31st January

Morning Readings

Power with God

Genesis 32: 3-29

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He instructed them: "This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.' "

⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

⁷ In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, ^[a] and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one group, ^[b] the group ^[c] that is left may escape."

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.' "

¹³ He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds."

¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead: "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' ¹⁸ then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.' "

¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: "You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ And be sure to say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.' " For he thought, "I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me." ²¹ So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

²⁷ The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, ^[d] because you have struggled with God and with human beings and have overcome."

²⁹ Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 32:7 Or camps
   
2. Genesis 32:8 Or camp
   
3. Genesis 32:8 Or camp
   
4. Genesis 32:28 Israel probably means he struggles with God.
   

Evening Readings

The Chains of Habit

Jeremiah 9: 1-5
^{[a] 1} Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.

^{[b] 2} Oh, that I had in the desert
a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people.

³ "They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;
it is not by truth
that they triumph ^[c] in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge me,"
declares the LORD.

⁴ "Beware of your friends;
do not trust any of your people.
For every one of them is a deceiver, ^[d]

and every friend a slanderer.

⁵ Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 9:1 9:1 is numbered 8:23 in Hebrew texts.
   
2. Jeremiah 9:2 9:2-26 is numbered 9:1-25 in Hebrew texts.
   
3. Jeremiah 9:3 Or lies; / they are not valiant for truth
   
4. Jeremiah 9:4 Or a deceiving Jacob
   

Jeremiah 9: 23-24

²³ This is what the LORD says:
"Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,

²⁴ but let those who boast boast about this:
that they understand and know me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 10: 10

¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his wrath.

Jeremiah 12: 5-7

⁵ "If you have raced with people on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble ^[a] in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by ^[b] the Jordan?

⁶ Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.

⁷ "I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 12:5 Or you feel secure only
   
2. Jeremiah 12:5 Or the flooding of
   

Jeremiah 13: 23

²³ Can an Ethiopian ^[a] change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 13:23 Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region)
   

Jeremiah 14: 20-21

²⁰ We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD,
and the guilt of our ancestors;
we have indeed sinned against you.

²¹ For the sake of your name do not despise us;
do not dishonour your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
and do not break it.

Jeremiah 10: 23

²³ LORD, I know that people's lives are not their own;
it is not for them to direct their steps.

Leaves for Plucking

Luke 1: 74-75

⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear

⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

"Ever since by faith, I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die."

30th January

Morning Readings

Righteousness Indignation

Genesis 31: 20-24

²⁰ Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. ²¹ So he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

²² On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³ Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴ Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."

Genesis 31: 36-42

³⁶ Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. "What is my crime?" he asked Laban. "How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? ³⁷ Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.

³⁸ "I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. ³⁹ I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰ This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you."

Genesis 31: 45-49

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed. ^[a]

⁴⁸ Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Galeed. ⁴⁹ It was also called Mizpah, ^[b] because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 31:47 The Aramaic Jegar Sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean witness heap.
   
2. Genesis 31:49 Mizpah means watchtower.
   

Genesis 31: 55

^[a]
55 Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 31:55 31:55 is numbered 32:1 in Hebrew texts.
   

Evening Readings

Skin-deep Salvation

Jeremiah 6: 7-17

⁷ As a well pours out its water,
so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
her sickness and wounds are ever before me.

⁸ Take warning, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you
and make your land desolate
so no one can live in it."

⁹ This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Let them glean the remnant of Israel
as thoroughly as a vine;
pass your hand over the branches again,
like one gathering grapes."

¹⁰ To whom can I speak and give warning?
Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed ^[a]

so they cannot hear.
The word of the LORD is offensive to them;
they find no pleasure in it.

¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the LORD,
and I cannot hold it in.
"Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the youths gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
and the old, those weighed down with years.

¹² Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
against those who live in the land,"
declares the LORD.

¹³ "From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.

¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
'Peace, peace,' they say,
when there is no peace.

¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,"
says the LORD.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:
"Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'

¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said,
'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'
But you said, 'We will not listen.'

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 6:10 Hebrew uncircumcised
   

Jeremiah 6: 28-30

²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,
going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
they all act corruptly.

²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely
to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
the wicked are not purged out.

³⁰ They are called rejected silver,
because the LORD has rejected them."

Jeremiah 7: 16

¹⁶ "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 8: 5-7

⁵ Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.

⁶ I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent of their wickedness,
saying, "What have I done?"
They each pursue their own course
like a horse charging into battle.

⁷ Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
the requirements of the LORD.

Jeremiah 8: 21-22

²¹ Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?

Leaves for Plucking

Hebrews 10: 23

²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

2 Timothy 2: 13

¹³ if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

Psalm 92: 2

² proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,

29th January

Morning Readings

Laban Cheats Jacob

Genesis 29: 21-30

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her."

²² So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. ²³ But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her. ²⁴ And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.

²⁵ When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"

²⁶ Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. ²⁷ Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."

²⁸ And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ²⁹ Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant. ³⁰ Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

Genesis 31: 3-18

³ Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

⁴ So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. ⁵ He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, ⁷ yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. ⁸ If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. ⁹ So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me.

¹⁰ "In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. ¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' ¹² And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.' "

¹⁴ Then Rachel and Leah replied, "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? ¹⁵ Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. ¹⁶ Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you."

¹⁷ Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸ and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram, ^[a] to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 31:18 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
   

Evening Readings

Return! Return!

Jeremiah 2: 19-22

¹⁹ Your wickedness will punish you;
your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realize
how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the LORD your God
and have no awe of me,"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

²⁰ "Long ago you broke off your yoke
and tore off your bonds;
you said, 'I will not serve you!'
Indeed, on every high hill
and under every spreading tree
you lay down as a prostitute.

²¹ I had planted you like a choice vine
of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
into a corrupt, wild vine?

²² Although you wash yourself with soap
and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,"
declares the Sovereign LORD.

Jeremiah 2: 32

³² Does a young woman forget her jewellery,
a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
days without number.

Jeremiah 3: 3-4

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.

⁴ Have you not just called to me:
'My Father, my friend from my youth,

Jeremiah 3: 12 & 23

¹² Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,' declares the LORD,
'I will not be angry forever.

²³ Surely the [idolatrous] commotion on the hills
and mountains is a deception;
surely in the LORD our God
is the salvation of Israel.

Jeremiah 4: 3

³ This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:
"Break up your unploughed ground
and do not sow among thorns.

Jeremiah 4: 22

²² "My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
they know not how to do good."

Jeremiah 5: 3

³ LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.

Jeremiah 5: 9

⁹ Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?

Leaves for Plucking

1 John 4: 16

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 5: 3-4

³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

28th January

Morning Readings

Seven Years' Toil for Love

Genesis 29: 1-20

¹ Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. ² There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. ³ When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?"
"We're from Harran," they replied.

⁵ He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?"
"Yes, we know him," they answered.

⁶ Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?"
"Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

⁷ "Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture."

⁸ "We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep."

⁹ While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was their shepherd. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. ¹² He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.

¹³ As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. ¹⁴ Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood."

After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, ¹⁵ Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."

¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah had weak ^[a] eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. ¹⁸ Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."

¹⁹ Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 29:17 Or delicate
   

Evening Readings

The Mighty Touch

Jeremiah 1: 4-19

⁴ The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵ "Before I formed you in the womb I knew ^[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

⁶ "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am too young."

⁷ But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am too young.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

⁹ Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

¹¹ The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.

¹² The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching ^[b] to see that my word is fulfilled."

¹³ The word of the LORD came to me again: "What do you see?"
"I see a pot that is boiling," I answered. "It is tilting toward us from the north."

¹⁴ The LORD said to me, "From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land. ¹⁵ I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms," declares the LORD.
"Their kings will come and set up their thrones
in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem;
they will come against all her surrounding walls
and against all the towns of Judah.

¹⁶ I will pronounce my judgments on my people
because of their wickedness in forsaking me,
in burning incense to other gods
and in worshiping what their hands have made.

¹⁷ "Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. ¹⁸ Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. ¹⁹ They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Jeremiah 1:5 Or chose
   
2. Jeremiah 1:12 The Hebrew for watching sounds like the Hebrew for almond tree.
   

Jeremiah 2: 2-3

² "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
"This is what the LORD says:
" 'I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
through a land not sown.

³ Israel was holy to the LORD,
the first fruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
and disaster overtook them,' "
declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 2: 12-17

¹² Be appalled at this, you heavens,
and shudder with great horror,"
declares the LORD.

¹³ "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹⁴ Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth?
Why then has he become plunder?

¹⁵ Lions have roared;
they have growled at him.
They have laid waste his land;
his towns are burned and deserted.

¹⁶ Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have cracked your skull.

¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourselves
by forsaking the LORD your God
when he led you in the way?

Leaves for Plucking

Isaiah 60: 18

¹⁸ No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.

Isaiah 61: 11

¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.

"Ye Pilgrims on the road

To Zion's city, sing!

Rejoice ye in the Lamb of God –

In Christ, th'eternal King."

27th January

Morning Readings

Jacob's Dream

Genesis 28: 1-2

¹ So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. ² Go at once to Paddan Aram, ^[a] to the house of your mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 28:2 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7
   

Genesis 28: 10-22

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. ¹¹ When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway ^[a] resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it ^[b] stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ^[c]
15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

¹⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He called that place Bethel, ^[d] though the city used to be called Luz.

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹ so that I return safely to my father's household, then the LORD ^[e] will be my God ²² and ^[f] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 28:12 Or ladder
   
2. Genesis 28:13 Or There beside him
   
3. Genesis 28:14 Or will use your name and the name of your offspring in blessings (see Gen. 48:20)
   
4. Genesis 28:19 Bethel means house of God.
   
5. Genesis 28:21 Or Since God . . . father's household, the LORD
   
6. Genesis 28:22 Or household, and the LORD will be my God, ²²then
   

Evening Readings

Paradise Restored

Isaiah 65: 17-24

¹⁷ "See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.

¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.

¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.

²⁰ "Never again will there be in it
infants who live but a few days,
or older people who do not live out their years;
those who die at a hundred
will be thought mere youths;
those who fail to reach ^[a] a hundred
will be considered accursed.

²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.

²³ They will not labour in vain,
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the LORD,
they and their descendants with them.

²⁴ Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 65:20 Or youths; / sinners who reach
   

Isaiah 66: 10-23

¹⁰ "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.

¹¹ For you will nurse and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance."

¹² For this is what the LORD says:
"I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.

¹³ As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."

¹⁴ When you see this, your heart will rejoice
and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants,
but his fury will be shown to his foes.

¹⁵ See, the LORD is coming with fire,
and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
he will bring down his anger with fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶ For with fire and with his sword
the LORD will execute judgment on all people,
and many will be those slain by the LORD.

¹⁷ "Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow," declares the LORD.

¹⁸ "And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come ^[a] and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.

¹⁹ "I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans ^[b] and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels," says the LORD. "They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. ²¹ And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites," says the LORD.

²² "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. ²³ From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all people will come and bow down before me," says the LORD.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 66:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
   
2. Isaiah 66:19 Some Septuagint manuscripts Put (Libyans); Hebrew Pul
   

Leaves for Plucking

Psalm 147: 3

³ He heals the broken-hearted
and binds up their wounds.

Luke 4: 18

¹⁸ "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,

Malachi 4: 2

² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

"My Christ, He is the Lord of Lord,

He is the King of Kings;

He is the Son of Righteousness,

With healing in His wings."

26th January

Morning Readings

Deceit Brings Trouble

Genesis 27: 34-45

³⁴ When Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me—me too, my father!"

³⁵ But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

³⁶ Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob ^[a]? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?"

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?"

³⁸ Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.

³⁹ His father Isaac answered him,
"Your dwelling will be
away from the earth's richness,
away from the dew of heaven above.

⁴⁰ You will live by the sword
and you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
you will throw his yoke
from off your neck."

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

⁴² When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. ⁴³ Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. ⁴⁵ When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 27:36 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
   

Evening Readings

The Solitary Warrior

Isaiah 63: 1-5

¹ Who is this coming from Edom,
from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendour,
striding forward in the greatness of his strength?
"It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save."

² Why are your garments red,
like those of one treading the winepress?

³ "I have trodden the winepress alone;
from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
and trod them down in my wrath;
their blood spattered my garments,
and I stained all my clothing.

⁴ It was for me the day of vengeance;
the year for me to redeem had come.

⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help,
I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,
and my own wrath sustained me.

Isaiah 63: 9-10

⁹ In all their distress he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them. ^[a]

In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.

¹⁰ Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 63:9 Or Saviour ⁹in their distress. / It was no envoy or angel / but his own presence that saved them
   

Isaiah 63: 16-17

¹⁶ But you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us
or Israel acknowledge us;
you, LORD, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.

¹⁷ Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways
and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your inheritance.

Isaiah 64: 4-7

⁴ Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

⁵ You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?

⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

⁷ No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to ^[a] our sins.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 64:7 Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew have made us melt because of
   

Leaves for Plucking

Isaiah 33: 17

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.

John 14: 2

² My Father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

"Eternal Light! Eternal Light!

How pure the soul must be,

When placed within Thy searching sight,

It shrinks not, but with calm delight

Can live and look on Thee."

25th January

Morning Readings

The Spoken Lie

Genesis 27: 18-33

¹⁸ He went to his father and said, "My father."
"Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."

²⁰ Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"
"The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

²² Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." ²³ He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. ²⁴ "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.
"I am," he replied.

²⁵ Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing."

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

²⁷ So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
"Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the LORD has blessed.

²⁸ May God give you of heaven's dew
and of earth's richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.

²⁹ May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed."

³⁰ After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. ³¹ He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."

³² His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?"
"I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."

³³ Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!"

Evening Readings

The Messiah's Commission

Isaiah 61: 1-3

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, ^[a]

² to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called mighty oaks,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendour.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 61:1 Hebrew; Septuagint the blind
   

Isaiah 61: 10-11

¹⁰ I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.

Isaiah 62: 1-3

¹ For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.

² The nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

³ You will be a crown of splendour in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Isaiah 62: 6-7

⁶ I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest,

⁷ and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.

Isaiah 62: 11-12

¹¹ The LORD has made proclamation
to the ends of the earth:
"Say to Daughter Zion,
'See, your Saviour comes!
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.' "

¹² They will be called the Holy People,
the Redeemed of the LORD;
and you will be called Sought After,
the City No Longer Deserted.

Leaves for Plucking

John 13: 7

⁷ Jesus replied, "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

Deuteronomy 8: 2

² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

Mark 7: 37

³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

24th January

Morning Readings

The Acted Lie

Genesis 27: 1-17

¹ When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son."
"Here I am," he answered.

² Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. ³ Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. ⁴ Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ⁷ 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' ⁸ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: ⁹ Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. ¹⁰ Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. ¹² What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

¹³ His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

¹⁴ So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. ¹⁷ Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

Evening Readings

The Age of Righteousness

Isaiah 60: 1-4

¹ "Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

² See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.

³ Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁴ "Lift up your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the hip.

Isaiah 60: 9-21

⁹ Surely the islands look to me;
in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, ^[a]

bringing your children from afar,
with their silver and gold,
to the honour of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendour.

¹⁰ "Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you,
in favour I will show you compassion.

¹¹ Your gates will always stand open,
they will never be shut, day or night,
so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations—
their kings led in triumphal procession.

¹² For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish;
it will be utterly ruined.

¹³ "The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
the juniper, the fir and the cypress together,
to adorn my sanctuary;
and I will glorify the place for my feet.

¹⁴ The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you;
all who despise you will bow down at your feet
and will call you the City of the LORD,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ "Although you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one travelling through,
I will make you the everlasting pride
and the joy of all generations.

¹⁶ You will drink the milk of nations
and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Saviour,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
and well-being your ruler.

¹⁸ No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.

¹⁹ The sun will no more be your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.

²⁰ Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.

²¹ Then will all your people be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of my hands,
for the display of my splendour.

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 60:9 Or the trading ships
   

Leaves for Plucking

Acts 20: 32

³²"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

James 3:2

² We all stumble in many ways. Those who are never at fault in what they say are perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

Romans 14: 4

⁴ Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.