Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Then Rachel and Leah replied, &#8220;Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father&#8217;s estate? 15Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. 16Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram,#31:18 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.</div><div class="p"> 19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father&#8217;s household gods. 20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21So he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.</div><div class="s1">Laban Pursues Jacob</div><div class="p"> 22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, &#8220;Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, &#8220;What have you done? You&#8217;ve deceived me, and you&#8217;ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. 27Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn&#8217;t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? 28You didn&#8217;t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. 29I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, &#8216;Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.&#8217; 30Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father&#8217;s household. But why did you steal my gods?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31Jacob answered Laban, &#8220;I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.&#8221; Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.</div><div class="p"> 33So Laban went into Jacob&#8217;s tent and into Leah&#8217;s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah&#8217;s tent, he entered Rachel&#8217;s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel&#8217;s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.</div><div class="p"> 35Rachel said to her father, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I&#8217;m having my period.&#8221; So he searched but could not find the household gods.</div><div class="p"> 36Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. &#8220;What is my crime?&#8221; he asked Laban. &#8220;How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.</div><div class="p"> 38&#8220;I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 43Laban answered Jacob, &#8220;The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? 44Come now, let&#8217;s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46He said to his relatives, &#8220;Gather some stones.&#8221; So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.#31:47 The Aramaic Jegar Sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean witness heap.</div><div class="p"> 48Laban said, &#8220;This heap is a witness between you and me today.&#8221; That is why it was called Galeed. 49It was also called Mizpah,#31:49 Mizpah means watchtower. because he said, &#8220;May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 50If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 51Laban also said to Jacob, &#8220;Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 52This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. 53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. 54He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.</div><div class="p"> 55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.#31:55 In Hebrew texts this verse (31:55) is numbered 32:1.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch33" data-usfm="GEN.33">
 <div class="label">33</div><div class="s1">Jacob Meets Esau</div><div class="p"> 1Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. 3He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.</div><div class="p"> 4But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. &#8220;Who are these with you?&#8221; he asked.</div><div class="p">Jacob answered, &#8220;They are the children God has graciously given your servant.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down. 7Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.</div><div class="p"> 8Esau asked, &#8220;What&#8217;s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;To find favor in your eyes, my lord,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p"> 9But Esau said, &#8220;I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;No, please!&#8221; said Jacob. &#8220;If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.&#8221; And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.</div><div class="p"> 12Then Esau said, &#8220;Let us be on our way; I&#8217;ll accompany you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13But Jacob said to him, &#8220;My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. 14So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Esau said, &#8220;Then let me leave some of my men with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;But why do that?&#8221; Jacob asked. &#8220;Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 17Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.#33:17 Sukkoth means shelters.</div><div class="p"> 18After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,#33:18 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19For a hundred pieces of silver,#33:19 Hebrew hundred kesitahs; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value. he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.#33:20 El Elohe Israel can mean El is the God of Israel or mighty is the God of Israel.</div>
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