Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He commanded them to give this message to Esau, “Sir, this is what Jacob has to say, ‘I’ve been living with Laban and have stayed until now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, and male and female slaves. I’ve sent ⌞these messengers⌟ to tell you ⌞this news⌟ in order to win your favor.’ ”

⁶ When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you with 400 men.”

⁷ Jacob was terrified and distressed. So he divided the people, the sheep and goats, the cattle, and the camels into two camps. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau attacks the one camp, then the other camp will be able to escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac! Lord, you said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your relatives, and I will make you prosperous.’ ¹⁰ I’m not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown me. I only had a shepherd’s staff when I crossed the Jordan River, but now I have two camps. ¹¹ Please save me from my brother Esau, because I’m afraid of him. I’m afraid that he’ll come and attack me and the mothers and children too. ¹² But you did say, ‘I will make sure that you are prosperous and that your descendants will be as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to count them because there are so many.’ ”

¹³ He stayed there that night. Then he prepared a gift for his brother Esau from what he had brought with him: ¹⁴ 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep, ¹⁵ 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.

¹⁶ He placed servants in charge of each herd. Then he said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep a distance between the herds.” ¹⁷ He commanded the first servant, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose animals are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ then say, ‘Sir, they belong to your servant Jacob. This is a gift sent to you. Jacob is right behind us.’ ” ¹⁹ He also commanded the second servant, the third, and all the others who followed the herds. He said, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. ²⁰ And be sure to add, ‘Jacob is right behind us, sir.’ ” He thought, “I’ll make peace with him by giving him this gift that I’m sending ahead of me. After that I will see him, and he’ll welcome me back.” ²¹ So Jacob sent the gift ahead of him while he stayed in the camp that night.

¹² In this situation God’s holy people, who obey his commands and keep their faith in Jesus, need endurance.

¹³ I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: From now on those who die believing in the Lord are blessed.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit. “Let them rest from their hard work. What they have done goes with them.”

¹⁴ Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and on the cloud sat someone who was like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ Another angel came out of the temple. He cried out in a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Swing your sickle, and gather the harvest. The time has come to gather it, because the harvest on the earth is overripe.”

¹⁶ The one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the harvesting of the earth was completed.

¹⁷ Another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He, too, had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Yet another angel came from the altar with authority over fire. This angel called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle, and gather the bunches of grapes from the vine of the earth, because those grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹ The angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the grapes from the vine of the earth. He threw them into the winepress of God’s anger. ²⁰ The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city. Blood flowed out of the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle for 1,600 stadia.^[a]