Isaac and Abimelech

26 There was a famine in the land, besides athe first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to bAbimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: c“Do not go down to Egypt; live in dthe land of which I shall tell you. 3 eDwell in this land, and fI will be with you and gbless you; for to you and your descendants hI give all these lands, and I will perform ithe oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And jI will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; kand in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 lbecause Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And mhe said, “She is my sister”; for nhe was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is obeautiful to behold.” 8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, 1showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”

10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and pyou would have brought guilt on us.” 11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who qtouches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year ra hundredfold; and the Lord sblessed him. 13 The man tbegan to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; 14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines uenvied him. 15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells vwhich his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for wyou are much mightier than we.”

17 Then Isaac departed from there and 2pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. xHe called them by the names which his father had called them.

19 Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar yquarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well 3Esek, because they quarreled with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name 4Sitnah. 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name 5Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall zbe fruitful in the land.”

23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord aappeared to him the same night and said, b“I am the God of your father Abraham; cdo not fear, for dI am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he ebuilt an altar there and fcalled on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, gand Phichol the commander of his army. 27 And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, hsince you hate me and have isent me away from you?”

28 But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord jis with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a 6covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. kYou are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ”

30 lSo he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 Then they arose early in the morning and mswore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32 It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 So he called it 7Shebah. nTherefore the name of the city is 8Beersheba to this day.

34 oWhen Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And pthey were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was aold and bhis eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”

2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I cdo not know the day of my death. 3 dNow therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me 1savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul emay bless you before I die.”

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me game and make 2savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, fobey my voice according to what I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make gsavory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he hmay bless you before his death.”

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, iEsau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will jfeel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring ka curse on myself and not a blessing.”

13 But his mother said to him, l“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother mmade 3savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took nthe choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 So he went 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 just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, othat your soul may bless me.”

20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I pmay feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because qhis hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so rthat my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” 27 And he came near and skissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

“Surely, tthe smell of my son

Is like the smell of a field

Which the Lord has blessed.

28 Therefore may uGod give you

Of vthe dew of heaven,

Of wthe fatness of the earth,

And xplenty of grain and wine.

29 yLet peoples serve you,

And nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brethren,

And zlet your mother’s sons bow down to you.

aCursed be everyone who curses you,

And blessed be those who bless you!”

Esau’s Lost Hope

30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made 4savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and beat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—cand indeed he shall be blessed.”

34 When Esau heard the words of his father, dhe cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”

35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

36 And Esau said, e“Is he not rightly named 5Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, f“Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with ggrain and wine I have 6sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice hand wept.

39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, iyour dwelling shall be of the 7fatness of the earth,

And of the dew of heaven from above.

40 By your sword you shall live,

And jyou shall serve your brother;

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