Scripture Readings

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Genesis 31:3-16 (Vespers, 1st reading)

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Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”
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So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock,
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and said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.
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“And you know that with all my might I have served your father.
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“Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.
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“If he said thus: ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked.
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“So God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.
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“And it happened, at the time when the flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted.
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“Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’
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“And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
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‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family.’”
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Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
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“Are we not considered strangers by him? For he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money.
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“For all these riches which God has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.”