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Bible Study Plan:     Bible Version     Starting Date

  Genesis 29-30


29:1 Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples.
29:2 There he saw a well in the field, 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.
29:3 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.
29:4 Jacob asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We"re from Haran," they replied.
29:5 He said to them, "Do you know Laban, Nahor's grandson?" "Yes, we know him," they answered.
29:6 Then Jacob asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."
29:7 "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."
29:8 "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."
29:9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
29:10 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.
29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
29:12 He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
29:13 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.
29:14 Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,
29:15 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."
29:16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
29:17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.
29:18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I"ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
29:19 Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me."
29:20 So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
29:21 Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."
29:22 So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.
29:23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her.
29:24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.
29:25 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?"
29:26 Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
29:27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
29:28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29:29 Laban gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.
29:30 Jacob lay with Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
29:31 When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
29:32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now."
29:33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.
29:34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named Levi.
29:35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
30:1 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I"ll die!"
30:2 Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"
30:3 Then she said, "Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family."
30:4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife. Jacob slept with her,
30:5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son.
30:6 Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan.
30:7 Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
30:8 Then Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." So she named him Naphtali.
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
30:10 Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
30:11 Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" So she named him Gad.
30:12 Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
30:13 Then Leah said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him Asher.
30:14 During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
30:15 But she said to her, "Wasn"t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."
30:16 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night.
30:17 God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son.
30:18 Then Leah said, "God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband." So she named him Issachar.
30:19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.
30:20 Then Leah said, "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him Zebulun.
30:21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
30:22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb.
30:23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, "God has taken away my disgrace."
30:24 She named him Joseph, and said, "May the LORD add to me another son."
30:25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland.
30:26 Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I"ve done for you."
30:27 But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you."
30:28 He added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."
30:29 Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care.
30:30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"
30:31 "What shall I give you?" he asked. "Don"t give me anything," Jacob replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them
30:32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages.
30:33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."
30:34 "Agreed," said Laban. "Let it be as you have said."
30:35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons.
30:36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban's flocks.
30:37 Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
30:38 Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink,
30:39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.
30:40 Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban's animals.
30:41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,
30:42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.
30:43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.

  Matthew  9


9:1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.
9:2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
9:3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
9:4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
9:5 Which is easier
9:6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home."
9:7 And the man got up and went home.
9:8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
9:10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples.
9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and "sinners"?"
9:12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
9:13 But go and learn what this means
9:14 Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
9:15 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
9:16 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.
9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
9:18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live."
9:19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
9:20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.
9:21 She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
9:22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
9:23 When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd,
9:24 he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him.
9:25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.
9:26 News of this spread through all that region.
9:27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
9:28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied.
9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you";
9:30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this."
9:31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
9:32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus.
9:33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
9:34 But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
9:37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
9:38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."