Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Theft of Esau’s Blessing

27 Eventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see.^[a] One day, he called his eldest son Esau. “My son,” he called out to him. ² “Look how old I am! I could die any day now,^{[b] 3} so go find your weapons, take your bow and arrows, go outside, and hunt some game for me. ⁴ Then prepare some food, just the way I like it, and bring it to me so that I can eat and bless you before I die.”

⁵ Now Rebekah overheard Isaac while he was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out to the field to hunt and bring in some game, ⁶ Rebekah gave these instructions to her son Jacob: “Quick! Pay attention!” she said. “I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He told him, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and then prepare some food for me so I can eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ ⁸ So now, my son, listen to what I have to say and pay attention to what I’m about to tell you. ⁹ Go to the flock and bring me two healthy young goats. I’ll prepare some delicious food for your father, just the way he loves it. ¹⁰ Then you are to take it to your father so that he can eat and bless you before he dies.”

¹¹ “But look!” Jacob pointed out to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I’m smooth skinned. ¹² My father might touch me and he’ll realize that I’m deceiving him. Then, I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

¹³ “My son,” she replied, “let any curse against you fall on me. Just listen to me, then go and get them for me.” ¹⁴ So out he went, got them, and brought them to his mother, who then prepared some delicious food, just the way his father liked it.

Rebekah and Jacob Deceive Isaac

¹⁵ Then Rebekah took some garments that belonged to her elder son Esau—the best ones available—and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She put some goat skins over his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she handed the delicious food and bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob,

The Law Shows Us What Sin Is

⁷ What should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn’t have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn’t have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.”^{[a] 8} But sin seized the opportunity provided by this commandment and produced in me all kinds of sinful desires, since apart from the Law, sin is dead. ⁹ At one time I was alive without any connection to^[b] the Law.^[c] But when the rule was revealed, sin sprang to life, ¹⁰ and I died. I found that the very rule that was intended to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the rule, deceived me and used it to kill me. ¹² So then, the Law^[d] itself is holy, and the rule is holy, just, and good.

The Problem of the Sin that Lives in Us

¹³ Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being^[e] sinful than ever before. ¹⁴ For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am merely human,^[f] sold as a slave to sin.^{[g] 15} I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I want to do, but instead do what I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I practice what I don’t want to do, I am admitting that the Law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.

¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I don’t do the good I want to do, but instead do the evil that I don’t want to do. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.