Day 17 reading

Wisdom·Psalms 15:1–16:4

¹O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy mountain? ²He who walks with integrity and practices righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart, ³who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend, ⁴who despises the vile but honors those who fear the LORD, who does not revise a costly oath, ⁵who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

16Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge. ²I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.” ³As for the saints in the land, they are the excellence in whom all my delight resides. ⁴Sorrows will multiply to those who chase other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood, or speak their names with my lips.

New Testament·Matthew 12:1–25

¹At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. ²When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” ³Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests. ⁵Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” ⁹Moving on from there, Jesus entered their synagogue, ¹⁰and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ¹¹He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” ¹³Then Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored to full use, just like the other. ¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. ¹⁵Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them all, ¹⁶warning them not to make Him known. ¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ¹⁸“Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. ¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets. ²⁰A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory. ²¹In His name the nations will put their hope.” ²²Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see. ²³The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” ²⁴But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.” ²⁵Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

Old Testament·Genesis 31

¹Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.” ²And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed. ³Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” ⁴So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were, ⁵and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength. ⁷And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring. ⁹Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. ¹⁰When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. ¹¹In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’ ¹²‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’” ¹⁴And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us. ¹⁶Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.” ¹⁷Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan. ¹⁹Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols. ²⁰Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away. ²¹So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. ²²On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled. ²³So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” ²⁵Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well. ²⁶Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war! ²⁷Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps. ²⁸But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing. ²⁹I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ ³⁰Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?” ³¹“I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. ³²If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols. ³³So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, then Leah’s tent, and then the tents of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing. ³⁵Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols. ³⁶Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me? ³⁷You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us. ³⁸I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock. ³⁹I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have 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, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.” ⁴³But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? ⁴⁴Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar, ⁴⁶and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate. ⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed. ⁴⁹It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other. ⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.” ⁵¹Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me. ⁵²This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me. ⁵³May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.