The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday January 14, 2017 (NIV)

30 When Rachel realized that she could bear Jacob no children, Rachel became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children! If you don’t, I may as well be dead.”

² Jacob was angry at Rachel and said, “Do you think I’m God? God alone has kept you from giving birth!”

³ She said, “Here’s my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will give birth for me. Because of her, I will also have children.” ⁴ So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife, and he slept with her. ⁵ Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor, heard my voice, and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.^{[a] 7} Rachel’s servant Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ Rachel said, “I’ve competed fiercely with my sister, and now I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali.^[b]

⁹ When Leah realized that she had stopped bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife. ¹⁰ Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob, ¹¹ and Leah said, “What good luck!” So she named him Gad.^{[c] 12} Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob, ¹³ and Leah said, “I’m happy now because women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.^[d]

¹⁴ During the wheat harvest, Reuben found some erotic herbs^[e] in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me your son’s erotic herbs.”

¹⁵ Leah replied, “Isn’t it enough that you’ve taken my husband? Now you want to take my son’s erotic herbs too?”

Rachel said, “For your son’s erotic herbs, Jacob^[f] may sleep with you tonight.”

¹⁶ When Jacob came back from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I’ve paid for you with my son’s erotic herbs.” So he slept with her that night.

¹⁷ God responded to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God gave me what I paid for, what I deserved for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.^{[g] 19} Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob, ²⁰ and she said, “God has given me a wonderful gift. Now my husband will honor me since I’ve borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.^{[h] 21} After this, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel, responded to her, and let her conceive. ²³ She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my shame.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph,^[i] saying to herself, May the Lord give me another son.

God blesses Jacob and Laban

²⁵ After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me off so that I can go to my own place and my own country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and children whom I’ve worked for, and I will go. You know the work I’ve done for you.”

²⁷ Laban said to him, “Do me this favor. I’ve discovered by a divine sign that the Lord has blessed me because of you, ²⁸ so name your price and I will pay it.”

²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You know how I’ve worked for you, and how well your livestock have done with me. ³⁰ While in my care, what little you had has multiplied a great deal. The Lord blessed you wherever I took your livestock.^[j] Now, when will I be able to work for my own household too?”

³¹ Laban said, “What will I pay you?”

Jacob said, “Don’t pay me anything. If you will do this for me, I will take care of your flock again, and keep a portion.^{[k] 32} I will go through the entire flock today, taking out all of the speckled and spotted sheep, all of the black male lambs, and all of the spotted and speckled female goats. That will be my price. ³³ I will be completely honest with you: when you come to check on our agreement, every female goat with me that isn’t speckled or spotted and every male lamb with me that isn’t black will be considered stolen.”

³⁴ Laban said, “All right; let’s do it.” ³⁵ However, on that very day Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats and all of the speckled and spotted female goats—any with some white in it—and all of the black male lambs, and gave them to his sons. ³⁶ He put a three-day trip between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was watching the rest of Laban’s flock.

³⁷ Then Jacob took new branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees; and he peeled white stripes on them, exposing the branches’ white color. ³⁸ He set the branches that he had peeled near the watering troughs so that they were in front of the flock when they drank, because they often mated when they came to drink. ³⁹ When the flock mated in front of the branches, they gave birth to striped, speckled, and spotted young. ⁴⁰ Jacob sorted out the lambs, turning the flock to face the striped and black ones in Laban’s flock but keeping his flock separate, setting them apart from Laban’s flock. ⁴¹ Whenever the strongest of the flock mated, Jacob put the branches in front of them near the watering troughs so that they mated near the branches. ⁴² But he didn’t put branches up for the weakest of the flock. So the weakest became Laban’s and the strongest Jacob’s. ⁴³ The man Jacob became very, very rich: he owned large flocks, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob’s household leaves Laban

31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob took everything our father owned and from it he produced all of this wealth.” ² And Jacob saw that Laban no longer liked him as much as he used to.

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 for Rachel and Leah and summoned them into the field where his flock was. ⁵ He said to them, “I am aware that your father no longer likes me as much as he used to. But my father’s God has been with me. ⁶ You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could. ⁷ But your father cheated me and changed my payment ten times. Yet God didn’t let him harm me. ⁸ If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your payment,’ the whole flock gave birth to speckled young. And if he said, ‘The striped ones will be your payment,’ the whole flock gave birth to striped young. ⁹ God took away your father’s livestock and gave them to me. ¹⁰ When the flocks were mating, I looked up and saw in a dream that the male goats that mounted the flock were striped, speckled, and spotted. ¹¹ In the dream, God’s messenger said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘I’m here.’ ¹² He said, ‘Look up and watch all the striped, speckled, and spotted male goats mounting the flock. I’ve seen everything that Laban is doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a sacred pillar and where you made a solemn promise to me. Now, get up and leave this country and go back to the land of your relatives.’”

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there any share or inheritance left for us in our father’s household? ¹⁵ Doesn’t he think of us as foreigners since he sold us and has even used up the payment he received for us? ¹⁶ All of the wealth God took from our father belongs to us and our children. Now, do everything God told you to do.”

Mission of the Twelve

10 He called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to throw them out and to heal every disease and every sickness. ² Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, who is called Peter; and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee; and John his brother; ³ Philip; and Bartholomew; Thomas; and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Cananaean;^[a] and Judas, who betrayed Jesus.

Commissioning of the Twelve

⁵ Jesus sent these twelve out and commanded them, “Don’t go among the Gentiles or into a Samaritan city. ⁶ Go instead to the lost sheep, the people of Israel. ⁷ As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, and throw out demons. You received without having to pay. Therefore, give without demanding payment. ⁹ Workers deserve to be fed, so don’t gather gold or silver or copper coins for your money belts to take on your trips. ¹⁰ Don’t take a backpack for the road or two shirts or sandals or a walking stick. ¹¹ Whatever city or village you go into, find somebody in it who is worthy and stay there until you go on your way. ¹² When you go into a house, say, ‘Peace!’ ¹³ If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if the house isn’t worthy, take back your blessing. ¹⁴ If anyone refuses to welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or city. ¹⁵ I assure you that it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than it will be for that city.

Response to harassment

¹⁶ “Look, I’m sending you as sheep among wolves. Therefore, be wise as snakes and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Watch out for people—because they will hand you over to councils and they will beat you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ They will haul you in front of governors and even kings because of me so that you may give your testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ Whenever they hand you over, don’t worry about how to speak or what you will say, because what you can say will be given to you at that moment. ²⁰ You aren’t doing the talking, but the Spirit of my Father is doing the talking through you. ²¹ Brothers and sisters will hand each other over to be executed. A father will turn his child in. Children will defy their parents and have them executed. ²² Everyone will hate you on account of my name. But whoever stands firm until the end will be saved. ²³ Whenever they harass you in one city, escape to the next, because I assure that you will not go through all the cities of Israel before the Human One^[b] comes.

Psalm 12

For the music leader. According to the Sheminith.^[a] A psalm of David.

Value of wisdom