22-24And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my humiliation." She named him Joseph (Add), praying, "May God add yet another son to me."* * *

31-33"So, what should I pay you?"Jacob said, "You don’t have to pay me a thing. But how about this? I will go back to pasture and care for your flocks. Go through your entire flock today and take out every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. That way you can check on my honesty when you assess my wages. If you find any goat that’s not speckled or spotted or a sheep that’s not black, you will know that I stole it."

37-42But Jacob got fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled the bark, leaving white stripes on them. He stuck the peeled branches in front of the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. When the flocks were in heat, they came to drink and mated in front of the streaked branches. Then they gave birth to young that were streaked or spotted or speckled. Jacob placed the ewes before the dark-colored animals of Laban. That way he got distinctive flocks for himself which he didn’t mix with Laban’s flocks. And when the sturdier animals were mating, Jacob placed branches at the troughs in view of the animals so that they mated in front of the branches. But he wouldn’t set up the branches before the feebler animals. That way the feeble animals went to Laban and the sturdy ones to Jacob.

28Then God gave speech to the donkey. She said to Balaam: "What have I ever done to you that you have beat me these three times?"

30The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your trusty donkey on whom you’ve ridden for years right up until now? Have I ever done anything like this to you before? Have I?"He said, "No."

32,33God’s angel said to him: "Why have you beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come here to block your way because you’re getting way ahead of yourself. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she hadn’t, I would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey. I would have let her off."

1,2Then Jesus started telling them stories. "A man planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, erected a watchtower, turned it over to the farmhands, and went off on a trip. At the time for harvest, he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect his profits.

6"Finally there was only one left: a beloved son. In a last-ditch effort, he sent him, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’

29-31Jesus said, "The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these."

2-4Trust us. We’ve never hurt a soul, never exploited or taken advantage of anyone. Don’t think I’m finding fault with you. I told you earlier that I’m with you all the way, no matter what. I have, in fact, the greatest confidence in you. If only you knew how proud I am of you! I am overwhelmed with joy despite all our troubles.

11"Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’

34-36"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:I was hungry and you fed me,I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,I was homeless and you gave me a room,I was shivering and you gave me clothes,I was sick and you stopped to visit,I was in prison and you came to me.’

41-43"Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—I was hungry and you gave me no meal,I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,I was homeless and you gave me no bed,I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

5-7Here is God’s Message to the prophets,the preachers who lie to my people:"For as long as they’re well paid and well fed,the prophets preach, ‘Isn’t life wonderful! Peace to all!’But if you don’t pay up and jump on their bandwagon,their ‘God bless you’ turns into ‘God damn you.’Therefore, you’re going blind. You’ll see nothing.You’ll live in deep shadows and know nothing.The sun has set on the prophets.They’ve had their day; from now on it’s night.Visionaries will be confused,experts will be all mixed up.They’ll hide behind their reputations and make lame excusesto cover up their God-ignorance."* * *

8But me—I’m filled with God’s power,filled with God’s Spirit of justice and strength,Ready to confront Jacob’s crimeand Israel’s sin.

9-12The leaders of Jacob andthe leaders of Israel areLeaders contemptuous of justice,who twist and distort right living,Leaders who build Zion by killing people,who expand Jerusalem by committing crimes.Judges sell verdicts to the highest bidder,priests mass-market their teaching,prophets preach for high fees,All the while posturing and pretendingdependence on God:"We’ve got God on our side.He’ll protect us from disaster."Because of people like you,Zion will be turned back into farmland,Jerusalem end up as a pile of rubble,and instead of the Temple on the mountain,a few scraggly scrub pines.

3Moses said to the people, "Always remember this day. This is the day when you came out of Egypt from a house of slavery. God brought you out of here with a powerful hand. Don’t eat any raised bread.

4,5"You are leaving in the spring month of Abib. When God brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he promised to your fathers to give you, a land lavish with milk and honey, you are to observe this service during this month:

1-5Dear friend, do what I tell you;treasure my careful instructions.Do what I say and you’ll live well.My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!Write it out on the back of your hands;etch it on the chambers of your heart.Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.Treat Insight as your companion.They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.

6-12As I stood at the window of my houselooking out through the shutters,Watching the mindless crowd stroll by,I spotted a young man without any senseArriving at the corner of the street where she lived,then turning up the path to her house.It was dusk, the evening coming on,the darkness thickening into night.Just then, a woman met him—she’d been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.Brazen and brash she was,restless and roaming, never at home,Walking the streets, loitering in the mall,hanging out at every corner in town.

21-23Soon she has him eating out of her hand,bewitched by her honeyed speech.Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her,like a calf led to the butcher shop,Like a stag lured into ambushand then shot with an arrow,Like a bird flying into a netnot knowing that its flying life is over.

6,7But the People of Israel were feeling sorry for Benjamin, their brothers. They said, "Today, one tribe is cut off from Israel. How can we get wives for those who are left? We have sworn by God not to give any of our daughters to them in marriage."

15The people felt bad for Benjamin; God had left out Benjamin—the missing piece from the Israelite tribes.* * *

19Then they said, "There is that festival of God held every year in Shiloh. It’s north of Bethel, just east of the main road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and a little south of Lebonah."

8-12"Count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years: Seven Sabbaths of years adds up to forty-nine years. Then sound loud blasts on the ram’s horn on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. Sound the ram’s horn all over the land. Sanctify the fiftieth year; make it a holy year. Proclaim freedom all over the land to everyone who lives in it—a Jubilee for you: Each person will go back to his family’s property and reunite with his extended family. The fiftieth year is your Jubilee year: Don’t sow; don’t reap what volunteers itself in the fields; don’t harvest the untended vines because it’s the Jubilee and a holy year for you. You’re permitted to eat from whatever volunteers itself in the fields.

14-17"If you sell or buy property from one of your countrymen, don’t cheat him. Calculate the purchase price on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. He is obliged to set the sale price on the basis of the number of harvests remaining until the next Jubilee. The more years left, the more money; you can raise the price. But the fewer years left, the less money; decrease the price. What you are buying and selling in fact is the number of crops you’re going to harvest. Don’t cheat each other. Fear your God. I am God, your God.

35-38"If one of your brothers becomes indigent and cannot support himself, help him, the same as you would a foreigner or a guest so that he can continue to live in your neighborhood. Don’t gouge him with interest charges; out of reverence for your God help your brother to continue to live with you in the neighborhood. Don’t take advantage of his plight by running up big interest charges on his loans, and don’t give him food for profit. I am your God who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

10I fell at his feet to worship him, but he wouldn’t let me. "Don’t do that," he said. "I’m a servant just like you, and like your brothers and sisters who hold to the witness of Jesus. The witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

11-16Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness. His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns. He has a Name inscribed that’s known only to himself. He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as "Word of God." The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong. On his robe and thigh is written, King of kings, Lord of lords.

19-21I saw the Beast and, assembled with him, earth’s kings and their armies, ready to make war against the One on the horse and his army. The Beast was taken, and with him, his puppet, the False Prophet, who used signs to dazzle and deceive those who had taken the mark of the Beast and worshiped his image. They were thrown alive, those two, into Lake Fire and Brimstone. The rest were killed by the sword of the One on the horse, the sword that comes from his mouth. All the birds held a feast on their flesh.

6So Amnon took to his bed and acted sick. When the king came to visit, Amnon said, "Would you do me a favor? Have my sister Tamar come and make some nourishing dumplings here where I can watch her and be fed by her."

11,12But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.

1-3"Blow the trumpet! Sound the alarm!Vultures are circling over God’s peopleWho have broken my covenantand defied my revelation.Predictably, Israel cries out, ‘My God! We know you!’But they don’t act like it.Israel will have nothing to do with what’s good,and now the enemy is after them.

4-10"They crown kings, but without asking me.They set up princes but don’t let me in on it.Instead, they make idols, using silver and gold,idols that will be their ruin.Throw that gold calf-god on the trash heap, Samaria!I’m seething with anger against that rubbish!How long before they shape up?And they’re Israelites!A sculptor made that thing—it’s not God.That Samaritan calfwill be broken to bits.Look at them! Planting wind-seeds,they’ll harvest tornadoes.Wheat with no headproduces no flour.And even if it did,strangers would gulp it down.Israel is swallowed up and spit out.Among the pagans they’re a piece of junk.They trotted off to Assyria:Why, even wild donkeys stick to their own kind,but donkey-Ephraim goes out and pays to get lovers.Now, because of their whoring life among the pagans,I’m going to gather them together and confront them.They’re going to reap the consequences soon,feel what it’s like to be oppressed by the big king.

11-14"Ephraim has built a lot of altars,and then uses them for sinning.Can you believe it? Altars for sinning!I write out my revelation for them in detailand they pretend they can’t read it.They offer sacrifices to meand then they feast on the meat.God is not pleased!I’m fed up—I’ll keep remembering their guilt.I’ll punish their sinsand send them back to Egypt.Israel has forgotten his Makerand gotten busy making palaces.Judah has gone in for a lot of fortress cities.I’m sending fire on their citiesto burn down their fortifications."

1Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you’re the righteous one.

2-4"Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. In just seven days I will pour rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I’ll make a clean sweep of everything that I’ve made."

13-16That’s the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons’ wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.

9"What you’re doing is wrong. Is there no fear of God left in you? Don’t you care what the nations around here, our enemies, think of you?

12,13They said, "We’ll give it all back. We won’t make any more demands on them. We’ll do everything you say."Then I called the priests together and made them promise to keep their word. Then I emptied my pockets, turning them inside out, and said, "So may God empty the pockets and house of everyone who doesn’t keep this promise—turned inside out and emptied."Everyone gave a wholehearted "Yes, we’ll do it!" and praised God. And the people did what they promised.

19Remember in my favor, O my God,Everything I’ve done for these people.

9,10Jesus asked him, "Tell me your name."He replied, "My name is Mob. I’m a rioting mob." Then he desperately begged Jesus not to banish them from the country.

30At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my robe?"

34Jesus said to her, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague."* * *

8Then Paul took the stand and said simply, "I’ve done nothing wrong against the Jewish religion, or the Temple, or Caesar. Period."

4-8Later war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. That was the time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai of the clan of giants. The Philistines had to eat crow. In another war with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite whose spear was like a ship’s boom. And then there was the war at Gath that featured a hulking giant who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and foot—yet another from the clan of giants. When he mocked Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. These came from the clan of giants and were killed by David and his men.

1Clear my name, God;I’ve kept an honest shop.I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, andI’m not budging.

2Examine me, God, from head to foot,order your battery of tests.Make sure I’m fitinside and out

6,7I scrub my hands with purest soap,then join hands with the others in the great circle,dancing around your altar, God,Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,telling God-stories.