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Psalm 79

1  O God, the heathen have come into your heritage; ♦︎
   your holy temple have they defiled
      and made Jerusalem a heap of stones.
2  The dead bodies of your servants they have given
      to be food for the birds of the air, ♦︎
   and the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the field.
3  Their blood have they shed like water
      on every side of Jerusalem, ♦︎
   and there was no one to bury them.
4  We have become the taunt of our neighbours, ♦︎
   the scorn and derision of those that are round about us.
5  Lord, how long will you be angry, for ever? ♦︎
   How long will your jealous fury blaze like fire?
6  Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you, ♦︎
   and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name.
7  For they have devoured Jacob ♦︎
   and laid waste his dwelling place.
8  Remember not against us our former sins; ♦︎
   let your compassion make haste to meet us,
      for we are brought very low.
9  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; ♦︎
   deliver us, and wipe away our sins for your name’s sake.
10  Why should the heathen say, ♦︎
   ‘Where is now their God?’
11  Let vengeance for your servants’ blood that is shed ♦︎
   be known among the nations in our sight.
12  Let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before you, ♦︎
   and by your mighty arm
      preserve those who are condemned to die.
13  May the taunts with which our neighbours taunted you, Lord, ♦︎
   return sevenfold into their bosom.
14  But we that are your people and the sheep of your pasture
      will give you thanks for ever, ♦︎
   and tell of your praise from generation to generation.

Psalm 80

1  Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, ♦︎
   you that led Joseph like a flock;
2  Shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim, ♦︎
   before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
3  Stir up your mighty strength ♦︎
   and come to our salvation.
4  Turn us again, O God; ♦︎
   show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
5  O Lord God of hosts, ♦︎
   how long will you be angry at your people’s prayer?
6  You feed them with the bread of tears; ♦︎
   you give them abundance of tears to drink.
7  You have made us the derision of our neighbours, ♦︎
   and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
8  Turn us again, O God of hosts; ♦︎
   show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
9  You brought a vine out of Egypt; ♦︎
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
10  You made room around it, ♦︎
   and when it had taken root, it filled the land.
11  The hills were covered with its shadow ♦︎
   and the cedars of God by its boughs.
12  It stretched out its branches to the Sea ♦︎
   and its tendrils to the River.
13  Why then have you broken down its wall, ♦︎
   so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?
14  The wild boar out of the wood tears it off, ♦︎
   and all the insects of the field devour it.
15  Turn again, O God of hosts, ♦︎
   look down from heaven and behold;
16  Cherish this vine which your right hand has planted, ♦︎
   and the branch that you made so strong for yourself.
17  Let those who burnt it with fire, who cut it down, ♦︎
   perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
18  Let your hand be upon the man at your right hand, ♦︎
   the son of man you made so strong for yourself.
19  And so will we not go back from you; ♦︎
   give us life, and we shall call upon your name.
20  Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts; ♦︎
   show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, ‘My son’; and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ ²He said, ‘See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. ³Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. ⁴Then prepare for me savoury food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.’

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘I heard your father say to your brother Esau, ⁷“Bring me game, and prepare for me savoury food to eat, that I may bless you before the Lord before I die.” ⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. ⁹Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savoury food for your father, such as he likes; ¹⁰and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.’ ¹¹But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, ‘Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. ¹²Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.’ ¹³His mother said to him, ‘Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me.’ ¹⁴So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savoury food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob; ¹⁶and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷Then she handed the savoury food, and the bread that she had prepared, to her son Jacob.

18 So he went in to his father, and said, ‘My father’; and he said, ‘Here I am; who are you, my son?’ ¹⁹Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.’ ²⁰But Isaac said to his son, ‘How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?’ He answered, ‘Because the Lord your God granted me success.’ ²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ ²²So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ ²³He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴He said, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ He answered, ‘I am.’ ²⁵Then he said, ‘Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.’ So he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come near and kiss me, my son.’ ²⁷So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,
‘Ah, the smell of my son
   is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
²⁸ May God give you of the dew of heaven,
   and of the fatness of the earth,
   and plenty of grain and wine.
²⁹ Let peoples serve you,
   and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
   and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
   and blessed be everyone who blesses you!’

15 You are aware that all who are in Asia have turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain; ¹⁷when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly^* searched for me and found me ¹⁸—may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! And you know very well how much service he rendered in Ephesus.

A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

2You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; ²and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well. ³Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer. ⁵And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. ⁶It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. ⁷Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. ¹¹The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.