The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(A)the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ^2 (B)And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3 (C)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^(D)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[c]

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from ^(E)Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram ^(F)passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^(G)the oak^[d] of ^(H)Moreh. At that time ^(I)the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(J)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^(K)Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

God's Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^(A)“Fear not, Abram, I am ^(B)your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue^[a] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^(C)a member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^(D)your very own son^[b] shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^(E)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^(F)“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And ^(G)he believed the Lord, and ^(H)he counted it to him as righteousness.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;^[a] walk before me, and be ^(A)blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and ^(B)may multiply you greatly.” ³ Then Abram ^(C)fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(D)the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram,^[b] but ^(E)your name shall be Abraham,^{[c] (F)}for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make ^(G)you into nations, and ^(H)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(I)establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, ^(J)to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸ And ^(K)I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and ^(L)I will be their God.”

Isaac's Birth Promised

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah^[a] shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover, I will ^(A)give^[b] you a son by her. I will bless her, and ^(B)she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(C)fell on his face ^(D)and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹ God said, “No, but ^(E)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name ^(F)Isaac.^[c] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

18 And the Lord appeared to him by the ^(A)oaks^[a] of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. ² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. ^(B)When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth ³ and said, “O Lord,^[b] if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. ⁴ Let a ^(C)little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, ⁵ while I bring a morsel of bread, that ^(D)you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—^(E)since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” ⁶ And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs^[c] of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” ⁷ And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. ⁸ Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is ^(F)in the tent.” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you ^(G)about this time next year, and ^(H)Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(I)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ^12 (J)So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ^(K)“After I am worn out, and ^(L)my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ^14 (M)Is anything too hard^[d] for the Lord? ^(N)At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it,^[e] saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹ These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: ^(A)Abraham fathered Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, ^(B)the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of ^(C)Paddan-aram, ^(D)the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And ^(E)the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²² The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”^[a] So she went ^(F)to inquire of the Lord. ²³ And the Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red, ^(J)all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out with ^(K)his hand holding Esau's heel, so ^(L)his name was called Jacob.^[c] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau was ^(M)a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, ^(N)dwelling in tents. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau because ^(O)he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.^[d]) ³¹ Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” ³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and ^(P)sold his birthright to Jacob. 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 Blesses Jacob

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

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ ⁸ Now therefore, my son, ^(D)obey my voice as I command you. ⁹ Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ And you shall bring it to your father to eat, ^(E)so that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹ But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, ^(F)my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹² Perhaps my father ^(G)will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring ^(H)a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” ¹³ His mother said to him, ^(I)“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

¹⁴ So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the ^(J)best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶ And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of 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, that your soul may bless me.” 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, “Please come near, that I ^(K)may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ And he did not recognize him, because ^(L)his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. ^(M)So he blessed him. ²⁴ He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” ²⁵ Then he said, “Bring it near to me, ^(N)that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments ^(O)and blessed him and said,

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.” ³² His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac trembled very 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 he shall be blessed.” ³⁴ As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, ^(V)he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Esau said, ^(W)“Is he not rightly named Jacob?^[a] For he has cheated me these two times. ^(X)He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, ^(Y)I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and ^(Z)with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And ^(AA)Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.”