Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Jehovah the keeper of his people.

A Song of Ascents.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now: ⁵ and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight. ⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. ⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape. ⁹ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good: ^10 [a]I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies. ¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. ¹² And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³ And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁴ two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. ¹⁶ And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. ¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? ¹⁸ then thou shalt say, They are thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, he also is behind us. ¹⁹ And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him; ²⁰ and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me. ²¹ So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.

⁴⁶ And they come to Jericho: and as he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. ⁴⁷ And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁸ And many rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. ⁴⁹ And Jesus stood still, and said, Call ye him. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good cheer: rise, he calleth thee. ⁵⁰ And he, casting away his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ And Jesus answered him, and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man said unto him, ^[a]Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. ⁵² And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath ^[b]made thee whole. And straightway he received his sight, and followed him in the way.