The Righteous Are Bold as a Lion

Isaac and Abimelech

26 There was a famine in the land, besides ^(A)the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to ^(B)Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

² Then the Lord appeared to him and said: ^(C)“Do not go down to Egypt; live in ^(D)the land of which I shall tell you. ^3 (E)Dwell in this land, and ^(F)I will be with you and ^(G)bless you; for to you and your descendants ^(H)I give all these lands, and I will perform ^(I)the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ And ^(J)I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; ^(K)and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; ^5 (L)because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷ And the men of the place asked about his wife. And ^(M)he said, “She is my sister”; for ^(N)he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is ^(O)beautiful to behold.” ⁸ Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, ^[a]showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”

¹⁰ And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and ^(P)you would have brought guilt on us.” ¹¹ So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who ^(Q)touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year ^(R)a hundredfold; and the Lord ^(S)blessed him. ¹³ The man ^(T)began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; ¹⁴ for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines ^(U)envied him. ¹⁵ Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells ^(V)which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. ¹⁶ And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for ^(W)you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷ Then Isaac departed from there and ^[b]pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. ¹⁸ And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. ^(X)He called them by the names which his father had called them.

¹⁹ Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. ²⁰ But the herdsmen of Gerar ^(Y)quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well ^[c]Esek, because they quarreled with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name ^[d]Sitnah. ²² And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name ^[e]Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall ^(Z)be fruitful in the land.”

²³ Then he went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴ And the Lord ^(AA)appeared to him the same night and said, ^(AB)“I am the God of your father Abraham; ^(AC)do not fear, for ^(AD)I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” ²⁵ So he ^(AE)built an altar there and ^(AF)called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶ Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, ^(AG)and Phichol the commander of his army. ²⁷ And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, ^(AH)since you hate me and have ^(AI)sent me away from you?”

²⁸ But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord ^(AJ)is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a ^[f]covenant with you, ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. ^(AK)You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ”

^30 (AL)So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Then they arose early in the morning and ^(AM)swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

³² It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³ So he called it ^[g]Shebah. ^(AN)Therefore the name of the city is ^[h]Beersheba to this day.

^34 (AO)When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵ And ^(AP)they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was ^(AQ)old and ^(AR)his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”

² Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I ^(AS)do not know the day of my death. ^3 (AT)Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. ⁴ And make me ^[i]savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul ^(AU)may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. ⁶ So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me game and make ^[j]savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ Now therefore, my son, ^(AV)obey my voice according to what I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make ^(AW)savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he ^(AX)may bless you before his death.”

¹¹ And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, ^(AY)Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. ¹² Perhaps my father will ^(AZ)feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring ^(BA)a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³ But his mother said to him, ^(BB)“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” ¹⁴ And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother ^(BC)made ^[k]savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took ^(BD)the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ So he went 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 just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, ^(BE)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?”

And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I ^(BF)may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he 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 ^(BG)his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

²⁴ Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so ^(BH)that my soul may 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 now and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ And he came near and ^(BI)kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

Esau’s Lost Hope^(BR)

³⁰ Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also had made ^[l]savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and ^(BS)eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

³² And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³ Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—^(BT)and indeed he shall be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, ^(BU)he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”

³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶ And Esau said, ^(BV)“Is he not rightly named ^[m]Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, ^(BW)“Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with ^(BX)grain and wine I have ^[n]sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

³⁸ And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice ^(BY)and wept.

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

Jacob Escapes from Esau

⁴¹ So Esau ^(CC)hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, ^(CD)“The days of mourning for my father ^[p]are at hand; ^(CE)then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau ^(CF)comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban ^(CG)in Haran. ⁴⁴ And stay with him a ^(CH)few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ And Rebekah said to Isaac, ^(CI)“I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; ^(CJ)if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”