Tuesday in Season after Pentecost

3Verse 3. Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4Verse 4. He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. 5Verse 5. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’” 6Verse 6. When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you— he and four hundred men with him.” 7Verse 7. In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. 8Verse 8. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.” 9Verse 9. Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ 10Verse 10. I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11Verse 11. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. 12Verse 12. But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’” 13Verse 13. Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14Verse 14. 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 15Verse 15. 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. 16Verse 16. He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.” 17Verse 17. He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ 18Verse 18. then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’” 19Verse 19. He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. 20Verse 20. You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me. ” 21Verse 21. So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

1Verse 1. When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it, 2Verse 2. you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name, 3Verse 3. to the priest who is serving at that time, and say to him, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.” 4Verse 4. Then the priest shall take the basket from your hands and place it before the altar of the LORD your God, 5Verse 5. and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous. 6Verse 6. But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor. 7Verse 7. So we called out to the LORD, the God of our fathers; and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, toil, and oppression. 8Verse 8. Then the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, signs, and wonders. 9Verse 9. And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10Verse 10. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land that You, O LORD, have given me.” Then you are to place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before Him. 11Verse 11. So you shall rejoice — you, the Levite, and the foreigner dwelling among you — in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household. 12Verse 12. When you have finished laying aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat and be filled within your gates. 13Verse 13. Then you shall declare in the presence of the LORD your God, “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commandments You have given me. I have not transgressed or forgotten Your commandments. 14Verse 14. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything You commanded me. 15Verse 15. Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers— a land flowing with milk and honey.”