Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 Listen! I hear the voice of my lover!
Look! He is coming!
He moves quickly across the mountains.
He runs across the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young male deer.
Look! There he is!
He is standing behind our wall.
He is looking through the window.
He wants to see into the room.
10 My lover said this to me:
‘My beautiful friend, I love you.
Get up now and come with me.
11 Look! The winter time has finished.
The heavy rains have stopped.
12 Flowers are appearing everywhere.
It is now the season to sing happy songs.
We can hear the voices of doves around us.
13 New fruit is growing on the fig trees.
There are flowers on the vines,
and their sweet smell is in the air.
I love you, my beautiful friend.
Please get up now and come with me!’
30 When Isaac had blessed Jacob, Jacob left him. Just then, Esau came back from the country where he had killed an animal. 31 He prepared nice food that Isaac liked to eat. Then he took the food to his father, Isaac. Esau said, ‘My father, please sit up. Eat some of the meat from the wild animal that I have killed. Then you can bless me.’
32 His father Isaac asked, ‘Who are you?’ Esau replied, ‘I am your firstborn son, Esau.’ 33 Isaac's body shook very much. He asked, ‘Who was it who killed an animal and brought the meat to me? Just before you came, I ate all of it. And then I blessed him. And God will certainly bless him!’[a]
34 Esau heard what his father had said and he cried aloud. He was very upset. He said, ‘My father, please bless me too!’ 35 But Isaac said, ‘Your brother came to me. He deceived me and he took your blessing away from you.’ 36 Esau said, ‘Yes, “Jacob” is the right name for him. He has cheated me twice. First he took my birthright. Now he has taken my blessing as well!’ Then Esau asked his father, ‘You must still have some blessing left for me, don't you?’[b]
37 Isaac replied, ‘I have made Jacob master over you. All his relatives will become his servants. I have given him crops and wine. So what can I still do to bless you, my son?’[c]
38 Esau said, ‘My father, you surely have one blessing left for me. Please bless me too!’ Then Esau wept loudly.
39 Isaac replied,
‘You will not live in a place where the ground gives good food.
You will not have rain to make your crops grow.
40 You will have to fight to get the things that you need.
You will serve your brother as your master.
But when you choose to turn against him,
you will become free from his power over you.’[d]
41 Because Isaac had blessed Jacob, Esau hated his younger brother Jacob. Esau said quietly, ‘My father will die soon. When we have buried his body, I will kill my brother.’ 42 Someone told Rebekah what her older son, Esau, had said. So she told her younger son, Jacob, to come to her. She said to him, ‘Your brother Esau wants to kill you, because of what you did to him. 43 Now my son, do what I tell you. Quickly go away from here. Go to my brother Laban who lives in Haran. 44 Live with him for a time. Stay there until your brother is not angry with you any longer. 45 He may forget what you did to him. Then I will send a message to you, so that you can come back from Haran. I do not want to lose both of my sons in one day.’[e]
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I do not like living in the same place as Esau's wives. It makes me very upset, because they are Hittites. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women who live in this land, I will be very sad. I would rather die!’[f]
People are guilty
18 God in heaven shows that he is angry with people. He is angry because they do not respect him and they do bad things. Because they continue to do those bad things, they choose not to accept God's true message. 19 They should understand what God is like, because God himself has shown it to them clearly. 20 Ever since God made the world, he has been showing people clearly about himself. We cannot see God. But the things that he has made show us clearly what he is like. We can understand his great power that continues for ever. We can know that he is the true God. So there is no reason for anyone to say, ‘We could not know about God.’
21 Those people really knew about God. But they did not respect him as a great God, and they did not thank him. They did not even think clearly any more. Their minds became confused and they did not understand God's message. 22 They said that they were wise, but really they became fools. 23 They refused to worship the great God who can never die. Instead, they made false gods for themselves. They worshipped idols that were like people who must die. They also made idols that looked like birds, animals and snakes, and they worshipped them.
24 So God let those people do all the bad things that they wanted to do. God let those disgusting things rule their lives. As a result, they did bad things with each other's bodies. They did things that people should be ashamed to do. 25 They refused to believe the true things about God. Instead, they chose to believe lies. They worshipped things that God has made and they became servants of those things. But they refused to worship God himself who made those things! Everyone should praise him for ever! Amen. This is true.
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