Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
13 For you created my inmost being;(A)
you knit me together(B) in my mother’s womb.(C)
14 I praise you(D) because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,(E)
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made(F) in the secret place,
when I was woven together(G) in the depths of the earth.(H)
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained(I) for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a](J) God!(K)
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,(L)
they would outnumber the grains of sand(M)—
when I awake,(N) I am still with you.
3 Jacob sent messengers(A) ahead of him to his brother Esau(B) in the land of Seir,(C) the country of Edom.(D) 4 He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord(E) Esau: ‘Your servant(F) Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban(G) and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants.(H) Now I am sending this message to my lord,(I) that I may find favor in your eyes.(J)’”
6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”(K)
7 In great fear(L) and distress(M) Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,[a](N) and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,[b] the group[c] that is left may escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham,(O) God of my father Isaac,(P) Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’(Q) 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness(R) you have shown your servant. I had only my staff(S) when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.(T) 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid(U) he will come and attack me,(V) and also the mothers with their children.(W) 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand(X) of the sea, which cannot be counted.(Y)’”
13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift(Z) for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,(AA) 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.(AB) 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”(AC)
17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant(AD) Jacob. They are a gift(AE) sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant(AF) Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts(AG) I am sending on ahead;(AH) later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”(AI) 21 So Jacob’s gifts(AJ) went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
12 This calls for patient endurance(A) on the part of the people of God(B) who keep his commands(C) and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord(D) from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit,(E) “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud,(F) and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[a](G) with a crown(H) of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple(I) and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle(J) and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest(K) of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.(L) 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar(M) and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle(N) and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.(O) 20 They were trampled in the winepress(P) outside the city,(Q) and blood(R) flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.[b]
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.