Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
13 You made my whole being;
you formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
3 Jacob’s brother Esau was living in the area called Seir in the country of Edom. Jacob sent messengers to Esau, 4 telling them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘This is what Jacob, your servant, says: I have lived with Laban and have remained there until now. 5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I send this message to you and ask you to accept us.’”
6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.”
7 Then Jacob was very afraid and worried. He divided the people who were with him and all the flocks, herds, and camels into two camps. 8 Jacob thought, “Esau might come and destroy one camp, but the other camp can run away and be saved.”
9 Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham! God of my father Isaac! Lord, you told me to return to my country and my family. You said that you would treat me well. 10 I am not worthy of the kindness and continual goodness you have shown me. The first time I traveled across the Jordan River, I had only my walking stick, but now I own enough to have two camps. 11 Please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid he will come and kill all of us, even the mothers with the children. 12 You said to me, ‘I will treat you well and will make your children as many as the sand of the seashore. There will be too many to count.’”
13 Jacob stayed there for the night and prepared a gift for Esau from what he had with him: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep, 15 thirty female camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. 16 Jacob gave each separate flock of animals to one of his servants and said to them, “Go ahead of me and keep some space between each herd.” 17 Jacob gave them their orders. To the servant with the first group of animals he said, “My brother Esau will come to you and ask, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going and whose animals are these?’ 18 Then you will answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sent them as a gift to you, my master Esau, and he also is coming behind us.’”
19 Jacob ordered the second servant, the third servant, and all the other servants to do the same thing. He said, “Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 Say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” Jacob thought, “If I send these gifts ahead of me, maybe Esau will forgive me. Then when I see him, perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So Jacob sent the gifts to Esau, but he himself stayed that night in the camp.
12 This means God’s holy people must be patient. They must obey God’s commands and keep their faith in Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die from now on in the Lord.”
The Spirit says, “Yes, they will rest from their hard work, and the reward of all they have done stays with them.”
The Earth Is Harvested
14 Then I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and sitting on the white cloud was One who looked like a Son of Man.[a] He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle[b] in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called out in a loud voice to the One who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and harvest from the earth, because the time to harvest has come, and the fruit of the earth is ripe.” 16 So the One who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 And then another angel, who has power over the fire, came from the altar. This angel called to the angel with the sharp sickle, saying, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the bunches of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 Then the angel swung his sickle over the earth. He gathered the earth’s grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s anger. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the winepress as high as horses’ bridles for a distance of about one hundred eighty miles.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.