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Genesis 25:19-28:9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Birth and Youth of Esau and Jacob

19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.(A) 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.(B) 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?”[a] So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other;
    the elder shall serve the younger.”(C)

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 like a hairy mantle, so they named him Esau.(D) 26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob.[b] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.(E)

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.(F) 28 Isaac loved Esau because he was fond of game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.[c]) 31 Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.(G) 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Isaac and Abimelech

26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines.(H) 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac[d] and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you.(I) 3 Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.(J) 4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring,(K) 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “or else the men of the place might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is attractive in appearance.”(L) 8 When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why, then, did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might die because of her.” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”(M) 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

12 Isaac sowed seed in that land and in the same year reaped a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,(N) 13 and the man became rich; he prospered more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.(O) 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped up and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.)(P) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Wadi Gerar and settled there. 18 Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he gave them the names that his father had given them.(Q) 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herders of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herders, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the well Esek,[e] because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also, so he called it Sitnah.[f] 22 He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it, so he called it Rehoboth,[g] saying, “Now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”(R)

23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba. 24 And 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 and will bless you and make your offspring numerous for my servant Abraham’s sake.”(S) 25 So he built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.(T)

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.(U) 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”(V) 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you, so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you(W) 29 so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths, and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.(X) 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water!” 33 He called it Shibah;[h] therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba[i] to this day.(Y)

Esau’s Hittite Wives

34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite,(Z) 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.(AA)

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, “My son,” and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.(AB) 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me.(AC) 4 Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”(AD)

5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game for his father,[j] 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food to eat, that I may bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you.(AE) 9 Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he likes, 10 and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin.(AF) 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”(AG) 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go, get them for me.”(AH) 14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob,(AI) 16 and she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she handed the savory food and the bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob.

18 So he went in 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 as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.”(AJ) 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”(AK) 22 So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands, so he blessed him.(AL) 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it to him, and he ate, and he brought him wine, and he drank.(AM) 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son
    is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.(AN)
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven
    and of the fatness of the earth
    and plenty of grain and wine.(AO)
29 Let peoples serve you
    and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
    and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
    and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”(AP)

Esau’s Lost Blessing

30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau came in from his hunting. 31 He also prepared savory food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father sit up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”(AQ) 32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your firstborn son, Esau.”(AR) 33 Then Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him?—yes, and blessed he shall be!”(AS) 34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, father!”(AT) 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?[k] For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and look, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”(AU) 37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have already made him your lord, and I have given him all his brothers as servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”(AV) 38 Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.(AW)

39 Then his father Isaac answered him:

“See, away from the fatness of the earth shall your home be
    and away from the dew of heaven on high.(AX)
40 By your sword you shall live,
    and you shall serve your brother,
but when you break loose,[l]
    you shall break his yoke from your neck.”(AY)

Jacob Escapes Esau’s Fury

41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”(AZ) 42 But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah, so she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,(BA) 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— 45 until your brother’s anger against you turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”(BB)

28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women.(BC) 2 Go at once to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.(BD) 3 May God Almighty[m] bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples.(BE) 4 May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, land that God gave to Abraham.”(BF) 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Esau Marries Ishmael’s Daughter

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there and that as he blessed him he charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women,”(BG) 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please his father Isaac,(BH) 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.(BI)

Footnotes

  1. 25.22 Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 25.26 That is, he takes by the heel or he supplants
  3. 25.30 That is, red
  4. 26.2 Heb him
  5. 26.20 That is, contention
  6. 26.21 That is, enmity
  7. 26.22 That is, broad places or room
  8. 26.33 In Heb Shibah resembles the word for oath
  9. 26.33 That is, well of the oath or well of seven
  10. 27.5 Gk: Heb to bring
  11. 27.36 That is, he supplants or he takes by the heel
  12. 27.40 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  13. 28.3 Traditional rendering of Heb El Shaddai
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Genesis 25:19-28:9
New International Version

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,

“Two nations(K) are in your womb,
    and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
    and the older will serve the younger.(L)”

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. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game,(X) loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.(Y)

29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew,(Z) Esau came in from the open country,(AA) famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!(AB) I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[d])(AC)

31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.(AD)”

32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

33 But Jacob said, “Swear(AE) to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright(AF) to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.(AG) He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

Isaac and Abimelek(AH)

26 Now there was a famine in the land(AI)—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines(AJ) in Gerar.(AK) 2 The Lord appeared(AL) to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt;(AM) live in the land where I tell you to live.(AN) 3 Stay in this land for a while,(AO) and I will be with you(AP) and will bless you.(AQ) For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands(AR) and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.(AS) 4 I will make your descendants(AT) as numerous as the stars in the sky(AU) and will give them all these lands,(AV) and through your offspring[e] all nations on earth will be blessed,[f](AW) 5 because Abraham obeyed me(AX) and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees(AY) and my instructions.(AZ)” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.(BA)

7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,(BB)” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines(BC) looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?(BD)”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”

10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us?(BE) One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms(BF) this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”(BG)

12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold,(BH) because the Lord blessed him.(BI) 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.(BJ) 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants(BK) that the Philistines envied him.(BL) 15 So all the wells(BM) that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up,(BN) filling them with earth.

16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us;(BO) you have become too powerful for us.(BP)”

17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar,(BQ) where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells(BR) that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled(BS) with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!”(BT) So he named the well Esek,[g] because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled(BU) over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.[h] 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,[i](BV) saying, “Now the Lord has given us room(BW) and we will flourish(BX) in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba.(BY) 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.(BZ) Do not be afraid,(CA) for I am with you;(CB) I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants(CC) for the sake of my servant Abraham.”(CD)

25 Isaac built an altar(CE) there and called on the name of the Lord.(CF) There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.(CG)

26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.(CH) 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?(CI)”

28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;(CJ) so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty(CK) with you 29 that you will do us no harm,(CL) just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”(CM)

30 Isaac then made a feast(CN) for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath(CO) to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well(CP) they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33 He called it Shibah,[j] and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.[k](CQ)

Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing

34 When Esau was forty years old,(CR) he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.(CS) 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.(CT)

27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see,(CU) he called for Esau his older son(CV) 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.(CW) 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country(CX) to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like(CY) and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing(CZ) before I die.”(DA)

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

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

13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me.(DL) Just do what I say;(DM) 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.(DN) 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes(DO) of Esau her older son,(DP) 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.(DQ) 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?”(DR)

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

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

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

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

22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac,(DX) who touched(DY) 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;(DZ) 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.”(EA)

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(EB) him(EC). When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes,(ED) he blessed him and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son
    is like the smell of a field
    that the Lord has blessed.(EE)
28 May God give you heaven’s dew(EF)
    and earth’s richness(EG)—
    an abundance of grain(EH) and new wine.(EI)
29 May nations serve you
    and peoples bow down to you.(EJ)
Be lord over your brothers,
    and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.(EK)
May those who curse you be cursed
    and those who bless you be blessed.(EL)”

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.”(EM)

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

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

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

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

35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully(ET) and took your blessing.”(EU)

36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob[l]?(EV) This is the second time he has taken advantage of(EW) me: He took my birthright,(EX) and now he’s taken my blessing!”(EY) 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.(EZ) 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.(FA)

39 His father Isaac answered him,(FB)

“Your dwelling will be
    away from the earth’s richness,
    away from the dew(FC) of heaven above.(FD)
40 You will live by the sword
    and you will serve(FE) your brother.(FF)
But when you grow restless,
    you will throw his yoke
    from off your neck.(FG)”

41 Esau held a grudge(FH) against Jacob(FI) because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning(FJ) for my father are near; then I will kill(FK) my brother Jacob.”(FL)

42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau(FM) had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you.(FN) 43 Now then, my son, do what I say:(FO) Flee at once to my brother Laban(FP) in Harran.(FQ) 44 Stay with him for a while(FR) until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him,(FS) I’ll send word for you to come back from there.(FT) 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(FU) women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land,(FV) from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”(FW)

28 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed(FX) him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.(FY) 2 Go at once to Paddan Aram,[m](FZ) to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel.(GA) Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.(GB) 3 May God Almighty[n](GC) bless(GD) you and make you fruitful(GE) and increase your numbers(GF) until you become a community of peoples. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham,(GG) so that you may take possession of the land(GH) where you now reside as a foreigner,(GI) the land God gave to Abraham.” 5 Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,(GJ) and he went to Paddan Aram,(GK) to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,(GL) the brother of Rebekah,(GM) 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,”(GN) 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(GO) were to his father Isaac;(GP) 9 so he went to Ishmael(GQ) and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth(GR) and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.(GS)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 25:20 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
  2. Genesis 25:25 Esau may mean hairy.
  3. Genesis 25:26 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives.
  4. Genesis 25:30 Edom means red.
  5. Genesis 26:4 Or seed
  6. Genesis 26:4 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20)
  7. Genesis 26:20 Esek means dispute.
  8. Genesis 26:21 Sitnah means opposition.
  9. Genesis 26:22 Rehoboth means room.
  10. Genesis 26:33 Shibah can mean oath or seven.
  11. Genesis 26:33 Beersheba can mean well of the oath and well of seven.
  12. Genesis 27:36 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
  13. Genesis 28:2 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7
  14. Genesis 28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai
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