Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹³ For Thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and intricately wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuity were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.

¹⁷ How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

¹⁸ If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with Thee.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, “Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau, ‘Thy servant Jacob saith thus: I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now,

⁵ and I have oxen and asses, flocks and menservants and womenservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.”

⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and the camels into two bands.

⁸ And he said, “If Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who saidst unto me, ‘Return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee’—

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two bands.

¹¹ Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and 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 same night, and took from that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother:

¹⁴ two hundred shegoats and twenty hegoats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵ thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty sheasses 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 between 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 also, he is behind us.’”

¹⁹ And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him.

²⁰ And say ye moreover, ‘Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the presents that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹ So went the presents over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the company.

¹² Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

¹³ And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me, “Write: ’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth.’” “Yea,” saith the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.”

¹⁴ And I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and upon the cloud sat one like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle.

¹⁵ And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, “Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time has come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

¹⁶ And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷ And another angel came out of the temple which is in Heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

¹⁸ And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.”

¹⁹ And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

²⁰ And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles, for the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.