Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
10 Listen to me, daughter; look and ·pay attention [L incline your ear].
Forget your people and your father’s ·family [L house; Gen. 2:24].
11 The king ·loves [L desires; longs for] your beauty.
Because he is your ·master [lord], you should ·obey [L bow yourself before] him.
12 ·People from the city [L The daughter] of Tyre have brought ·a gift [tribute].
Wealthy people ·will want to meet you [seek your favor].
13 The ·princess [L daughter of the king] is ·very beautiful [L all glorious within].
Her gown is woven with gold.
14 In her ·beautiful [embroidered] clothes she is brought to the king.
·Her bridesmaids [Virgins] follow behind her,
and ·they are also brought to him [L her friends follow].
15 They come with happiness and joy;
they enter the king’s palace.
16 You will have sons to replace your fathers [C addressed to the king].
You will make them ·rulers [princes] through all the land.
17 I will make your name famous from now on,
so people will praise you forever and ever.
Jacob Tricks Isaac
27 When Isaac was old, his ·eyesight was poor [L eyes were dim], so he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, “[L My] Son.”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac said, “I am old and don’t know ·when I might die [L the day of my death]. 3 So take your weapons, your ·bow and arrows [L quiver and your bow], and go hunting in the field for ·an animal for me to eat [L game for me]. 4 When you prepare the tasty food that I love, bring it to me, and I will eat. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5 So Esau went out in the field to hunt [L for game to bring it].
Rebekah was listening as Isaac said this to his son Esau. 6 She said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father saying to your brother Esau, 7 ‘·Kill an animal [L Bring me game] and prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I will bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8 So ·obey [listen to] me, my son, and do what I ·tell [command] you. 9 Go out to our ·goats [L flock] and bring me two ·of the best young ones [choice goats]. I will prepare them just the way your father ·likes [loves] them. 10 Then you will ·take the food [L bring them] to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”
11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth! 12 If my father ·touches me, he will know I am not Esau [L feels me…]. Then he will not bless me but will place a curse on me because ·I tried to trick him [L he will think I am mocking him].”
13 So ·Rebekah [L his mother] said to him, “·If your father puts a curse on you, I will accept the blame [L Let your curse be on me]. Just do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”
14 So Jacob went out and got ·two goats [L them] and brought them to his mother, and ·she cooked them in the special way [L his mother prepared a tasty meal just as] ·Isaac [L his father] ·enjoyed [loved]. 15 She took the best clothes of her older son Esau that were in the house and put them on the younger son Jacob. 16 She also took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and [L the smoothness of his] neck. 17 Then she gave Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
Our Fight Against Sin
7 ·You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same thing [L What, then, shall we say? Is the law sin?]. ·That is not true [Absolutely not!; May it never be!; 6:15]. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin meant. I would never have known what it means to ·want to take something belonging to someone else [selfishly desire; covet] if the law had not said, “You must not ·want to take your neighbor’s things [selfishly desire; covet; Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21].” 8 And sin ·found a way [seized the occasion/opportunity] to use that command and ·cause me to want all kinds of things I should not want [L produce in me all kinds of desires/coveting]. But without the law, sin ·has no power [L is dead]. 9 I was alive ·before I knew [or before I recognized the demands of; L apart from] the law [C Paul thought he was righteous; see Phil. 3:6]. But when the law’s command ·came to me [or came to my attention; L came], then sin ·began to live [sprang to life], and I died [C the law revealed Paul’s sinfulness and confirmed he was spiritually dead]. 10 The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death. 11 Sin ·found a way [seized the occasion/opportunity; v. 8] to ·fool [deceive] me by using the command to make me die.
12 So the law is holy, and the command is holy and ·right [righteous] and good. 13 Does this mean that something that is good ·brought [or became] death to me? No [Absolutely not; May it never be; v. 7]! Sin used something that is good to bring death to me. This happened so that ·I could see what sin is really like [L sin might be shown as sin]; the command was used to show that sin is ·very evil [exceedingly/terribly sinful].
The War Within Us
14 [L For] We know that the law is spiritual, but I am ·not spiritual [fleshly; carnal] ·since sin rules me as if I were its slave [L sold to sin; C as a slave]. 15 [L For] I do not understand the things I do. [L For] I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, that means I agree that the law is good [C Paul’s acknowledgement that his behavior is wrong confirms the law’s righteous standards]. 17 But [L now] I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them. 18 ·Yes [L For…], I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in ·the part of me that is earthly and sinful [my sinful self; my sinful nature; T my flesh]. [L For] I want to do the things that are good, but I ·do not [or cannot] do them. 19 [L For] I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the ·bad [evil] things I do not want to do. 20 So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.
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