NLT One Year Bible - Flipbook - Page 50
J A N U A R Y
1 3
Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the
God of your grandfather Abraham, and
the God of your father, Isaac. The
ground you are lying on belongs to you. I
am giving it to you and your descendants. 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They
will spread out in all directions—to the
west and the east, to the north and the
south. And all the families of the earth
will be blessed through you and your
descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with
you, and I will protect you wherever you
go. One day I will bring you back to this
land. I will not leave you until I have
finished giving you everything I have
promised you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep
and said, “Surely the Lord is in this
place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”
17 But he was also afraid and said, “What
an awesome place this is! It is none
other than the house of God, the very
gateway to heaven!”
18 The next morning Jacob got up
very early. He took the stone he had
rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he
poured olive oil over it. 19He named
that place Bethel (which means “house
of God”), although it was previously
called Luz.
20Then Jacob made this vow: “If God
will indeed be with me and protect me
on this journey, and if he will provide me
with food and clothing, 21 and if I return
safely to my father’s home, then the
Lord will certainly be my God. 22And
this memorial pillar I have set up will
become a place for worshiping God, and
I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”
29:1Then
Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the land of the east. 2He saw a well
in the distance. Three flocks of sheep
and goats lay in an open field beside it,
waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone
covered the mouth of the well.
3It was the custom there to wait for all
the flocks to arrive before removing the
stone and watering the animals.
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Afterward the stone would be placed
back over the mouth of the well. 4 Jacob
went over to the shepherds and asked,
“Where are you from, my friends?”
“We are from Haran,” they answered.
5“Do you know a man there named
Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” he
asked.
“Yes, we do,” they replied.
6“Is he doing well?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, he’s well,” they answered. “Look,
here comes his daughter Rachel with
the flock now.”
7 Jacob said, “Look, it’s still broad daylight—too early to round up the animals. Why don’t you water the sheep
and goats so they can get back out to
pasture?”
8“We can’t water the animals until all
the flocks have arrived,” they replied.
“Then the shepherds move the stone
from the mouth of the well, and we
water all the sheep and goats.”
9 Jacob was still talking with them
when Rachel arrived with her father’s
flock, for she was a shepherd. 10And because Rachel was his cousin—the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother—and
because the sheep and goats belonged to
his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the
well and moved the stone from its mouth
and watered his uncle’s flock. 11Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud.
12He explained to Rachel that he was her
cousin on her father’s side—the son of
her aunt Rebekah. So Rachel quickly ran
and told her father, Laban.
13As soon as Laban heard that his
nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to
meet him. He embraced and kissed him
and brought him home. When Jacob had
told him his story, 14Laban exclaimed,
“You really are my own flesh and blood!”
After Jacob had stayed with Laban for
about a month, 15Laban said to him,
“You shouldn’t work for me without pay
just because we are relatives. Tell me
how much your wages should be.”
16Now Laban had two daughters. The
older daughter was named Leah, and the
younger one was Rachel. 17 There was
no sparkle in Leah’s eyes,* but Rachel
