Tuesday, April 20

6indeed He says, 'It is a great thing for You to be called My Servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the dispersion of Israel. Behold, I give You as the covenant of a race and as the light of the Gentiles, that You should be the salvation to the ends of the earth.' '

7Thus says the Lord, who delivers You, the God of Israel: 'Sanctify Him who despises His life, who is abhorred by the nations and by the servants of rulers. Kings shall see Him and rise, and rulers also shall worship Him for the Lord's sake. For the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and He chose You.'

8Thus says the Lord: 'In an acceptable time I heard You, and in the day of salvation I helped You. I give You as a covenant to the Gentiles, to establish the earth and to inherit the inheritance of the desert;

9saying to those in bonds, 'Go forth,' and to those in darkness, 'Reveal yourselves.' They shall feed along all their roads, and their pasture shall be along all the paths.

10They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst, nor shall the burning heat of the sun strike them; but He who has mercy on them will comfort them; and He shall lead them by the fountains of waters.

3Then the Lord said to Jacob, 'Return to your father's land and to your family, and I will be with you.'

4So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field where the flocks were,

5and 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.

6Now you know that with all my might I served your father.

7Yet your father deceived me and changed my wages ten times with respect to the male lambs, but God did not allow him to harm me.

8If he said thus, 'The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flocks bore speckled. But if he said thus, 'The white shall be your wages,' then all the sheep bore white.

9So God has taken away all your father's cattle and given them to me.

10Now it came to pass, when the flocks conceived, I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats and the rams that were speckled, spotted, and ash-colored speckled were mating with the sheep and the goats.

11Then the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, 'Jacob.' Thus I said, 'Here I am.'

12So He said, 'Lift your eyes now and see, all the male goats and the rams mating with the sheep and the goats are speckled, spotted, and ash-colored speckled; for I have seen everything Laban is doing to you.

13I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a vow to Me. Now then, arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your nativity, and I will be with you.' '

14Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, 'Is there still any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

15Are we not considered strangers by him? For he sold us, and also completely consumed our money.

16For all the riches and glory God has taken from our father are really ours and our children's; now then, whatever God has said to you, do it.'

3To do righteous things and to speak the truth Are more pleasing before God than the blood of sacrifices.

4A high-minded man is bold-hearted in his arrogance, And the lamp of the ungodly is sin.

5He who produces treasures with a lying tongue Pursues worthless things upon the snares of death.

6Destruction shall entertain the ungodly, For they are not willing to do righteous things.

7To the crooked, God sends crooked ways, For His works are pure and upright.

8It is better to dwell in a corner in the open air Than with wrongdoing in plastered rooms and in a shared house.

9The soul of the ungodly will not be shown mercy by any one among men.

10When the intemperate man is punished, the simple man becomes more astute, And a wise man of understanding shall receive knowledge.

11A righteous man understands the hearts of the ungodly, And he despises the ungodly in their evils.

12He who closes his ears that he might not listen to the weak, He will also call upon someone, and there will be no one listening.

13A secret gift calms anger, But he who refrains from giving gifts stirs up strong anger.

14It is the joy of the righteous to do judgment, But a holy man is unclean before evildoers.

15A man who wanders from the way of righteousness Shall rest in an assembly of giants.

16A man in need loves merriment, Loving wine and oil as wealth.

17A lawless man is the outcast of a righteous man.

18It is better to live in a desert Than with a contentious, talkative, and quick-tempered woman.

19A treasury of desire will rest upon the mouth of a wise man, But men without discernment shall swallow it.

20The way of righteousness and mercy shall find life and glory.

21A wise man assaults fortified cities And pulls down the stronghold the ungodly trust.