³ Jacob sent messengers^(A) ahead of him to his brother Esau^(B) in the land of Seir,^(C) the country of Edom.^{(D) 4} He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord^(E) Esau: ‘Your servant^(F) Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban^(G) and have remained there till now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants.^(H) Now I am sending this message to my lord,^(I) that I may find favor in your eyes.^(J)’”

⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”^(K)

⁷ In great fear^(L) and distress^(M) Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,^[a](N) and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,^[b] the group^[c] that is left may escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham,^(O) God of my father Isaac,^(P) Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’^{(Q) 10} I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness^(R) you have shown your servant. I had only my staff^(S) when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.^{(T) 11} Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid^(U) he will come and attack me,^(V) and also the mothers with their children.^{(W) 12} But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand^(X) of the sea, which cannot be counted.^(Y)’”

¹³ He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift^(Z) for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,^{(AA) 15} thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.^{(AB) 16} He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”^(AC)

¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant^(AD) Jacob. They are a gift^(AE) sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”

¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ And be sure to say, ‘Your servant^(AF) Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts^(AG) I am sending on ahead;^(AH) later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”^{(AI) 21} So Jacob’s gifts^(AJ) went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

¹² This calls for patient endurance^(A) on the part of the people of God^(B) who keep his commands^(C) and remain faithful to Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord^(D) from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit,^(E) “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress

¹⁴ I looked, and there before me was a white cloud,^(F) and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man^[a](G) with a crown^(H) of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ Then another angel came out of the temple^(I) and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle^(J) and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest^(K) of the earth is ripe.” ¹⁶ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

¹⁷ Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.^{(L) 18} Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar^(M) and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle^(N) and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.^{(O) 20} They were trampled in the winepress^(P) outside the city,^(Q) and blood^(R) flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.^[b]