Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Chapter 27

Jacob Supplants His Brother.^{[a] 1} Isaac had grown old, and his eyes had failed so much that he could no longer see. He called his older son, Esau, and said to him, “My son.”

He answered, “Here I am.”

² He continued, “See, I am old and do not know when I will die. ³ Take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out into the countryside and hunt for some wild game for me. ⁴ Then prepare me a plate of delicious meat and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah overheard Isaac speaking to his son Esau. When Esau went out into the countryside to hunt game and to bring it home, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I have heard your father speaking to your brother Esau. ⁷ He said, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a plate to eat it so that I may give you the Lord’s blessing before I die.’ ⁸ Now, my son, obey my instructions: ⁹ Go immediately to the flock and take two choice kids. I will prepare them to make a plate for your father just the way he likes it. ¹⁰ Then you can carry it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”

¹¹ Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “You know that my brother Esau is hairy, while my skin is smooth. ¹² My father might touch me and realize that I am playing a trick on him and place a curse on me instead of a blessing.”

¹³ But his mother said, “Let that curse fall on me, my son! Only obey me and go and bring the kid goats.”

¹⁴ He went to get them and brought them back to his mother, and his mother prepared them to make a meal the way his father liked it. ¹⁵ Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son, Esau, which were in the house with her. She put them on her younger son, Jacob. ¹⁶ She put the skins of the kid goats on the smooth parts of his arms and neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave the meal that she had prepared to her son Jacob.

The Function of the Law.^{[a] 7} What then should we say? That the Law is sinful? Absolutely not! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known what sin was. I would not have known what covet is if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin seized the opportunity offered by the commandment and produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the Law, sin is dead.

⁹ I lived apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life, ¹⁰ and I died. The commandment that was for life proved to be death for me. ¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity offered by the commandment, deceived me,^[b] and through it killed me. ¹² And so the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

¹³ Did what is good, then, cause my death? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as such, it brought about my death through what is good, and therefore through the commandment sin became completely sinful.

¹⁴ Sin and Death. We clearly understand that the Law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want; rather, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, then I agree that the Law is good.^{[c] 17} This indicates that it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot do what is good. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I desire; rather, it is the evil I do not desire that I end up doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not desire, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.