Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
13 You alone created my inner being.
You knitted me together inside my mother.
14 I will give thanks to you
because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made.
Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
when I was being skillfully woven in an underground workshop.
16 Your eyes saw me when I was still an unborn child.
Every day ⌞of my life⌟ was recorded in your book
before one of them had taken place.
17 How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O God!
How vast in number they are!
18 If I try to count them,
there would be more of them than there are grains of sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you.
Jacob Meets Esau
33 Jacob saw Esau coming with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slaves. 2 He put the slaves and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 He went on ahead of them and bowed seven times with his face touching the ground as he came near his brother.
4 Then Esau ran to meet Jacob. Esau hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. They both cried. 5 When he saw the women and children, Esau asked, “Who are these people here with you?”
“The children God has graciously given me, sir,” Jacob answered.
6 Then the slaves and their children came forward and bowed down. 7 Likewise, Leah and her children came forward and bowed down. Finally, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.
8 Then Esau asked, “Why did you send this whole group ⌞of people and animals⌟ I met?”
He answered, “To win your favor, sir.”
9 Esau said, “I have enough. Keep what you have, Brother.”
10 Jacob said, “No, please take the gift I’m giving you, because I’ve seen your face as if I were seeing the face of God, and yet you welcomed me so warmly. 11 Please take the present I’ve brought you, because God has been gracious to me and has given me all that I need.” So Esau took it because Jacob insisted.
12 Then Esau said, “Let’s get ready to go, and I’ll go with you.”
13 Jacob said to him, “Sir, you know that the children are frail and that I have to take care of the flocks and cattle that are nursing their young. If they’re driven too hard for even one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Go ahead of me, sir. I will slowly and gently guide the herds that are in front of me at their pace and at the children’s pace until I come to you in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“Why do that?” Jacob asked. “I only want to win your favor, sir.”
16 That day Esau started back to Seir. 17 But Jacob moved on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is named Succoth [Shelters].
You Are Children of the Promise
21 Those who want to be controlled by Moses’ laws should tell me something. Are you really listening to what Moses’ Teachings say? 22 Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by a woman who was a slave and the other by a free woman. 23 Now, the son of the slave woman was conceived in a natural way, but the son of the free woman was conceived through a promise ⌞made to Abraham⌟.
24 I’m going to use these historical events as an illustration. The women illustrate two arrangements.[a] The one woman, Hagar, is the arrangement made on Mount Sinai. Her children are born into slavery. 25 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She is like Jerusalem today because she and her children are slaves. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 Scripture says:
“Rejoice, women who cannot get pregnant,
who cannot give birth to any children!
Break into shouting, those who feel no pains of childbirth!
Because the deserted woman will have more children
than the woman who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise like Isaac.
29 Furthermore, at that time the son who was conceived in a natural way persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That’s exactly what’s happening now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, because the son of the slave woman must never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.” 31 Brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman.
Live in the Freedom That Christ Gives You
5 Christ has freed us so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. Therefore, be firm ⌞in this freedom⌟, and don’t become slaves again.
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