Vayetzei Haftarah text study

(7) For My people persists in its defection from Me; when it is summoned upward, it does not rise at all. (8) How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah, render you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart, all My tenderness is stirred.

(9) I will not act on My wrath, will not turn to destroy Ephraim. For I am God—not human—the Holy One in your midst: I will not come in fury.

(11) They shall flutter from Egypt like sparrows, from the land of Assyria like doves; and I will settle them in their homes—declares Adonai.

(7) You must return to your God! Practice goodness and justice, and constantly trust in your God.

(10) I the ETERNAL have been your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will let you dwell in your tents again as in the days of old,

(1) Ephraim surrounds Me with deceit, the House of Israel with guile. But Judah stands firm with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

(32) His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, Esau, your first-born!” (33) Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. “Who was it then,” he demanded, “that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!” (34) When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!” (35) But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.”

(25) When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I was in your service for Rachel! Why did you deceive me?” (26) Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the older.

(4) In the womb he tried to supplant his brother; grown to manhood, he strove with a divine being, (5) He strove with an angel and prevailed. The other had to weep and implore him. At Bethel [Jacob] would meet him, there to commune with him. (6) Yet Adonai, the God of Hosts, must be invoked as “Adonai.” (7) You must return to your God! Practice goodness and justice, and constantly trust in your God.

(13) Then Jacob had to flee to the land of Aram; there Israel served for a wife, for a wife he had to guard [sheep].

(20) So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

(30) And Jacob cohabited with Rachel also; indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served him another seven years.

(31) He said, “What shall I pay you?” And Jacob said, “Pay me nothing! If you will do this thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flocks:

(10) The wise will consider these words, the prudent will take note of them. For the paths of Adonai are smooth; the righteous can walk on them, while sinners stumble on them.