Genesis 25:21–50:14
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.s The Lord answered his prayer,t and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.u
“Two nationsv are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.w”
24 When the time came for her to give birth,x there were twin boys in her womb.y 25 The first to come out was red,z and his whole body was like a hairy garment;a so they named him Esau.d b 26 After this, his brother came out,c with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;d so he was named Jacob.e e Isaac was sixty years oldf when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,g a man of the open country,h while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game,i loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.j
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew,k Esau came in from the open country,l famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!m I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.f)n
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.o”
32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Swearp to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthrightq to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.r He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
26:1–11Ref—Ge 12:10–20; 20:1–18
26 Now there was a famine in the lands—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistinest in Gerar.u 2 The Lord appearedv to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt;w live in the land where I tell you to live.x 3 Stay in this land for a while,y and I will be with youz and will bless you.a For to you and your descendants I will give all these landsb and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.c 4 I will make your descendantsd as numerous as the stars in the skye and will give them all these lands,f and through your offspringa all nations on earth will be blessed,b g 5 because Abraham obeyed meh and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decreesi and my instructions.j” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.k
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,l” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistinesm looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?n”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us?o One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harmsp this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”q
12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold,r because the Lord blessed him.s 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.t 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servantsu that the Philistines envied him.v 15 So all the wellsw that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up,x filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us;y you have become too powerful for us.z”
17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar,a where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wellsb that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreledc with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!”d So he named the well Esek,c because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarrelede over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.d 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,e f saying, “Now the Lord has given us roomg and we will flourishh in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba.i 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.j Do not be afraid,k for I am with you;l I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendantsm for the sake of my servant Abraham.”n
25 Isaac built an altaro there and called on the name of the Lord.p There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.q
26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.r 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?s”
28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;t so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treatyu with you 29 that you will do us no harm,v just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”w
30 Isaac then made a feastx for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oathy to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the wellz they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33 He called it Shibah,f and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.g a
34 When Esau was forty years old,b he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.c 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.d
27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see,e he called for Esau his older sonf and said to him, “My son.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death.g 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open countryh to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I likei and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessingj before I die.”k
5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open countryl to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob,m “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’n 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you:o 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats,p so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it.q 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessingr before he dies.”
11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy mans while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me?t I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curseu on myself rather than a blessing.”
13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me.v Just do what I say;w go and get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.x 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothesy of Esau her older son,z which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins.a 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18 He went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”b
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn.c I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game,d so that you may give me your blessing.”e
20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The Lord your God gave me success,f” he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you,g my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac,h who touchedi him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau;j so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“I am,” he replied.
25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”k
Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
27 So he went to him and kissedl himm. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes,n he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.o
28 May God give you heaven’s dewp
and earth’s richnessq—
an abundance of grainr and new wine.s
and peoples bow down to you.t
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.u
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed.v”
30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”w
32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”x
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.y”