Jacob and Esau

¹⁹ This is the account^(A) of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old^(B) when he married Rebekah^(C) daughter of Bethuel^(D) the Aramean from Paddan Aram^[a](E) and sister of Laban^(F) the Aramean.^(G)

²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.^(H) The Lord answered his prayer,^(I) 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.^(J)

²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth,^(M) there were twin boys in her womb.^{(N) 25} The first to come out was red,^(O) and his whole body was like a hairy garment;^(P) so they named him Esau.^{[b](Q) 26} After this, his brother came out,^(R) with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;^(S) so he was named Jacob.^[c](T) Isaac was sixty years old^(U) when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,^(V) a man of the open country,^(W) while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.^{(B) 3} So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^(D) through the body of Christ,^(E) that you might belong to another,^(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a](G) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(H) were at work in us,^(I) so that we bore fruit for death.^{(J) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(L)