Bible Readings for January 17, 2016

Today our passages are Genesis 35:1–36:43; Matthew 12:1-21; Psalm 15:1-5; and Proverbs 3:21-26. The readings are from the  The Message  by Eugene H. Peterson. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Street, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal. 

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Genesis 35-36:43 (The Message)

Genesis 35

 ¹ God spoke to Jacob: "Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau."

 ^2-3 Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, "Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we're going to Bethel. I'm going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I've gone since."

 ^4-5 They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.

 ^6-7 Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that's where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother.

 ⁸ And that's when Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak).

 ^9-10 God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: "Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that's your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler)."

 ^11-12 God continued,

   I am The Strong God.
      Have children! Flourish!
   A nation—a whole company of nations!—
      will come from you.
   Kings will come from your loins;
      the land I gave Abraham and Isaac
   I now give to you,
      and pass it on to your descendants.

 ¹³ And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him.

 ^14-15 Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God's-House).

^16-17 They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid—you have another boy."

 ¹⁸ With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).

 ^19-20 Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, "Rachel's Grave Stone."

^21-22 Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.

^22-26 There were twelve sons of Jacob.
The sons by Leah:

   Reuben, Jacob's firstborn

   Simeon

   Levi

   Judah

   Issachar

   Zebulun.
The sons by Rachel:

   Joseph

   Benjamin.
The sons by Bilhah, Rachel's maid:

   Dan

   Naphtali.
The sons by Zilpah, Leah's maid:

   Gad

   Asher.
These were Jacob's sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.

^27-29 Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.

Genesis 36

 ¹ This is the family tree of Esau, who is also called Edom. ^2-3 Esau married women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite;
Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Adah gave Esau Eliphaz;

   Basemath had Reuel;

 ⁵ Oholibamah had Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

   These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

 ^6-8 Esau gathered up his wives, sons and daughters, and everybody in his household, along with all his livestock—all the animals and possessions he had gotten in Canaan—and moved a considerable distance away from his brother Jacob. The brothers had too many possessions to live together in the same place; the land couldn't support their combined herds of livestock. So Esau ended up settling in the hill country of Seir (Esau and Edom are the same).

 ^9-10 So this is the family tree of Esau, ancestor of the people of Edom, in the hill country of Seir. The names of Esau's sons:

   Eliphaz, son of Esau's wife Adah;

   Reuel, son of Esau's wife Basemath.

 ^11-12 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. (Eliphaz also had a concubine Timna, who had Amalek.) These are the grandsons of Esau's wife Adah.

 ¹³ And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah—grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath.

 ¹⁴ These are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah the son of Zibeon. She gave Esau his sons Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

 ^15-16 These are the chieftains in Esau's family tree. From the sons of Eliphaz, Esau's firstborn, came the chieftains Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, Korah, Gatam, and Amalek—the chieftains of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; all of them sons of Adah.

 ¹⁷ From the sons of Esau's son Reuel came the chieftains Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the chieftains of Reuel in the land of Edom; all these were sons of Esau's wife Basemath.

 ¹⁸ These are the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah: the chieftains Jeush, Jalam, and Korah—chieftains born of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.  

 ¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau, that is, Edom, and these are their chieftains.

 ^20-21 This is the family tree of Seir the Horite, who were native to that land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These are the chieftains of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

 ²² The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam; Lotan's sister was Timna.

 ²³ The sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

 ²⁴ The sons of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah—this is the same Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while herding his father Zibeon's donkeys.  

 ²⁵ The children of Anah were Dishon and his daughter Oholibamah.

 ²⁶ The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

 ²⁷ The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

 ²⁸ The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

 ^29-30 And these were the Horite chieftains: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan—the Horite chieftains clan by clan in the land of Seir.

 ^31-39 And these are the kings who ruled in Edom before there was a king in Israel: Bela son of Beor was the king of Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah. When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became the next king. When Jobab died, he was followed by Hushan from the land of the Temanites. When Hushan died, he was followed by Hadad son of Bedad; he was the king who defeated the Midianites in Moab; the name of his city was Avith. When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah became the next king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River became king. When Shaul died, he was followed by Baal-Hanan son of Acbor. When Baal-Hanan son of Acbor died, Hadad became king; the name of his city was Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-Zahab.

 ^40-43 And these are the chieftains from the line of Esau, clan by clan, region by region: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram—the chieftains of Edom as they occupied their various regions.

   This accounts for the family tree of Esau, ancestor of all Edomites.

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Matthew 12:1-21 (The Message)

Matthew 12

In Charge of the Sabbath

 ^1-2 One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: "Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!"

 ^3-5Jesus said, "Really? Didn't you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn't you ever read in God's Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it's not held against them?

 ^6-8"There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—'I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'—you wouldn't be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he's in charge."

 ^9-10When Jesus left the field, he entered their meeting place. There was a man there with a crippled hand. They said to Jesus, "Is it legal to heal on the Sabbath?" They were baiting him.

 ^11-14He replied, "Is there a person here who, finding one of your lambs fallen into a ravine, wouldn't, even though it was a Sabbath, pull it out? Surely kindness to people is as legal as kindness to animals!" Then he said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out and it was healed. The Pharisees walked out furious, sputtering about how they were going to ruin Jesus.

In Charge of Everything

 ^15-21Jesus, knowing they were out to get him, moved on. A lot of people followed him, and he healed them all. He also cautioned them to keep it quiet, following guidelines set down by Isaiah:

   Look well at my handpicked servant;
         I love him so much, take such delight in him.
   I've placed my Spirit on him;
         he'll decree justice to the nations.
   But he won't yell, won't raise his voice;
         there'll be no commotion in the streets.
   He won't walk over anyone's feelings,
         won't push you into a corner.
   Before you know it, his justice will triumph;
         the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even
      among far-off unbelievers.

 

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Psalm 15:1-5 (The Message)

Psalm 15

A David Psalm

 ¹ God, who gets invited to dinner at your place?
   How do we get on your guest list?

 ² "Walk straight,
      act right,
         tell the truth.

 ^3-4 "Don't hurt your friend,
      don't blame your neighbor;
         despise the despicable.

 ⁵ "Keep your word even when it costs you,
      make an honest living,
         never take a bribe.

   "You'll never get
   blacklisted
   if you live like this."

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Proverbs 3:21-26 (The Message)

Never Walk Away

 ^21-26 Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life;
   don't for a minute lose sight of them.
They'll keep your soul alive and well,
   they'll keep you fit and attractive.
You'll travel safely,
   you'll neither tire nor trip.
You'll take afternoon naps without a worry,
   you'll enjoy a good night's sleep.
No need to panic over alarms or surprises,
   or predictions that doomsday's just around the corner,
Because God will be right there with you;
   he'll keep you safe and sound.

 

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Verse of the Day

 

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing. Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything that they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world, as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. Then on the day when Christ returns, I can take pride in you. I can also know that my work and efforts were not useless.” - Philippians 2:14-16

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American author and psychotherapist, Virginia Satir wrote, “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”