Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
She Speaks Again
8 I hear my lover’s voice.
Here it comes, jumping over the mountains,
skipping over the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle
or a young deer.
Look at him standing behind our wall,
staring out the window,
looking through the lattice.[a]
10 My lover speaks to me,
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one.
Let’s go away!
11 Look, winter is past,
the rains have come and gone.
12 The flowers are blooming in the fields.
It’s time to sing![b]
Listen, the doves have returned.
13 Young figs are growing on the fig trees.
Smell the vines in bloom.
Get up, my darling, my beautiful one.
Let’s go away!”
Esau’s “Blessing”
30 Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. 31 Esau prepared the food in the special way his father loved. He brought it to his father and said, “Father, I am your son. Get up and eat the meat from the animals that I killed for you. Then you can bless me.”
32 But Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your son—your first son—Esau.”
33 Then Isaac became so upset that he began to shake. He said, “Then who was it that cooked and brought me food before you came? I ate it all, and I blessed him. Now it is too late to take back my blessing.”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he became very angry and bitter. He cried out and said to his father, “Then bless me also, father!”
35 Isaac said, “Your brother tricked me! He came and took your blessing!”
36 Esau said, “His name is Jacob.[a] That is the right name for him. He has tricked me twice. He took away my rights as the firstborn son. And now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau said, “Have you saved any blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered, “I have already given Jacob the power to rule over you. And I said all his brothers would be his servants. I have given him the blessing for much grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”
38 But Esau continued to beg his father. “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me also, father!” Esau began to cry.
39 Then Isaac said to him,
“You will not live on good land.
You will not have much rain.
40 You will have to fight to live,
and you will be a slave to your brother.
But when you fight to be free,
you will break away from his control.”
Jacob Leaves the Country
41 After that Esau hated Jacob because of this blessing. Esau said to himself, “My father will soon die, and after we are finished with that, I will kill Jacob.”
42 Rebekah heard about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob. She sent for Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is planning to kill you. 43 So, son, do what I say. My brother Laban is living in Haran. Go to him and hide. 44 Stay with him for a short time until your brother stops being angry. 45 When your brother forgets what you did to him, I will send a servant to bring you back. I don’t want to lose both of my sons the same day.”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “Your son Esau married Hittite women. I am very upset about this, because they are not our people. I’ll have nothing to live for if Jacob marries one of these women!”
All People Have Done Wrong
18 God shows his anger from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that people do. Their evil lives hide the truth they have. 19 This makes God angry because they have been shown what he is like. Yes, God has made it clear to them.
20 There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do.
21 People knew God, but they did not honor him as God, and they did not thank him. Their ideas were all useless. There was not one good thought left in their foolish minds. 22 They said they were wise, but they became fools. 23 Instead of honoring the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, and snakes.
24 People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other. 25 They traded the truth of God for a lie. They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International