Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
106 Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good!
His faithful love will last forever!
2 No one can describe how great the Lord really is.
No one can praise him enough.
3 Those who obey his commands are happy.
They do good things all the time.
4 Lord, remember me when you show kindness to your people.
Remember to save me too!
5 Let me share in the good things
that you do for your chosen people.
Let me rejoice with your nation.
Let me join with your people in praise.
6 We sinned just as our ancestors did.
We were wrong; we did bad things!
7 Lord, our ancestors learned nothing
from the miracles you did in Egypt.
They forgot your kindness at the Red Sea
and rebelled against you.
8 But the Lord saved our ancestors for the honor of his name.
He saved them to show his great power.
9 He gave the command, and the Red Sea became dry.
He led them through the deep sea on land as dry as the desert.
10 He saved our ancestors
and rescued them from their enemies.
11 He covered their enemies with the sea.
Not one of them escaped!
12 Then our ancestors believed what he had said.
They sang praises to him.
Jacob Tricks Isaac
27 Isaac grew old, and his eyes became so weak that he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, “Son!”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac said, “I am old. Maybe I will die soon. 3 So take your bow and arrows and go hunting. Kill an animal for me to eat. 4 Prepare the food that I love. Bring it to me, and I will eat it. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5 So Esau went hunting.
Rebekah was listening when Isaac told this to his son Esau. 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 7 Your father said, ‘Kill an animal for me to eat. Prepare the food for me, and I will eat it. Then, with the Lord as witness, I will bless you before I die.’ 8 So listen, son, and do what I tell you. 9 Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them the way your father loves them. 10 Then you will carry the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”
11 But Jacob told his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am not hairy like him. 12 If my father touches me, he will know that I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me—he will curse me because I tried to trick him.”
13 So Rebekah said to him, “I will accept the blame if there is trouble. Do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”
14 So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. His mother cooked the goats in the special way that Isaac loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob. 16 She took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and on his neck. 17 Then she got the food she had cooked and gave it to Jacob.
18 Jacob went to his father and said, “Father.”
His father answered, “Yes, son. Who are you?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat the meat from the animals that I hunted for you. Then you can bless me.”
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How have you hunted and killed the animals so quickly?”
Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God allowed me to find the animals quickly.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near to me so that I can feel you, my son. If I can feel you, I will know if you are really my son Esau.”
22 So Jacob went to Isaac his father. Isaac felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your arms are hairy like the arms of Esau.” 23 Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau’s. So Isaac blessed Jacob.
24 Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
The Blessing for Jacob
25 Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate it. Then Jacob gave him some wine, and he drank it.
26 Then Isaac said to him. “Son, come near and kiss me.” 27 So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said,
“My son smells like the fields
the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you plenty of rain,
good crops, and wine.
29 May the nations serve you
and many people bow down to you.
You will rule over your brothers.
Your mother’s sons will bow down to you and obey you.
Whoever curses you will be cursed.
Whoever blesses you will be blessed.”
Paul Has Some Final Things to Say
16 I want you to know that you can trust our sister in Christ, Phoebe. She is a special servant of the church in Cenchrea. 2 I ask you to accept her in the Lord. Accept her the way God’s people should. Help her with anything she needs from you. She has helped me very much, and she has helped many others too.
3 Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, who have worked together with me for Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their own lives to save mine. I am thankful to them, and all the non-Jewish churches are thankful to them.
5 Also, give greetings to the church that meets in their house.
Give greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus. He was the first person to follow Christ in Asia.
6 Greetings also to Mary. She worked very hard for you.
7 And greet Andronicus and Junia. They are my relatives, and they were in prison with me. They were followers of Christ before I was. And they are some of the most important of the ones Christ sent out to do his work.[a]
8 Give my greetings to Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord, 9 and to Urbanus. He has worked together with me for Christ.
Give greetings also to my dear friend Stachys 10 and to Apelles, who has proved himself to be a true follower of Christ.
Give greetings to everyone in the family of Aristobulus 11 and to Herodion, my relative.
Greetings to all those in the family of Narcissus who belong to the Lord 12 and to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, women who work very hard for the Lord.
Greetings to my dear friend Persis. She has also worked very hard for the Lord.
13 Greetings also to Rufus, one of the Lord’s chosen people, and to his mother, who has been a mother to me too.
14 Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and all the brothers in Christ who are with them.
15 Give greetings to Philologus and Julia, to Nereus and his sister, to Olympas, and to all of God’s people with them.
16 Give each other the special greeting of God’s people.[b]
All the churches that belong to Christ send their greetings to you.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International