Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, ⁱwhen Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Jacob Fears Esau

1 Jacob went on his way, and ^qthe angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.¹

3 And Jacob sent² messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, 4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may ^rfind favor in your sight.’”

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into ^stwo camps, 8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and ^tattacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

9 And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord ^uwho said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 ^vI am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of ^wsteadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But ^xyou said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the ^ysand of the sea, which ^zcannot be numbered for multitude.’”

13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a ^apresent for his brother Esau, 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ^bahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may ^cappease him³ with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”⁴ 21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

22 ^dThe same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,⁵ and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a ^eman ^fwrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you ^gbless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, ^h“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but ⁱIsrael,⁶ for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, ^j“Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,⁷ saying, “For I have ^kseen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

The Full Assurance of Faith

19 Therefore, brothers,¹ since we have ^dconfidence to ^eenter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living ^fway that he opened for us through the ^gcurtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the ^hhouse of God, 22 let us ⁱdraw near with a true heart in ^jfull assurance of faith, with our hearts ^ksprinkled clean from an evil ^lconscience and our bodies ^mwashed with pure water. 23 Let us ⁿhold fast the ^oconfession of our ^phope without wavering, for he who promised is ^qfaithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but ^rencouraging one another, and all the more as you see the ^sDay drawing near.

26 For ^tif we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the ^uknowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a ^vfury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy ^won the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 ^xHow much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has ^ytrampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the ^zblood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, ^a“Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, ^b“The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a ^cfearful thing to fall into the hands of the ^dliving God.

32 But recall the former days when, after you were ^eenlightened, you ^fendured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being ^gpublicly exposed to ^hreproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those ⁱin prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your ^jconfidence, which has a great ^kreward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.