Genesis 27-29 (Contemporary English Version)

Genesis 27

Isaac Blesses Jacob

 ¹After Isaac had become old and almost blind, he called in his first-born son Esau, who asked him, "Father, what can I do for you?"

    ²Isaac replied, "I am old and might die at any time. ³So take your bow and arrows, then go out in the fields, and kill a wild animal. ⁴Cook some of that tasty food that I love so much and bring it to me. I want to eat it once more and give you my blessing before I die."

    ⁵Rebekah had been listening, and as soon as Esau left to go hunting, ⁶she said to Jacob, "I heard your father tell Esau ⁷to kill a wild animal and cook some tasty food for your father before he dies. Your father said this because he wants to bless your brother with the LORD as his witness. ⁸Now, my son, listen carefully to what I want you to do. ⁹Go and kill two of your best young goats and bring them to me. I'll cook the tasty food that your father loves so much. ¹⁰Then you can take it to him, so he can eat it and give you his blessing before he dies."

    ¹¹"My brother Esau is a hairy man," Jacob reminded her. "And I am not. ¹²If my father touches me and realizes I am trying to trick him, he will put a curse on me instead of giving me a blessing."

    ¹³Rebekah insisted, "Let his curse fall on me! Just do what I say and bring me the meat." ¹⁴So Jacob brought the meat to his mother, and she cooked the tasty food that his father liked. ¹⁵Then she took Esau's best clothes and put them on Jacob. ¹⁶She also covered the smooth part of his hands and neck with goatskins ¹⁷and gave him some bread and the tasty food she had cooked.

    ¹⁸Jacob went to his father and said, "Father, here I am."

   "Which one of my sons are you?" his father asked.

    ¹⁹Jacob replied, "I am Esau, your first-born, and I have done what you told me. Please sit up and eat the meat I have brought. Then you can give me your blessing."

    ²⁰Isaac asked, "My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?"

   "The LORD your God was kind to me," Jacob answered.

    ²¹"My son," Isaac said, "come closer, where I can touch you and find out if you really are Esau." ²²Jacob went closer. His father touched him and said, "You sound like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy like Esau's." ²³And so Isaac blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.

    ²⁴Isaac asked, "Are you really my son Esau?"

   "Yes, I am," Jacob answered.

    ²⁵So Isaac told him, "Serve me the wild meat, and I can give you my blessing."

   Jacob gave him some meat, and he ate it. He also gave him some wine, and he drank it. ²⁶Then Isaac said, "Son, come over here and kiss me." ²⁷While Jacob was kissing him, Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and said:

   "The smell of my son

   is like a field

   the LORD has blessed.

    ²⁸God will bless you, my son,

   with dew from heaven

   and with fertile fields,

   rich with grain and grapes.

    ²⁹Nations will be your servants

   and bow down to you.

   You will rule over your brothers,

   and they will kneel

   at your feet.

   Anyone who curses you

   will be cursed;

   anyone who blesses you

   will be blessed."

    ³⁰Right after Isaac had given Jacob his blessing and Jacob had gone, Esau came back from hunting. ³¹He cooked the tasty food, brought it to his father, and said, "Father, please sit up and eat the meat I have brought you, so you can give me your blessing."

    ³²"Who are you?" Isaac asked.

   "I am Esau, your first-born son."

    ³³Isaac started trembling and said, "Then who brought me some wild meat right before you came in? I ate it and gave him a blessing that cannot be taken back."

    ³⁴Esau cried loudly and begged, "Father, give me a blessing too!"

    ³⁵Isaac answered, "Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing."

    ³⁶Esau replied, "My brother deserves the name Jacob, ^[a] because he has already cheated me twice. The first time he cheated me out of my rights as the first-born son, and now he has cheated me out of my blessing." Then Esau asked his father, "Don't you still have any blessing left for me?" ³⁷"My son," Isaac answered, "I have made Jacob the ruler over you and your brothers, and all of you will be his servants. I have also promised him all the grain and grapes that he needs. There's nothing left that I can do for you."

    ³⁸"Father," Esau asked, "don't you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!" Then Esau started crying again.

    ³⁹So his father said:

   "Your home will be far

   from that fertile land,

   where dew comes down

   from the heavens.

    ⁴⁰You will live by the power

   of your sword

   and be your brother's slave.

   But when you decide to be free,

   you will break loose."

    ⁴¹Esau hated his brother Jacob because he had stolen the blessing that was supposed to be his. So he said to himself, "Just as soon as my father dies, I'll kill Jacob."

    ⁴²When Rebekah found out what Esau planned to do, she sent for Jacob and told him, "Son, your brother Esau is just waiting for the time when he can kill you. ⁴³Now listen carefully and do what I say. Go to the home of my brother Laban in Haran ⁴⁴and stay with him for a while. When Esau stops being angry ⁴⁵and forgets what you have done to him, I'll send for you to come home. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?" ^{[b] 46}Rebekah later told Isaac, "Those Hittite wives of Esau are making my life miserable! If Jacob marries a Hittite woman, I'd be better off dead."

   

Genesis 28

Isaac's Instructions to Jacob

 ¹Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said:

   Don't marry any of those Canaanite women. ²Go at once to your mother's father Bethuel in northern Syria ^[c] and choose a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. ³I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation. ⁴May he bless you with the land he gave Abraham, so that you will take over this land where we now live as foreigners. ⁵Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah's brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.

   

Esau Marries the Daughter of Ishmael

 ⁶Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and had warned him not to marry any of the Canaanite women. He also learned that Jacob had been sent to find a wife in northern Syria ^{[d] 7}and that he had obeyed his father and mother. ⁸Esau already had several wives, but he realized at last how much his father hated the Canaanite women. ⁹So he married Ishmael's daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth ^[e] and the granddaughter of Abraham.

Jacob's Dream at Bethel

 ¹⁰Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran. ¹¹At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock. ¹²In a dream he saw a ladder ^[f] that reached from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it. ¹³The LORD was standing beside the ladder ^[g] and said: I am the LORD God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. ¹⁴Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. ^{[h] 15}Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you--I will do all I have promised. ¹⁶Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, "The LORD is in this place, and I didn't even know it." ¹⁷Then Jacob became frightened and said, "This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder ^[i] to heaven." ¹⁸When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God, ¹⁹and he named the place Bethel. ^[j] Before that it had been named Luz. ²⁰Jacob solemnly promised God, "If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothes ²¹and bring me safely home again, you will be my God. ²²This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me."

   

Genesis 29

Jacob Arrives at Laban's Home

 ¹As Jacob continued on his way to the east, ²he looked out in a field and saw a well where shepherds took their sheep for water. Three flocks of sheep were lying around the well, which was covered with a large rock. ³Shepherds would roll the rock away when all their sheep had gathered there. Then after the sheep had been watered, the shepherds would roll the rock back over the mouth of the well.

    ⁴Jacob asked the shepherds, "Where are you from?"

   "We're from Haran," they answered.

    ⁵Then he asked, "Do you know Nahor's grandson Laban?"

   "Yes we do," they replied.

    ⁶"How is he?" Jacob asked.

   "He's fine," they answered. "And here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

    ⁷Jacob told them, "Look, the sun is still high up in the sky, and it's too early to bring in the rest of the flocks. Water your sheep and take them back to the pasture."

    ⁸But they replied, "We can't do that until they all get here, and the rock has been rolled away from the well."

    ⁹While Jacob was still talking with the men, his cousin Rachel came up with her father's sheep. ¹⁰When Jacob saw her and his uncle's sheep, he rolled the rock away and watered the sheep. ¹¹He then kissed Rachel and started crying because he was so happy. ¹²He told her that he was the son of her aunt Rebekah, and she ran and told her father about him.

    ¹³As soon as Laban heard the news, he ran out to meet Jacob. He hugged and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him everything that had happened. ¹⁴Laban said, "You are my nephew, and you are like one of my own family."

   After Jacob had been there for a month,

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

 ¹⁵Laban said to him, "You shouldn't have to work without pay, just because you are a relative of mine. What do you want me to give you?"

    ^16-17Laban had two daughters. Leah was older than Rachel, but her eyes didn't sparkle, ^[k] while Rachel was beautiful and had a good figure. ¹⁸Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he answered, "If you will let me marry Rachel, I'll work seven years for you." ¹⁹Laban replied, "It's better for me to let you marry Rachel than for someone else to have her. So stay and work for me." ²⁰Jacob worked seven years for Laban, but the time seemed like only a few days, because he loved Rachel so much.

    ²¹Jacob said to Laban, "The time is up, and I want to marry Rachel now!" ²²So Laban gave a big feast and invited all their neighbors. ²³But that evening he brought Leah to Jacob, who married her and spent the night with her. ²⁴Laban also gave Zilpah to Leah as her servant woman.

    ²⁵The next morning Jacob found out that he had married Leah, and he asked Laban, "Why did you do this to me? Didn't I work to get Rachel? Why did you trick me?"

    ²⁶Laban replied, "In our country the older daughter must get married first. ²⁷After you spend this week ^[l] with Leah, you may also marry Rachel. But you will have to work for me another seven years." ^28-30At the end of the week of celebration, Laban let Jacob marry Rachel, and he gave her his servant woman Bilhah. Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah, but he had to work another seven years for Laban.

    ³¹The LORD knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah, and so he gave children to Leah, but not to Rachel. ³²Leah gave birth to a son and named him Reuben, ^[m] because she said, "The LORD has taken away my sorrow. Now my husband will love me more than he does Rachel." ³³She had a second son and named him Simeon, ^[n] because she said, "The LORD has heard that my husband doesn't love me." ³⁴When Leah's third son was born, she said, "Now my husband will hold me close." So this son was named Levi. ^{[o] 35}She had one more son and named him Judah, ^[p] because she said, "I'll praise the LORD!"