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Genesis 25:19-34
New King James Version
Genesis 25:19-34
New King James Version
19 This is the (A)genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. (B)Abraham begot Isaac. 20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, (C)the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, (D)the sister of Laban the Syrian. 21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; (E)and the Lord granted his plea, (F)and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” (G)So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said to her:
(H)“Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than (I)the other,
(J)And the older shall serve the younger.”
24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was (K)like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name [a]Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and (L)his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so (M)his name was called [b]Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 So the boys grew. And Esau was (N)a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was (O)a [c]mild man, (P)dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau because he (Q)ate of his game, (R)but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Esau Sells His Birthright(S)
29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called [d]Edom.
31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so (T)what is this birthright to me?”
33 Then Jacob said, [e]“Swear to me as of this day.”
So he swore to him, and (U)sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then (V)he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau (W)despised his birthright.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 25:25 Lit. Hairy
- Genesis 25:26 Supplanter or Deceitful, lit. One Who Takes the Heel
- Genesis 25:27 Lit. complete
- Genesis 25:30 Lit. Red
- Genesis 25:33 Take an oath
Genesis 25:19-34
New International Version
Genesis 25:19-34
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.
Footnotes
- Genesis 25:20 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
- Genesis 25:25 Esau may mean hairy.
- Genesis 25:26 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives.
- Genesis 25:30 Edom means red.
Genesis 30:36-31:2
New King James Version
Genesis 30:36-31:2
New King James Version
36 Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Now (A)Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. 38 And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. 40 Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man (B)became exceedingly prosperous, and (C)had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
Jacob Flees from Laban
31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this (D)wealth.” 2 And Jacob saw the (E)countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not (F)favorable toward him as before.
Genesis 30:36-31:2
New International Version
Genesis 30:36-31:2
New International Version
36 Then he put a three-day journey(A) between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond(B) and plane trees(C) and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.(D) 38 Then he placed the peeled branches(E) in all the watering troughs,(F) so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat(G) and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches.(H) And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.(I) 40 Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals(J) that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. 41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat,(K) Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,(L) 42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.(M) 43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.(N)
Jacob Flees From Laban
31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons(O) were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”(P) 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.(Q)
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.