Daily Readings

¹ And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.² And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:⁵ And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;⁸ And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.⁹ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.¹² And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.¹³ And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;¹⁴ Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,¹⁵ Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.¹⁶ And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?¹⁸ Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.¹⁹ And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.²⁰ And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.²¹ So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.²² And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.²³ And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.²⁴ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.²⁵ And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.²⁶ And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.²⁷ And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.²⁸ And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.²⁹ And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.³¹ And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.³² Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

¹ And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.² And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.³ And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.⁴ And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.⁵ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.⁶ Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.⁷ And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.⁸ And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.⁹ And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.¹⁰ And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.¹¹ Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.¹² And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.¹³ And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.¹⁴ Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.¹⁵ And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.¹⁷ And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.¹⁸ And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.¹⁹ And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.²⁰ And he erected there an altar, and called it EleloheIsrael.

¹ The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.² For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.³ The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.⁴ He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.⁵ Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.⁶ Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.⁷ How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.⁸ They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.⁹ For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.¹⁰ O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.¹¹ Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.¹² There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

¹ And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,² Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.³ And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.⁴ All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,⁵ Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.⁶ And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,⁷ And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.⁸ And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.⁹ And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.¹⁰ And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?¹¹ And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.¹² And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.¹⁵ And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,¹⁶ And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?¹⁷ And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.¹⁸ Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.¹⁹ And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.²⁰ And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!²¹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.²² And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.²³ And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?²⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.²⁵ The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?²⁶ But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.²⁷ And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.²⁸ But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.²⁹ He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.³⁰ And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.³¹ Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.³² For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.³³ Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:³⁴ And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.³⁵ And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.³⁶ Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.³⁷ But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.³⁸ But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.³⁹ And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.⁴⁰ When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?⁴¹ They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.⁴² Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?⁴³ Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.⁴⁴ And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.⁴⁵ And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.⁴⁶ But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.