Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Second Song
The Woman
8 I hear my lover's voice.
He comes running over the mountains,
racing across the hills to me.
9 My lover is like a gazelle,
like a young stag.
There he stands beside the wall.
He looks in through the window
and glances through the lattice.
10 My lover speaks to me.
The Man
Come then, my love;
my darling, come with me.
11 The winter is over; the rains have stopped;
12 in the countryside the flowers are in bloom.
This is the time for singing;
the song of doves is heard in the fields.
13 Figs are beginning to ripen;
the air is fragrant with blossoming vines.
Come then, my love;
my darling, come with me.
Esau Begs for Isaac's Blessing
30 Isaac finished giving his blessing, and as soon as Jacob left, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He also cooked some tasty food and took it to his father. He said, “Please, father, sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessing.”
32 “Who are you?” Isaac asked.
“Your older son Esau,” he answered.
33 Isaac began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, “Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever.”
34 When Esau heard this, he cried out loudly and bitterly and said, “Give me your blessing also, father!”
35 Isaac answered, “Your brother came and deceived me. He has taken away your blessing.”
36 (A)Esau said, “This is the second time that he has cheated me. No wonder his name is Jacob.[a] He took my rights as the first-born son, and now he has taken away my blessing. Haven't you saved a blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered, “I have already made him master over you, and I have made all his relatives his slaves. I have given him grain and wine. Now there is nothing that I can do for you, son!”
38 (B)Esau continued to plead with his father: “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” He began to cry.
39 (C)Then Isaac said to him,
“No dew from heaven for you,
No fertile fields for you.
40 (D)You will live by your sword,
But be your brother's slave.
Yet when you rebel,[b]
You will break away from his control.”
41 Esau hated Jacob, because his father had given Jacob the blessing. He thought, “The time to mourn my father's death is near; then I will kill Jacob.”
42 (E)But when Rebecca heard about Esau's plan, she sent for Jacob and said, “Listen, your brother Esau is planning to get even with you and kill you. 43 Now, son, do what I say. Go at once to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay with him for a while, until your brother's anger cools down 45 and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send someone to bring you back. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?”
Isaac Sends Jacob to Laban
46 Rebecca said to Isaac, “I am sick and tired of Esau's foreign wives. If Jacob also marries one of these Hittites, I might as well die.”
Human Guilt
18 God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known. 19 God punishes them, because what can be known about God is plain to them, for God himself made it plain. 20 (A)Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all! 21 (B)They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness. 22 They say they are wise, but they are fools; 23 (C)instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.
24 And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. 25 They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.