Genesis 27:1-29

[1]When 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." [2]He said, "See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. [3]Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. [4]Then prepare for me savory 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, [6]Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father say to your brother Esau, [7]'Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food to eat, that I may bless you before the LORD before I die.' [8]Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. [9]Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes; [10]and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies." [11]But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. [12]Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing." [13]His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me." [14]So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. [15]Then 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; [16]and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. [17]Then she handed the savory 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?" [19]Jacob 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." [20]But 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." [21]Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not." [22]So 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." [23]He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. [24]He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am." [25]Then 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. [26]Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." [27]So 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!"

Psalm 42

[1]   As a deer longs for flowing streams,  

          so my soul longs for you, O God.  

[2]   My soul thirsts for God,  

          for the living God.  

     When shall I come and behold  

          the face of God?  

[3]   My tears have been my food  

          day and night,  

     while people say to me continually,  

          "Where is your God?"

[4]   These things I remember,  

          as I pour out my soul:  

     how I went with the throng,  

          and led them in procession to the house of God,  

     with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,  

          a multitude keeping festival.  

[5]   Why are you cast down, O my soul,  

          and why are you disquieted within me?  

     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,  

          my help [6]and my God.

     My soul is cast down within me;  

          therefore I remember you  

     from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,  

          from Mount Mizar.  

[7]   Deep calls to deep  

          at the thunder of your cataracts;  

     all your waves and your billows  

          have gone over me.  

[8]   By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,  

          and at night his song is with me,  

          a prayer to the God of my life.

[9]   I say to God, my rock,  

          "Why have you forgotten me?  

     Why must I walk about mournfully  

          because the enemy oppresses me?"  

[10]  As with a deadly wound in my body,  

          my adversaries taunt me,  

     while they say to me continually,  

          "Where is your God?"

[11]  Why are you cast down, O my soul,  

          and why are you disquieted within me?  

     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,  

          my help and my God.

Psalm 103

[1]   Bless the LORD, O my soul,  

          and all that is within me,  

          bless his holy name.  

[2]   Bless the LORD, O my soul,  

          and do not forget all his benefits --  

[3]   who forgives all your iniquity,  

          who heals all your diseases,  

[4]   who redeems your life from the Pit,  

          who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,  

[5]   who satisfies you with good as long as you live  

          so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

[6]   The LORD works vindication  

          and justice for all who are oppressed.  

[7]   He made known his ways to Moses,  

          his acts to the people of Israel.  

[8]   The LORD is merciful and gracious,  

          slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  

[9]   He will not always accuse,  

          nor will he keep his anger for ever.  

[10]  He does not deal with us according to our sins,  

          nor repay us according to our iniquities.  

[11]  For as the heavens are high above the earth,  

          so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;  

[12]  as far as the east is from the west,  

          so far he removes our transgressions from us.  

[13]  As a father has compassion for his children,  

          so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.  

[14]  For he knows how we were made;  

          he remembers that we are dust.

[15]  As for mortals, their days are like grass;  

          they flourish like a flower of the field;  

[16]  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,  

          and its place knows it no more.  

[17]  But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting  

          on those who fear him,  

          and his righteousness to children's children,  

[18]  to those who keep his covenant  

          and remember to do his commandments.

[19]  The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,  

          and his kingdom rules over all.  

[20]  Bless the LORD, O you his angels,  

          you mighty ones who do his bidding,  

          obedient to his spoken word.  

[21]  Bless the LORD, all his hosts,  

          his ministers that do his will.  

[22]  Bless the LORD, all his works,  

          in all places of his dominion.  

     Bless the LORD, O my soul.

Psalm 63

[1] O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
[2] So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
[3] Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
[4] So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

[5] My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
[6] when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
[7] for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
[8] My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

[9] But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
[10] they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
they shall be prey for jackals.
[11] But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Psalm 84

[1] How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
[2] My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

[3] Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
[4] Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise. Selah

[5] Happy are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
[6] As they go through the valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
[7] They go from strength to strength;
the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

[8] O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
[9] Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed.

[10] For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than live in the tents of wickedness.
[11] For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
he bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the LORD withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
[12] O LORD of hosts,
happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Hebrews 11:32-12:2

[32]And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets [33]who
through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, [34]quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. [35]Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. [36]Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. [37]They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented [38]of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

[39]Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, [40]since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

[1]Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, [2]looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11:23-31

[23]By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king's edict. [24]By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter, [25]choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. [26]He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. [27]By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king's anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. [28]By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

[29]By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. [30]By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. [31]By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.