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Genesis 25:19-34
19 This is the account of the relatives of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If this is going on, what will happen to me?’ So she went to seek the Lord’s help. 23 The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and they will be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.’
24 When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body was covered in hair; so they named him Esau. 26 Then his brother was born, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilful hunter, a man of the open countryside. Jacob on the other hand was a quiet man, who stayed around the household tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau, as he liked game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the countryside, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that rich red meat stew now, I’m famished!’ (Which is why he is also called ‘Edom’.) 31 Jacob replied, ‘First sell me your rights as the firstborn!’ 32 ‘I am at death’s door,’ Esau said; ’of what use is the right of the firstborn to me?’ 33 Jacob said, ‘Swear to me right now.’ So Esau swore to him, and sold his firstborn rights to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil soup. He ate, drank, got up and left; and in this way, Esau treated his firstborn rights with contempt.
Genesis 26:1-11
1 Now there was a famine in the land, different from the previous one which took place in the days of Abraham. And Isaac traveled towards Gerar, to Abimelech, the Philistine King. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Live in this land as a visitor, and then I will be with you, and will bless you; for I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will give the whole country to your offspring. All the nations of the earth will obtain their blessing through your offspring, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men there asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister’. He was afraid to say, ‘My wife,’ because he thought, ‘the men might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.’ 8 When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and noticed him caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So he summoned Isaac and said, ‘So she is really your wife! Why then did you say, “She is my sister”?’ Isaac said to him, ‘Because I thought I might be killed because of her.’ 10 Abimelech said, ‘What have you done to us? It would have been so easy for one of our people to have slept with your wife, and we would have incurred guilt because of you.’ 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, ’Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.’
Genesis 26:12-22
12 Isaac sowed a crop in that land, and in the same year he reaped a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and he became rich. His wealth increased more and more until he became very rich indeed. 14 He acquired so many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and such a large household and entourage that the Philistines envied him.
15 All the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham were then blocked up by the Philistines and filled with earth, 16 and Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Move on away from us; for there are too many of you for us.’ 17 So Isaac left there and camped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 Isaac then opened up the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham; for the Philistines had filled them in after Abraham’s death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them.
19 Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water, 20 and when this happened, the herdsmen of Gerar disputed this with Isaac's herdsmen by claiming the water as theirs. So he called the well Esek (‘dispute’), because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and had a dispute over that one as well; so he called it Sitnah (‘hostility’). 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not dispute this one; so he called it Rehoboth (‘open space’), saying, "Now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
Genesis 26:23-33
23 Isaac went up from there to Beer-sheba. 24 That very night the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and make your descendants numerous for the sake of my servant Abraham sake.’ 25 So he built an altar there and called on the Lord by name. He pitched his tent there, and then his servants dug a well.
26 Meanwhile, Abimelech came up to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac asked them, ‘Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have thrown me out of your land?’ 28 They said, ‘It is now clear to us that the Lord was with you; so we propose that there be a formal covenant agreement between us; let us make a covenant with you, between the two of us 29 so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done good to you, not evil, and sent you away in peace. The blessing of the Lord is on you now!’ 30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early next morning they swore their agreement; and Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
32 That same day Isaac's servants came with news about the well they had dug, and told him, ‘We have found water!’ 33 He called it Shibah; so the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.
Genesis 26:34-27:17
34 When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and they were a source of spiritual grief for Isaac and Rebekah.
27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so old that he could no longer see clearly, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, ‘My son’; ‘Here I am,’ he replied. 2 He said, "Look, I am old, and I do not know when I will die. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and bow, and go out to into the countryside, and hunt some wild game for me. 4 Then prepare for me the savoury food I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."
5 Rebekah had been listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau, so when Esau went to out to the countryside to hunt for game and bring it back, 6 she said to her son Jacob, ‘I overheard your father say to Esau your brother, 7 “Bring me game, and prepare for me the savoury food to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.” 8 Now my son, listen to me and do what I tell you. 9 Go to the flock, and get me two of the best kids, so that I may prepare from them the savoury food your father likes; 10 and you will then take it to your father to eat, so that he will bless you before he dies.’
11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘Look, my brother Esau is hairy, but I have smooth skin. 12 What will happen if my father feels me; for I would appear to be tricking him, and bring a curse on myself rather than a blessing!’ 13 His mother replied, ‘Let any curse fall on me, my son; just do what I say, go and get the kids for me.’ 14 So he went to fetch them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared savoury food his father liked. 15 Then Rebekah took her elder son Esau’s best clothes (which she had in the house) and put them on her younger son Jacob; 16 and she covered his hands and the back of his neck with the skins from the kids. 17 Then she gave Jacob the savoury food and bread she had prepared.
Genesis 27:18-29
18 So Jacob went in to his father, and said, ‘My father’; ‘Yes, my son,’ he replied. ‘Which one of my sons are you?’ 19 Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; sit up now, and eat my game, so that you may bless me.’ 20 But Isaac said to his son, ‘How did you find this so quickly, my son?’ He answered, ‘Because the Lord your God gave me success.’ 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come close then, so that I may feel you, my son, so that I may know whether you are really my son Esau or not.’ 22 So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, ‘The voice belongs to Jacob, but the hands are those of Esau!’ 23 So he did not recognize him, because the hands were hairy like those of Esau; so he blessed him. 24 ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ he asked, ‘I am.’ He answered.
25 Then Isaac said, ‘Come near to me, so that I may eat my son's food and give you my life’s blessing.’ So Jacob served him food, and he ate, and gave him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father said to him, ‘Come close and kiss me, my son.’ 27 So he crew close to his father and kissed him; and Isaac caught the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said,
‘Ah, the smell of my son is like that of the open countryside that the Lord has blessed. 28 May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the wealth of the earth, and an abundance of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations give you respect. Be the master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons give you respect. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!’
Genesis 27:30-45
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from hunting. 31 He also prepared a savoury meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, ‘My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.’ 32 His father Isaac said to him, ‘Who are you?’ He answered, ‘I am your firstborn son, Esau.’ 33 Then Isaac shook with fear and horror, ‘Then who was it who brought me game which I ate before you came? I blessed him; and yes, he will stay blessed!"
34 When Esau heard what his father said, he cried out and sobbed bitterly, begging his father, ‘Bless me, father, me as well!’ 35 But he said, ‘Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.’ 36 Esau said, ‘Isn’t he rightly called Jacob! (‘he grabs’) Twice he has grabbed what is mine! He took my birthright; and just now, he has taken away my blessing!’ Then he said, ‘Have you not saved a blessing for me?’
37 Isaac replied and said to Esau, ‘Look, I have made him your master, and I have made all his brothers his servants; I have also given him grain and wine for support. What then can I do for you, my son?’ 38 Esau said to his father, ‘Do you only have one blessing, father? Bless me, father, me as well!’ And Esau wept aloud. 39 Then his father Isaac answered him:
‘Your home will be far from the earth’s riches and heaven’s dew. 40 You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother; but when you struggle free, you will break his yoke from your neck.’
41 Esau bore a deep grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him, and Esau said to himself, ‘When the days of mourning for my father come, then I will kill my brother Jacob.’ 42 When Rebekah was told what Esau had said; she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, ‘Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the idea of killing you. 43 Now then, my son, listen to me; flee immediately to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay with him for a while, until your brother's fury subsides. 45 When he is no longer angry with you and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send word to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?’
Genesis 27:46-28:9
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I am sick to death of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these Hittite women, native to the land, my life will mean nothing!’ 28:1 So Isaac summoned Jacob and blessed him, and directed him, ‘You will not take a Canaanite wife. 2 Go straight away to Paddan-aram to Bethuel’s house, the father of your mother; and take a wife from one the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
3 ‘May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, so that your descendants become a group of tribes. 4 May He give to you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as visitors; the land that God gave to Abraham.’
5 Isaac then sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Esau then discovered that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that when he blessed Jacob he told him not to marry any of the Canaanite women, 7 and that Jacob had also obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 Esau then realised how much his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, 9 so he went to Ishmael and took Mahalath as his wife to add to his other wives. She was the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, and sister of Nebaioth.
Genesis 28:10-22
10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. 11 He came across a place marking a boundary at the side of the road and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. He took some of the boundary stones and placed them around his head and lay down there to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which there was a ladder standing on the earth and with the top reaching into heaven; and the angels of God were climbing up and down on it. 13 And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; I will give the land on which you lie to you and to your descendants; 14 and your children will be as plentiful as the dust on the ground, and you will spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south; and all the families of the earth will be blessed in you and in your children. 15 Look, it is I who am with you and will look after you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’
16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it!’ 17 He was afraid, and said, ‘This place is awesome! This is no less than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ 18 So Jacob got up early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and mounted it as a pillar and poured oil over it. 19 He called that place Bethel (meaning ‘house of God’) but the city’s name was previously Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow and said, ‘If God will be with me, and will keep watch over me wherever I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, 21 so that I return to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have mounted as a pillar shall be God's house; and out of everything You give me I will certainly give one tenth to you.’
Genesis 29:1-14
1 Then Jacob continued on his journey, and reached the lands of the people of the East. 2 There he spotted a well in the open countryside and three flocks of sheep lying nearby; for the flocks were watered from that well. There was a large stone across the well’s entrance, 3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the entrance, and water the sheep. They then placed the stone back across the entrance to the well.
4 Jacob said to them, ‘Friends, where are you from?’ ‘We are from Haran,’ they replied, 5 He then asked, ‘Do you know Laban son of Nahor?’ And they said, ‘We do.’ 6 He enquired of them, ‘Is he well?’ ‘Yes he is,’ they replied, ‘and here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock.’ 7 ’Look,’ he said, it is still the middle of the day and it is not the right time to gather the animals together. Water the sheep, and let them continue to graze.’ 8 But they said, ‘We can’t do this until all the flocks are gathered, and then the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well. That is when we water the sheep.’
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep; for she tended them. 10 As soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, together with Laban’s sheep, Jacob went over and rolled the stone from the well's entrance, and watered the flock belonging to his uncle Laban. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and burst into tears. 12 He told Rachel that he was related to her father, and that he was Rebekah's son; so she ran to tell her father. 13 When Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob then told Laban everything that had happened. 14 Laban said to him, ‘You are indeed my own bone and my flesh!’ After this, Jacob stayed with him for a month.
Genesis 29:15-30
15 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘Just because you are a relative of mine, you should not serve me for nothing! Tell me what you want for wages?’ 16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah's eyes were soft, and Rachel was shapely and beautiful in appearance. 18 Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.’ 19 Laban said, ‘I would rather give her to you than give her to any other man; stay with me."
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him like only a few days because of his love for her. 21 Then Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife, my time is finished and I wish to go and claim her.’ 22 So Laban invited all the neighbours in the vicinity, and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. 24 (Laban assigned his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.) 25 Now, when morning came, Jacob was aghast to find Leah!
Jacob said to Laban, ‘How could you have done this to me? You knew I served you for ‘Rachel? Why have you swindled me?’ 26 Laban said, ‘I could not give the younger in marriage before the firstborn – not in our culture. 27 Finish the bridal week for this daughter, and I will give you the younger one as well in return for serving me another seven years.’
28 Jacob did this, he completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. 29 (Laban assigned his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) 30 So Jacob took Rachel as well, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Laban for a further seven years.
Genesis 29:31-30:13
31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he made her fertile; but Rachel was barren. 32 Leah conceived and gave birth to a son who was named Reuben; for she said, ‘Because the Lord has seen my distress; surely now my husband will love me.’ 33 She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, ‘Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, he has given me this son as well’; and she named him Simeon. 34 She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, ‘Now this has happened, my husband will surely be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons’; which is why she named him Levi. 35 She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, ‘Now I will praise the Lord’; so she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
30:1 When Rachel saw that she was not able to bear children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister; and said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I will die!’ 2 Jacob was angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has prevented you from having children?’ 3 So she said, "Here is my servantgirl Bilhah; sleep with her, so that she may give birth on my knees; then I may have children by surrogacy.’ 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob slept with her. 5 Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6 Then Rachel said, ‘God has given me justice and has heard my voice as well, by giving me a son’; so she named him Dan. 7 Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 8 Then Rachel said, ‘I have struggled with God and fought with my sister, but have prevailed’; so she named him Naphtali.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Then Leah's maid Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob. 11 And Leah said, ‘What good fortune!’ so she named him Gad. 12 Leah's maid Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 13 Leah said, ‘I’m happy, and the women will call me happy’; so she named him Asher.
Genesis 30:14-24
14 One day around the time of the wheat harvest Reuben found mandrakes as he walked in the countryside, and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, ‘Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.’ 15 But she said to her, "Does having my husband mean so little to you that you would trade him for my son’s mandrakes?" Rachel said, "Then he may sleep with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."
16 That evening, when Jacob came home from the field, Leah went out to meet him, and said, ‘Come in to me; for I have hired you, truly, with my son's mandrakes!’ So he slept with her that night. 17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18 Leah said, ‘God has given me my reward for I gave my maid to my husband’; so she named him Issachar. 19 And Leah conceived again, and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. 20 Then Leah said, ‘God has given me a good dowry; now my husband will honour me, because I have given him six sons’; so she named him Zebulun. 21 Afterwards she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, ‘God has taken away my shame’; 24 and she named him Joseph, saying, ‘May the Lord add to me another son!’
Genesis 30:25-36
25 After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, ‘Allow me to leave in good faith, so that I can go back to my own home and country. 26 Give me my wives, for whom I have served you, and my children, and let me go. You know how much work I have done for you.’
27 Laban answered, ‘Please, if you accept me favourably, I have learned by signs and omens that the Lord has blessed me because of you; 28 state your wages, and I will pay it.’ 29 Jacob said to him, ‘You know very well how I have worked for you, and how your cattle have fared with me. 30 The little you had before I came has increased significantly; and with me around you, the Lord has blessed you. But when will I be able to provide for my own household also?’ 31 Laban said, ‘What should I give you?’ Jacob replied, ‘You do not have to give me anything. I will continue to look after your flocks if you do one thing for me: 32 go through the entire flock today, and remove from it every speckled and spotted sheep and goat and every black lamb. Then I shall be paid. 33 So in the future, you will be able to check whether I have been honest with you about what you have paid me, for any of the goats that is not speckled and spotted among the goats or lambs that are not black, you may consider as stolen!’ 34 Laban said, ‘Good! I agree with what you have said.’
35 But on that same day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and placed them in the care of his own sons; 36 and he placed himself at a distance of three day’s journey from Jacob, while he was pasturing the rest of Laban's flock.
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