27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see,^(A) he called for Esau his older son^(B) 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.^{(C) 3} Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country^(D) to hunt some wild game for me. ⁴ Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like^(E) and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing^(F) before I die.”^(G)

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country^(H) to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob,^(I) “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.’^{(J) 8} Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you:^{(K) 9} Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats,^(L) so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it.^{(M) 10} Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing^(N) before he dies.”

¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man^(O) while I have smooth skin. ¹² What if my father touches me?^(P) I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse^(Q) on myself rather than a blessing.”

¹³ His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me.^(R) Just do what I say;^(S) 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.^{(T) 15} Then Rebekah took the best clothes^(U) of Esau her older son,^(V) 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.^{(W) 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?”^(X)

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn.^(Y) I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game,^(Z) so that you may give me your blessing.”^(AA)

²⁰ Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

“The Lord your God gave me success,^(AB)” he replied.

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you,^(AC) my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob went close to his father Isaac,^(AD) who touched^(AE) 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;^(AF) 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.”^(AG)

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 kissed^(AH) him^(AI). When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes,^(AJ) he blessed him and said,

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.”^(AS)

³² His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”^(AT)

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.^(AU)”

³³ Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me?^(AV) I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!^(AW)”

³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry^(AX) and said to his father, “Bless^(AY) me—me too, my father!”

³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully^(AZ) and took your blessing.”^(BA)

³⁶ Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob^[a]?^(BB) This is the second time he has taken advantage of^(BC) me: He took my birthright,^(BD) and now he’s taken my blessing!”^(BE) Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine.^(BF) So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.^(BG)

³⁹ His father Isaac answered him,^(BH)

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge^(BN) against Jacob^(BO) because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning^(BP) for my father are near; then I will kill^(BQ) my brother Jacob.”^(BR)

⁴² When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau^(BS) had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you.^{(BT) 43} Now then, my son, do what I say:^(BU) Flee at once to my brother Laban^(BV) in Harran.^{(BW) 44} Stay with him for a while^(BX) until your brother’s fury subsides. ⁴⁵ When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him,^(BY) I’ll send word for you to come back from there.^(BZ) Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite^(CA) women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land,^(CB) from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”^(CC)

28 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed^(CD) him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.^{(CE) 2} Go at once to Paddan Aram,^[b](CF) to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel.^(CG) Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.^{(CH) 3} May God Almighty^[c](CI) bless^(CJ) you and make you fruitful^(CK) and increase your numbers^(CL) until you become a community of peoples. ⁴ May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham,^(CM) so that you may take possession of the land^(CN) where you now reside as a foreigner,^(CO) the land God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,^(CP) and he went to Paddan Aram,^(CQ) to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,^(CR) the brother of Rebekah,^(CS) who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”^{(CT) 7} and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. ⁸ Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women^(CU) were to his father Isaac;^{(CV) 9} so he went to Ishmael^(CW) and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth^(CX) and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.^(CY)

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba^(CZ) and set out for Harran.^{(DA) 11} When he reached a certain place,^(DB) he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head^(DC) and lay down to sleep. ¹² He had a dream^(DD) in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.^{(DE) 13} There above it^[d] stood the Lord,^(DF) and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.^(DG) I will give you and your descendants the land^(DH) on which you are lying.^{(DI) 14} Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you^(DJ) will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.^(DK) All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.^{[e](DL) 15} I am with you^(DM) and will watch over you^(DN) wherever you go,^(DO) and I will bring you back to this land.^(DP) I will not leave you^(DQ) until I have done what I have promised you.^(DR)”^(DS)

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep,^(DT) he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!^(DU) This is none other than the house of God;^(DV) this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head^(DW) and set it up as a pillar^(DX) and poured oil on top of it.^{(DY) 19} He called that place Bethel,^[f](DZ) though the city used to be called Luz.^(EA)

²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow,^(EB) saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me^(EC) on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear^{(ED) 21} so that I return safely^(EE) to my father’s household,^(EF) then the Lord^[g] will be my God^{(EG) 22} and^[h] this stone that I have set up as a pillar^(EH) will be God’s house,^(EI) and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.^(EJ)”

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^{(A) 17} For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{[a](B) 18} Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(C)

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(D) “Then why does God still blame us?^(E) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(F) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(G) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(H) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[b](I) 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(J)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(K) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(L) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(M) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(N)— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called,^(O) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^{(P) 25} As he says in Hosea:

²⁶ and,

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say?^(X) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^{(Y) 31} but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(Z) have not attained their goal.^{(AA) 32} Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^{(AB) 33} As it is written: