Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 The voice of my beloved!
Look! He’s coming,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look, there he stands behind our wall,
looking through the windows,
gazing through the lattice.
The Lover
10 My beloved spoke to me:
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.
11 Look! Winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
12 Blossoms have appeared in the land.
The season of songbirds[a] has arrived,
and cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree has produced its fruit,[b]
the grapevines have blossomed and exude their fragrance.
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.
Esau Learns of Isaac’s Deception
30 Just after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, Jacob’s[a] brother Esau returned from hunting, 31 prepared some delicious food, brought it to his father, and told him, “Can you get up now, father, so you may eat some of your son’s game and then bless me?”
32 But his father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I’m Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
33 At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. “Who then,” he asked, “hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I’ve blessed him? Indeed, he is blessed.”
34 When Esau realized[b] what his father Isaac was saying, he began to wail out loud bitterly. “Bless me,” he cried, “even me, too, my father!”
35 Isaac[c] replied, “Your brother came here deceitfully and stole your blessing.”
36 Then he said, “Isn’t his name rightly called Jacob?”[d] Esau asked. “He has circumvented me this second time. First,[e] he took away my birthright, and now, look how he also stole my blessing.” Then he added, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
37 In response, Isaac told Esau, “Look! I’ve predicted that he’s going[f] to become your master, and I’ve assigned all his brothers to be his servants. What then can I do for you, my son?”
38 Then Esau implored his father, “Don’t you have even one blessing for me, my father? Bless me, even me too, my father!” Then Esau lifted his voice and wept bitterly.
39 At this, his father Isaac replied to him,
“Look! Away from the fertile land will be your dwellings;
away from the dew of the skies above.
40 By your sword you’ll live;
but you’ll serve your brother.
But when you’ve become restless,
you’ll break off his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself,[g] “The time[h] to mourn for my father is very near. That’s when I’m going to kill my brother Jacob.”
42 Eventually, what Rebekah’s older son Esau had been saying was reported to her, so she sent for her younger son Jacob and warned him, “Look! Your brother is planning to get even by killing you.[i] 43 Son, you’d better do what I say! Get up, run off to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay there with him a few days until your brother’s fury subsides.[j] 45 After that happens[k] and he has forgotten what you’ve done to him, I’ll send for you so you can return from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46 Rebekah also told herself,[l] “Heth’s daughters are making me tired of living. If Jacob marries one of Heth’s daughters, and she turns out to be just like these other local women,[m] what kind of life would there be left for me?”
God’s Wrath against Sinful Humanity
18 For God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s[a] invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people[b] are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things,[c] and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Though claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as they followed the lusts[d] of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged God’s truth for a lie and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
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