Genesis 25:19–50:14
19 Now these are the records of athe generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham 1became the father of Isaac;
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took aRebekah, the bdaughter of Bethuel the 1Aramean of Paddan-aram, the csister of Laban the 1Aramean, to be his wife.
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and athe Lord 1answered him and Rebekah his wife bconceived.
22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to ainquire of the Lord.
“aTwo nations are in your womb;
bAnd two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And cthe older shall serve the younger.”
24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 Now the first came forth red, aall over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came forth with ahis hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so bhis name was called 1Jacob; and Isaac was csixty years old when she gave birth to them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a 1peaceful man, 2aliving in tents.
28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because 1he had aa taste for game, bbut Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 When Jacob had cooked astew, Esau came in from the field and he was 1famished;
30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of 1that red stuff there, for I am 2famished.” Therefore his name was called 3Edom.
31 But Jacob said, “1First sell me your abirthright.”
32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”
33 And Jacob said, “1First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and asold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
1 Now there was aa famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to bAbimelech king of the Philistines.
2 The Lord aappeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 1bstay in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 “Sojourn in this land and aI will be with you and bbless you, for cto you and to your 1descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish dthe oath which I swore to your father Abraham.
4 “aI will multiply your 1descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your 1descendants all these lands; and bby your 1descendants all the nations of the earth 2shall be blessed;
5 because Abraham 1aobeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”
6 So Isaac 1lived in Gerar.
7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “aShe is my sister,” for he was bafraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “1the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is cbeautiful.”
8 It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.
9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’ ”
10 aAbimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who atouches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and 1reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And athe Lord blessed him,
13 and the man abecame rich, and continued to grow 1richer until he became very 1wealthy;
14 for ahe had possessions of flocks 1and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
15 Now aall the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up 1by filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are 1atoo powerful for us.”
17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and 1settled there.
18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which 1had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he 2gave them the same names which his father had 3given them.
19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of 1flowing water,
20 the herdsmen of Gerar aquarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well 1Esek, because they contended with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it 1Sitnah.
22 He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it 1Rehoboth, for he said, “2aAt last the Lord has made 3room for us, and we will be bfruitful in the land.”
23 Then he went up from there to aBeersheba.
24 The Lord aappeared to him the same night and said,
“bI am the God of your father Abraham;
cDo not fear, for I am with you.
I dwill bless you, and multiply your 1descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25 So he built an aaltar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26 Then aAbimelech came to him from Gerar 1with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army.
27 Isaac said to them, “aWhy have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28 They said, “We see plainly athat the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between 1you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,
29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you 1and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the ablessed of the Lord.’ ”
30 Then ahe made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 In the morning they arose early and 1aexchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace.
32 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33 So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is aBeersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old ahe 1married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
35 and athey 1brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
1 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and ahis eyes were too dim to see, that he called his bolder son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
2 1aIsaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.
3 “Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and ahunt game for me;
4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that amy soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,
6 aRebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’
8 “Now therefore, my son, alisten to 1me 2as I command you.
9 “Go now to the flock and 1bring me two choice 2young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.
10 “Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
11 Jacob 1answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a ahairy man and I am a smooth man.
12 “aPerhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a 1deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only aobey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.
15 Then Rebekah took the 1best agarments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And she put the skins of the 1young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, 1to her son Jacob.
18 Then he came 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. aGet up, please, sit and eat of my game, that 1byou may bless me.”
20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “aBecause the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that aI may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22 So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were ahairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
25 So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that 1aI may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he ablessed him and said,
“See, bthe smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field cwhich the Lord has blessed;
28 Now may aGod give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the bfatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 aMay peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
bBe master of your brothers,
cAnd may your mother’s sons bow down to …