Raising the Next Generation: Trusting God’s Plan for Single Mothers

Wives Who Win for Christ: Influencing Your Unsaved Husband Through Discipleship by Dr. Treal Ravenel

Faith Under Fire

Bible Study 2: Naomi's Journey - Finding Strength in Mentorship

Learning to Forgive

Allowing Our Children to Grow and Go: A 3-Day Parenting Plan

The Big 5

The Way of the Cross

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

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

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 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 ch32" data-usfm="GEN.32">
 <div class="label">32</div><div class="s1">Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau</div><div class="p">#In Hebrew texts 32:1-32 is numbered 32:2-33. 1Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, &#8220;This is the camp of God!&#8221; So he named that place Mahanaim.#32:2 Mahanaim means two camps.</div><div class="p">3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He instructed them: &#8220;This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: &#8216;Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p">6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, &#8220;We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p">7In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,#32:7 Or camps and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8He thought, &#8220;If Esau comes and attacks one group,#32:8 Or camp the group#32:8 Or camp that is left may escape.&#8221;</div><div class="p">9Then Jacob prayed, &#8220;O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, &#8216;Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,&#8217; 10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12But you have said, &#8216;I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p">13He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, &#8220;Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.&#8221;</div><div class="p">17He instructed the one in the lead: &#8220;When my brother Esau meets you and asks, &#8216;Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?&#8217; 18then you are to say, &#8216;They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p">19He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: &#8220;You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20And be sure to say, &#8216;Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; For he thought, &#8220;I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.&#8221; 21So Jacob&#8217;s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.</div><div class="s1">Jacob Wrestles With God</div><div class="p">22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, &#8220;Let me go, for it is daybreak.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Jacob replied, &#8220;I will not let you go unless you bless me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">27The man asked him, &#8220;What is your name?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Jacob,&#8221; he answered.</div><div class="p">28Then the man said, &#8220;Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,#32:28 Israel probably means he struggles with God. because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.&#8221;</div><div class="p">29Jacob said, &#8220;Please tell me your name.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But he replied, &#8220;Why do you ask my name?&#8221; Then he blessed him there.</div><div class="p">30So Jacob called the place Peniel,#32:30 Peniel means face of God. saying, &#8220;It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.&#8221;</div><div class="p">31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,#32:31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip was touched near the tendon.</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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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch34" data-usfm="GEN.34">
 <div class="label">34</div><div class="s1">Dinah and the Shechemites</div><div class="p">1Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4And Shechem said to his father Hamor, &#8220;Get me this girl as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p">5When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.</div><div class="p">6Then Shechem&#8217;s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 7Meanwhile, Jacob&#8217;s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in#34:7 Or against Israel by sleeping with Jacob&#8217;s daughter&#8212;a thing that should not be done.</div><div class="p">8But Hamor said to them, &#8220;My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade#34:10 Or move about freely; also in verse 21 in it, and acquire property in it.&#8221;</div><div class="p">11Then Shechem said to Dinah&#8217;s father and brothers, &#8220;Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. 12Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I&#8217;ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p">13Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob&#8217;s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. 14They said to them, &#8220;We can&#8217;t do such a thing; we can&#8217;t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. 15We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. 16Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We&#8217;ll settle among you and become one people with you. 17But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we&#8217;ll take our sister and go.&#8221;</div><div class="p">18Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19The young man, who was the most honored of all his father&#8217;s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob&#8217;s daughter. 20So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city. 21&#8220;These men are friendly toward us,&#8221; they said. &#8220;Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. 22But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. 23Won&#8217;t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">24All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.</div><div class="p">25Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob&#8217;s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah&#8217;s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem&#8217;s house and left. 27The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where#34:27 Or because their sister had been defiled. 28They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.</div><div class="p">30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, &#8220;You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.&#8221;</div><div class="p">31But they replied, &#8220;Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch35" data-usfm="GEN.35">
 <div class="label">35</div><div class="s1">Jacob Returns to Bethel</div><div class="p">1Then God said to Jacob, &#8220;Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.&#8221;</div><div class="p">2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, &#8220;Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.&#8221; 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.</div><div class="p">6Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,#35:7 El Bethel means God of Bethel. because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.</div><div class="p">8Now Deborah, Rebekah&#8217;s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.#35:8 Allon Bakuth means oak of weeping.</div><div class="p">9After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,#35:9 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verse 26 God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10God said to him, &#8220;Your name is Jacob,#35:10 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives. but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.#35:10 Israel probably means he struggles with God.&#8221; So he named him Israel.</div><div class="p">11And God said to him, &#8220;I am God Almighty#35:11 Hebrew El-Shaddai; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.&#8221; 13Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.</div><div class="p">14Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.#35:15 Bethel means house of God.</div><div class="s1">The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac</div><div class="p">16Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, &#8220;Don&#8217;t despair, for you have another son.&#8221; 18As she breathed her last&#8212;for she was dying&#8212;she named her son Ben-Oni.#35:18 Ben-Oni means son of my trouble. But his father named him Benjamin.#35:18 Benjamin means son of my right hand.</div><div class="p">19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel&#8217;s tomb.</div><div class="p">21Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father&#8217;s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="m">Jacob had twelve sons:</div><div class="li1">23The sons of Leah:</div><div class="li2">Reuben the firstborn of Jacob,</div><div class="li2">Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.</div><div class="li1">24The sons of Rachel:</div><div class="li2">Joseph and Benjamin.</div><div class="li1">25The sons of Rachel&#8217;s servant Bilhah:</div><div class="li2">Dan and Naphtali.</div><div class="li1">26The sons of Leah&#8217;s servant Zilpah:</div><div class="li2">Gad and Asher.</div><div class="p">These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">27Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. 29Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.</div>
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