Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

In the Shadow of Your Wings

A Prayer of David.

³ Then Jacob ^(A)sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of ^(B)Seir, the ^[a]country of ^(C)Edom. ⁴ He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord, to Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban and have been ^(D)delayed until now; ^5 (E)and I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, ^(F)that I may find favor in your sight.”’”

⁶ Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and furthermore ^(G)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(H)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two camps. ⁸ And he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp which remains will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, “O ^(I)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘^(J)Return to your land and to your kin, and I will ^[b]prosper you,’ ^10 [c]I am unworthy ^(K)of all the lovingkindness and of all the truth which You have shown to Your slave; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ^11 (L)Deliver me, I pray, ^(M)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me down with the ^(N)mothers and the children. ¹² For You said, ‘^(O)I will surely ^[d]prosper you and ^(P)make your seed as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”

¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he took from what ^[e]he had with him a ^(Q)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 colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ And he gave them into the hand of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me and put a space between flocks.” ¹⁷ And he commanded the first one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease his face with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face.” ²¹ So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

About Three Thousand Souls Saved

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were ^[a]pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, ^(A)what should we do?” ³⁸ And Peter said to them, “^(B)Repent, and each of you be ^(C)baptized in the name of Jesus Christ ^[b]for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For ^(D)the promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^(E)far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he solemnly ^(F)bore witness and kept on exhorting them, saying, “^[c]Be saved from this ^(G)crooked generation!” ⁴¹ So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^(H)souls. ⁴² And they were ^(I)continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to ^(J)the breaking of bread and ^(K)to the prayers.

⁴³ And fear came upon every soul; and many ^(L)wonders and ^[d]signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all those who had believed ^[e]were together and ^(M)had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they ^(N)began selling their property and possessions and were ^(O)dividing them up with all, as anyone might have need. ^46 (P)And daily devoting themselves with one accord in the temple and ^(Q)breaking bread ^[f]from house to house, they were taking their ^[g]meals together with gladness and ^[h]sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and ^(R)having favor with all the people. And the Lord ^(S)was adding ^[i]to their number daily ^(T)those who were being saved.