Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Listen! My love is approaching.
Look! Here he comes,
leaping over the mountains,(A)
bounding over the hills.
9 My love is like a gazelle
or a young stag.(B)
See, he is standing behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 My love calls to me:
Man
Arise,(C) my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.
11 For now the winter is past;
the rain has ended and gone away.
12 The blossoms appear in the countryside.
The time of singing[a] has come,
and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land.(D)
13 The fig tree ripens its figs;(E)
the blossoming vines give off their fragrance.(F)
Arise, my darling.
Come away, my beautiful one.
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting. 31 He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
32 But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.”
33 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. “Who was it then,” he said, “who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” (A)
35 But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob?[a](B) For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac answered Esau, “Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.[b]
39 His father Isaac answered him,
Look, your dwelling place will be
away from the richness of the land,
away from the dew of the sky above.
40 You will live by your sword,
and you will serve your brother.
But when you rebel,[c]
you will break his yoke from your neck.
Esau’s Anger
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. 43 So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides— 45 until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
46 So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls.(C) If Jacob marries someone from around here,[d] like these Hethite girls, what good is my life?” (D)
The Guilt of the Gentile World
18 For God’s wrath(A) is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,(B) 19 since what can be known[a] about God is evident among them,(C) because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world,(D) being understood through what he has made.(E) As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.(F) 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools(G) 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.(H)
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts(I) to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,(J) and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever.(K) Amen.
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