Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹³ For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother. ¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be.

¹⁷ Your thoughts are of great worth to me, O God. How many there are! ¹⁸ If I could number them, there would be more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

³ Jacob sent men to carry news before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He told them, “Say this to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, “I have been living with Laban, and stayed there until now. ⁵ I have cattle and donkeys and flocks and men and women servants. And I have sent to tell my lord, hoping to find favor in your eyes.’” ⁶ The men that carried the news returned to Jacob and said, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷ Then Jacob was afraid and troubled. And he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and cattle and camels, into two groups. ⁸ For he said, “If Esau comes to the one group and destroys it, then the other group will get away.” ⁹ Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, Who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to those of your family, and I will bring good to you.’ ¹⁰ I have not earned any of the loving-kindness and faith which You have shown to your servant. For I had crossed this Jordan with only my walking stick. And now I have become two large groups. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the power of Esau. For I am afraid of him. I am afraid he will come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. ¹² But You said, ‘I will bring good to you. I will make your children like the sand of the sea. There will be too many to number.’”

¹³ So Jacob stayed there that night. Then he chose a gift from what he had for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ Two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep, twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milk camels and their young ones, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ He put them into the care of his servants, every group of animals by itself. Then he said to his servants, “Go in front of me. And keep the groups of animals apart.” ¹⁷ He told the one in front, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns these animals in front of you?’ ¹⁸ then you say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob. It is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he is coming behind us.’” ¹⁹ He also told the second and the third and all those who followed the animals, “This is what you are to say to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he said, “I will take away his anger with the gift that goes in front of me. Then when I meet him, he might receive me.” ²¹ So the gift went in front of him, while he stayed that night in the tent.

¹² This is why God’s people need to keep true to God’s Word and stay faithful to Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write these words: ‘From now on those who are dead who died belonging to the Lord will be happy.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will have rest from all their work. All the good things they have done will follow them.”

The War of Armageddon

¹⁴ I looked and saw a white cloud. Sitting on the cloud was One like the Son of Man. He had a crown of gold on His head. In His hand He had a sharp knife for cutting grain. ¹⁵ Then another angel came out from the house of God and called to Him with a loud voice. He said, “Use Your knife and gather in the grain. The time has come to gather the grain because the earth is ready.” ¹⁶ He Who sat on the cloud raised His knife over the earth. And the grain was gathered in.

¹⁷ Then another angel came out from the house of God in heaven. He had a sharp knife for cutting grain also. ¹⁸ Another angel who has power over fire came out from the altar. He said with a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp knife, “Use your knife and gather in the grapes from the vine of the earth, for they are ready to gather.” ¹⁹ The angel used his sickle on the earth. He gathered from the vine of the earth and put the fruit into the large place for making wine. It was full of God’s anger. ²⁰ They walked on it outside the city and blood came out of the place where wine is made. The blood ran as far as a man could walk in seven days. It came up as high as a horse’s head.