Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Jacob Gets Isaac’s Blessing

27 When Isaac was old and going blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “Son!”

Esau answered, “Here I am.”

² Isaac said, “I’m old. I don’t know when I’m going to die. ³ Now take your hunting equipment, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open country and hunt some wild game for me. ⁴ Prepare a good-tasting meal for me, just the way I like it. Bring it to me to eat so that I will bless you before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau went into the open country to hunt for some wild game to bring back, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I’ve just heard your father speaking to your brother Esau. ⁷ He said, ‘Bring me some wild game, and prepare a good-tasting meal for me to eat so that I will bless you in the presence of Yahweh before I die.’ ⁸ Now listen to me, Son, and do what I tell you. ⁹ Go to the flock, and get me two good young goats. I’ll prepare them as a good-tasting meal for your father, just the way he likes it. ¹⁰ Then take it to your father to eat so that he will bless you before he dies.”

¹¹ Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth.^{[a] 12} My father will feel my skin and think I’m mocking him. Then I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

¹³ His mother responded, “Let any curse on you fall on me, Son. Just obey me and go! Get me the young goats.”

¹⁴ He went and got them and brought them to his mother. She prepared a good-tasting meal, just the way his father liked it. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s good clothes, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She put the skins from the young goats on his hands and on the back of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave her son Jacob the good-tasting meal and the bread she had prepared.

Moses’ Laws Show What Sin Is

⁷ What should we say, then? Are the laws in Moses’ Teachings sinful? That’s unthinkable! In fact, I wouldn’t have recognized sin if those laws hadn’t shown it to me. For example, I wouldn’t have known that some desires are sinful if Moses’ Teachings hadn’t said, “Never have wrong desires.” ⁸ But sin took the opportunity provided by this commandment and made me have all kinds of wrong desires. Clearly, without laws sin is dead. ⁹ At one time I was alive without any laws. But when this commandment came, sin became alive ¹⁰ and I died. I found that the commandment which was intended to bring me life actually brought me death. ¹¹ Sin, taking the opportunity provided by this commandment, deceived me and then killed me.

¹² So the laws in Moses’ Teachings are holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. ¹³ Now, did something good cause my death? That’s unthinkable! Rather, my death was caused by sin so that sin would be recognized for what it is. Through a commandment sin became more sinful than ever.

God’s Standards Are at War with Sin’s Standards

¹⁴ I know that God’s standards in Moses’ Teachings are spiritual, but I have a corrupt nature, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t realize what I’m doing. I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ I don’t do what I want to do, but I agree that God’s standards are good. ¹⁷ So I am no longer the one who is doing the things I hate, but sin that lives in me is doing them.

¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don’t do it. ¹⁹ I don’t do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don’t want to do. ²⁰ Now, when I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it. Sin that lives in me is doing it.