5 Remember the zwondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and athe judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of bAbraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his cchosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
his djudgments are in all the earth.
8 He eremembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded, for fa thousand generations,
9 gthe covenant that he made with Abraham,
his hsworn promise to Isaac,
10 which he confirmed to iJacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, j“To you I will give the land of Canaan
as kyour portion for an inheritance.”
God Blesses and Renames Jacob
1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to bBethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you cwhen you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his dhousehold and to all who were with him, “Put away ethe foreign gods that are among you and fpurify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God gwho answers me in the day of my distress and hhas been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ithe terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to jLuz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because kthere God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And lDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2
9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; mno longer shall your name be called Jacob, but nIsrael shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, o“I am God Almighty:4 be pfruitful and multiply. qA nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 rThe land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God swent up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob tset up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him uBethel.
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for vyou have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 wbut his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So xRachel died, and she was buried on the way to yEphrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is zthe pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and alay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: bReuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at cMamre, or dKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died eand was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And fhis sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Who Is the Greatest?
33 And zthey came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house ahe asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way bthey had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, c“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and dtaking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 e“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and ewhoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us
38 fJohn said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone gcasting out demons in your name,1 and hwe tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 iFor the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, jwhoever gives you a cup of water to drink because2 you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
Temptations to Sin
42 k“Whoever causes one of lthese little ones who believe in me to sin,3 mit would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 nAnd if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to ohell,4 to pthe unquenchable fire.5 45 qAnd if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into ohell. 47 rAnd if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into shell, 48 ‘where ttheir worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire.6 50 vSalt is good, wbut if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? xHave salt in yourselves, and ybe at peace with one another.”
