¹ And Isaac calleth unto Jacob, and blesseth him, and commandeth him, and saith to him, `Thou dost not take a wife of the daughters of Caanan;

² rise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take for thyself from thence a wife, of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother;

³ and God Almighty doth bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and thou hast become an assembly of peoples;

⁴ and He doth give to thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, to cause thee to possess the land of thy sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.'

⁵ And Isaac sendeth away Jacob, and he goeth to Padan-Aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ And Esau seeth that Isaac hath blessed Jacob, and hath sent him to Padan-Aram to take to himself from thence a wife -- in his blessing him that he layeth a charge upon him, saying, Thou dost not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan --

⁷ that Jacob hearkeneth unto his father and unto his mother, and goeth to Padan-Aram --

⁸ and Esau seeth that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,

⁹ and Esau goeth unto Ishmael, and taketh Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, sister of Nebajoth, unto his wives, to himself, for a wife.

¹⁰ And Jacob goeth out from Beer-Sheba, and goeth toward Haran,

¹¹ and he toucheth at a [certain] place, and lodgeth there, for the sun hath gone in, and he taketh of the stones of the place, and maketh [them] his pillows, and lieth down in that place.

¹² And he dreameth, and lo, a ladder set up on the earth, and its head is touching the heavens; and lo, messengers of God are going up and coming down by it;

¹³ and lo, Jehovah is standing upon it, and He saith, `I [am] Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father, and God of Isaac; the land on which thou art lying, to thee I give it, and to thy seed;

¹⁴ and thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed.

¹⁵ `And lo, I [am] with thee, and have kept thee whithersoever thou goest, and have caused thee to turn back unto this ground; for I leave thee not till that I have surely done that which I have spoken to thee.'

¹⁶ And Jacob awaketh out of his sleep, and saith, `Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew not;'

¹⁷ and he feareth, and saith, `How fearful [is] this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens.'

¹⁸ And Jacob riseth early in the morning, and taketh the stone which he hath made his pillows, and maketh it a standing pillar, and poureth oil upon its top,

¹⁹ and he calleth the name of that place Bethel, [house of God,] and yet, Luz [is] the name of the city at the first.

²⁰ And Jacob voweth a vow, saying, `Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put on --

²¹ when I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath become my God,

²² then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all that Thou dost give to me -- tithing I tithe to Thee.'

¹ He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,

² saying, "There was a judge in a certain city who didn't fear God, and didn't respect man.

³ A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, 'Defend me from my adversary!'

⁴ He wouldn't for a while, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,

⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.'"

⁶ The Lord said, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.

⁷ Won't God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?

⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

⁹ He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.

¹⁰ "Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.

¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹² I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.'

¹³ But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'

¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

¹⁵ They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

¹⁶ Jesus summoned them, saying, "Allow the little children to come to me, and don't hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

¹⁷ Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it."

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

¹⁹ Jesus asked him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one--God.

²⁰ You know the commandments: 'Don't commit adultery,' 'Don't murder,' 'Don't steal,' 'Don't give false testimony,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'"

²¹ He said, "I have observed all these things from my youth up."

²² When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me."

²³ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.

²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!

²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God."

²⁶ Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

²⁷ But he said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."

²⁸ Peter said, "Look, we have left everything, and followed you."

²⁹ He said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for the Kingdom of God's sake,

³⁰ who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life."

³¹ He took the twelve aside, and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed.

³² For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.

³³ They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again."

³⁴ They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn't understand the things that were said.

³⁵ It happened, as he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging.

³⁶ Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant.

³⁷ They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

³⁸ He cried out, "Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!"

³⁹ Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "You son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁰ Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him,

⁴¹ "What do you want me to do?" He said, "Lord, that I may see again."

⁴² Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you."

⁴³ Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.