Daily Bible Verses

Heavenly father
thank you that you see when others are unkind to us
give us grace (like Jacob) to hear your voice and be obedient to it or (like his wives) to discern your voice speaking to others and be obedient to it. 

[Jacob said to Rachel and Leah]: ¹⁰ During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. ¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am…

Heavenly father
give us grace in difficult relationships to listen to you (as laban did),
and refrain from making things worse (as Jacob and Rachel did)  and from hankering after other Gods (as Rachel did) 

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 
¹⁸ and he took away all his possessions to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 
¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim [Gods] that were her…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be honest about our fears (as Jacob did)
give us grace to avoid making rash statements when we are not in full possession of the facts (as Jacob did)

²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me,
and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? 
²⁷ Why didn’t you tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs; 
²⁸ and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to resolve conflicts today,  
and when it is time to go separate ways, give us grace to do so with love and blessings

³⁶ Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. “What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 
³⁷ Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff?
Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.
⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. I served…

Heavenly Father
give us grace, when faced with what we fear, to lift up our eyes and voice to you.

¹ Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 
² When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” ^]

³ Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother,
⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau:
‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says.
I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. 
…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be creative in our use of resources in the pursuit of peace

13 Jacob stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother: 
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 
15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 
16 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants,
“Pass over before me, and put a space…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to dare to be alone with you, and the grace to have an honest struggle with you. 

22 He rose up that night, and took his two wives and eleven sons and 23 sent them over the Jabbok stream.
24 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. 
25 When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him,
the man touched the hollow of his thigh,
and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled. 
26 The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.”
Jacob…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be courageous and humble in difficult situations today, like Jacob
give us grace to so focus on loving relationships that we are forgiving

1 Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men.
He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants. 
2 He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. 
3 He himself passed over in front of them,
and bowed…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to act graciously to others (as Jacob did), and faithfully to you (which Jacob didn’t) 

8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?”
Jacob said, “To find favour in the sight of my lord.”
9 Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.”
10 Jacob said, “Please, no, if I have now found favour in your sight,
then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face,
as one sees the face…

Heavenly Father
fill us with your grace, even after we have done what is wrong (like Shechem) 
fill us with your grace when others have done wrong (like Jacob and Hamor)

34 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out to see the daughters of the land. 
² Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. 
³ His soul joined to Dinah, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 
⁴ Shechem spoke to…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to speak peace to others today without deceit
give us wisdom to discern the difference between truth and deceit in others. 

¹¹ Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favour in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. 
¹² Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke,
…

Heavenly Father
give us grace not to repay evil for evil (like Simeon and Levi), but to be peacemakers (like Jesus)

²⁴ All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son;
and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 
²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers,
each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. 
²⁶ They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be obedient to what you call us to do, and put nothing in your way 

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there.
Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

² Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him,
“Put away the foreign gods that are among you,
purify yourselves, change your garments. 
³ Let’s arise, and go up to Bethel.
I…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to dwell with you today, particularly in our struggles, so that we may be blessed

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 
¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel (Wrestles-with-God). 
He named him Israel. 
¹¹ God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation and a company…

Heavenly Father
give us grace when faced with sorrow to be nourished by thankfulness

¹⁶ They travelled from Bethel. [House of God]
There was still some distance to come to Ephrath [Fruitful],
and Rachel travailed. She had hard labour. 
¹⁷ When she was in hard labour, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”

¹⁸ As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni [Son of my sorrow], 
but his…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to do what is right (unlike Reuben in this story and Simeon and Levi in the the previous chapter), and thank you for the peace and harmony which results from our desire to be at peace with our brother (like Esau and Jacob)

²¹ Israel [other name of Jacob] travelled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 
²² While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ^23…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be at peace with those who are outside our family, race and nation.

¹ Now this is the history of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 
² Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan:
⁶ Esau took all the members of his household, his livestock, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to avoid hurting others when we are motivated by love (like Jacob)
give us grace to avoid being negative to others whatever the cause (unlike Joseph’s brothers) 

¹ Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan. 
² This is the history of the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers.
He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives.
Joseph brought an evil report of them t…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to hear what you are saying to us, even in our dreams
give us grace to be careful how we communicate this to others.

⁵ Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 
⁶ He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 
⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold,
my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold,
your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”
⁸ His…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to do what is good particularly when others are not (like Reuben)

¹² His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 
¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.”
He said to him, “Here I am.”
¹⁴ He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.”
So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 
^15…

Heavenly father
give us grace not to lose hope, giving thanks for your provision through people going about their business (ishmaelites)

 ²³ When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic of many colours ; 
²⁴ and they took him, and threw him into the pit which was empty.
²⁵ They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites
bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 
²⁶ Judah said to his…

Heavenly father
give us grace not to lose hope in grief and mourning, thanking you that you are working your purposes out. 

²⁹ Reuben returned to the pit, and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 
³⁰ He returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more; and I, where will I go?” 
³¹ They took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 
³² They took the tunic of many colours, and they brought it to their father, and said,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to live life in all its fullness, and not be led into temptation of doing anything which is the opposite of life.

²  Judah took a Canaanite woman as his wife, . ³ who bore him sons named Er, ⁴  Onan. ⁵  and Shelah. ⁶ Judah took a wife for Er, and her name was Tamar. 
⁷ Er was wicked in Yahweh’s sight. So Yahweh killed him. 
⁸ Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and raise up offspring for…

Heavenly father
give us grace to do the right thing, particularly when we may be embarrassed to do so.

¹² After Judah’s wife died, Judah went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah. 
¹³ Tamar was told this. ¹⁴ She took off the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and sat on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn’t given to him as a wife. 
¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.…

Heavenly father
give us grace to see you at work, particularly in bad circumstances (such as slavery)

¹Joseph was brought down to Egypt by the Ishmaelites and sold as a slave to an officer of Pharaoh called Potiphar. 
² Yahweh was with Joseph, who then prospered in the house of the Egyptian. 
³ His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand. 
⁴ Joseph found favour in his sight. He…

Heavenly father
give us grace to refrain from doing what is wrong, whatever the consequences are,
and open our eyes to see your grace whatever our circumstances

⁶ Joseph was well-built and handsome. 
⁷ His master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.”
⁸ But he refused, and said to his master’s wife,
“Behold, my master has put all that he has into my hand. 
⁹ How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
¹⁰ As she spoke to Joseph…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to notice others today and share their joys and sorrows 

40 After these things, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, . 
² Pharaoh ³ put them in the prison, where ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days. ⁵ They both dreamed a dream, in one night,
⁶ Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw that they were sad,…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to understand dreams (like Joseph)
and give us grace to be a blessing to others when we are blessed (unlike the cupbearer)

⁹ The chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph:  “In my dream, there was a vine ¹⁰ with three branches, on which were clusters of ripe grapes,  ¹¹ which I took and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
¹² Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. …

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be prudent in times of plenty, so that we may be able to help ourselves and others in time of scarcity. 

¹ After two years, Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river. ² out of which came seven sleek and fat cattle ³ followed by seven ugly and thin cattle,  ⁴ which ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle.  ⁵ In a second dream, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. ⁶ after which, seven…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to face up to what we have done in the past and make amends for it as opportunity presents itself

¹  Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, so said to his sons, ²  “ Go to Egypt, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die.” 
³ Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 
⁴ But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him.” 
⁵ The…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be honest about the things which don’t make us look good
and give us grace to trust in you.

¹  The famine was severe in the land. ² When they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little more food.”

³ Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’   ⁸ “Send the boy with me -  ^9…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to do what is right, whatever the personal cost to ourselves

¹ Joseph commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. ² Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. ³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴ When they had gone out of…

Heavenly father, give us grace to be reconciled to others today. 

¹  Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he called out, “Cause everyone to go out from me!”
No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 
² He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 
³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?”
His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence. …

Heavenly Father, give us grace to be guided by you in big decisions, be filled with your love in our personal relationships. 

¹ Israel travelled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. 
² God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”  He said, “Here I am.”
³ He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. ^4…

Heavenly father, give us grace to do what is right in our work, both paid and unpaid, (not sure if Joseph putting the whole of the land of Egypt in debt to Pharoah was a reason why the children of Israel ended up in slavery to the Egyptians) 

⁵ Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, ⁶ “Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”  ⁷ Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before…

Heavenly Father, give us grace so that we may be a blessing to our family, and not live comparing ourselves with others. 

¹ After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 

¹⁴ Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ He blessed Joseph, and said,

“The God before whom my…

Heavenly Father, give us grace to be a blessing to each member of our families, however different they are from each other.

¹ Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn, excelling in dignity, and power, [but] ⁴ you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed. (Gen 35) 
⁵ “Simeon and Levi, ⁶ My glory, don’t be united to their…

Heavenly father, give us grace to respond to evil with good, particularly in our relationships with family and friends. 

¹ Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him.  ² Joseph commanded his servants, to embalm his father; and they did so. 
⁴ Joseph [then] spoke to Pharaoh, ⁵ ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.”
Please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”
⁶ …

¹⁶ I heard, and my body trembled.
    My lips quivered at the voice.
Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place,
    because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,
    for the coming up of the people who invade us.
¹⁷ For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish,
    nor fruit be in the vines;
    the labour of the olive fails,
    the fields yield no food;
    the…

Heavenly father, give us grace today to walk with Jesus the way of the cross. 

¹¹ But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, ¹² nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled,…