The Son of Promise^(A)

18 Then the Lord appeared to him by ^[a]the ^(B)terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ^2 (C)So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; ^(D)and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, ³ and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. ⁴ Please let ^(E)a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ And ^(F)I will bring a morsel of bread, that ^(G)you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, ^(H)inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Do as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” ⁷ And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. ⁸ So ^(I)he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

So he said, “Here, ^(J)in the tent.”

¹⁰ And He said, “I will certainly return to you ^(K)according to the time of life, and behold, ^(L)Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) ¹¹ Now ^(M)Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and ^[b]Sarah ^(N)had passed the age of childbearing. ¹² Therefore Sarah ^(O)laughed within herself, saying, ^(P)“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(Q)lord being old also?”

¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ^14 (R)Is anything too hard for the Lord? ^(S)At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Esau Comes to Meet Jacob

32 So Jacob went on his way, and ^(A)the angels of God met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s ^(B)camp.” And he called the name of that place ^[a]Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother ^(C)in the land of Seir, ^(D)the ^[b]country of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, ^(E)“Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. ^5 (F)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that ^(G)I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶ Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(H)he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ So Jacob was greatly afraid and ^(I)distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. ⁸ And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[c]attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.”

^9 (J)Then Jacob said, ^(K)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord ^(L)who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the ^(M)mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with ^(N)my staff, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (O)Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and ^[d]attack me and ^(P)the mother with the children. ¹² For ^(Q)You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the ^(R)sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

¹³ So he lodged there that same night, and took what ^[e]came to his hand as ^(S)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 with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. ¹⁶ Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put some distance between successive droves.” ¹⁷ And he commanded the first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.’ ” ¹⁹ So he commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will ^(T)appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the present went on over before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.

Wrestling with God

²² And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, ^(U)and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. ²³ He took them, sent them ^[f]over the brook, and sent over what he had. ²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone; and ^(V)a Man wrestled with him until the ^[g]breaking of day. ²⁵ Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He ^[h]touched the socket of his hip; and ^(W)the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. ²⁶ And ^(X)He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”

But he said, ^(Y)“I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

²⁷ So He said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

²⁸ And He said, ^(Z)“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but ^[i]Israel; for you have ^(AA)struggled with God and ^(AB)with men, and have prevailed.”

²⁹ Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”

And He said, ^(AC)“Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He ^(AD)blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place ^[j]Peniel: “For ^(AE)I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

The Parable of the Lost Son

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them ^(A)his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with ^[a]prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the ^[b]pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, ^(B)I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But ^(C)when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven ^(D)and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ^[c]‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ^24 (E)for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, ^(F)for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

Hold Fast Your Confession

¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, having ^(A)boldness^[a] to enter ^(B)the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and ^(C)living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us ^(D)draw near with a true heart ^(E)in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for ^(F)He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ^25 (G)not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and ^(H)so much the more as you see ^(I)the Day approaching.

The Just Live by Faith

²⁶ For ^(J)if we sin willfully ^(K)after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there ^(L)no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and ^(M)fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three ^(N)witnesses. ^29 (O)Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, ^(P)counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, ^(Q)and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, ^(R)“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” ^[b]says the Lord. And again, ^(S)“The Lord will judge His people.” ^31 (T)It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² But ^(U)recall the former days in which, after you were ^[c]illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: ³³ partly while you were made ^(V)a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while ^(W)you became companions of those who were so treated; ³⁴ for you had compassion on ^[d]me ^(X)in my chains, and ^(Y)joyfully accepted the plundering of your ^[e]goods, knowing that ^(Z)you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves ^[f]in heaven. ³⁵ Therefore do not cast away your confidence, ^(AA)which has great reward. ^36 (AB)For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, ^(AC)you may receive the promise:

³⁹ But we are not of those ^(AG)who draw back to ^[j]perdition, but of those who ^(AH)believe to the saving of the soul.