In the Shadow of Your Wings

A ^(A)Prayer of David.

³ And Jacob sent^[a] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of ^(A)Seir, the country of Edom, ⁴ instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that ^(B)I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(C)he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(D)greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸ thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, ^(E)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ^(F)said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ^10 (G)I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ^(H)I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But ^(I)you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

¹³ So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took ^(J)a present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷ He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” ¹⁹ He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him^[b] with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”^{[c] 21} So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

³⁷ Now when ^(A)they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, ^(B)what shall we do?” ³⁸ And Peter said to them, ^(C)“Repent and ^(D)be baptized every one of you ^(E)in the name of Jesus Christ ^(F)for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive ^(G)the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For ^(H)the promise is for you and ^(I)for your children and for all ^(J)who are far off, everyone ^(K)whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ^(L)“Save yourselves from this ^(M)crooked generation.” ⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and ^(N)there were added that day about three thousand souls.

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴² And ^(O)they devoted themselves to the apostles' ^(P)teaching and the ^(Q)fellowship, to ^(R)the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe^[a] came upon every soul, and ^(S)many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and ^(T)had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And ^(U)they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, ^(V)attending the temple ^(W)together and ^(X)breaking bread in their homes, they received their food ^(Y)with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and ^(Z)having favor with all the people. And the Lord ^(AA)added to their number ^(AB)day by day those who ^(AC)were being saved.