Beginning

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called Esau his oldest son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”

² He said, “I am old. I do not know the day of my death. ³ Therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. ⁴ And prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for wild game and bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me wild game, and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock, and get me two choice young goats, so that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ Then you will take it to your father, so that he may eat and so that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹ But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin. ¹² Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I will bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³ His mother said to him, “Let your curse be upon me, my son. Only listen to me and go get them for me.”

¹⁴ He went and got them and brought them to his mother. Then his mother prepared savory food such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best clothes belonging to her older son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶ Then she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She put the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hands of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ He came to his father and said, “My father.”

And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done just as you asked me. Please arise, sit and eat of my wild game, so that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰ 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, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob went near to his father Isaac, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, just like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴ He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

And he said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s wild game, so that my soul may bless you.”

And he brought it near to him, and he ate. He also brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷ He came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him and said,

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had barely gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also had prepared savory food and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s wild game, so that your soul may bless me.”

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

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

³³ Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who? Where then is he who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him. Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

³⁵ He said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶ Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now 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, “I have made him your lord, and I have given to him all his brothers as servants; and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What can I now do for you, my son?”

³⁸ And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father!” Then Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹ Isaac his father answered and said to him,

Jacob Escapes From Esau

⁴¹ So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² These words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Your brother Esau consoles himself regarding you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, listen to me and get up and flee to Laban, my brother in Harran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days until your brother’s fury subsides, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger against you turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, such as these who are of the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

28 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Then he charged him and said to him, “You must not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ² Arise, go to Paddan Aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. ³ May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of people. ⁴ May He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land where you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

⁶ Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You must not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. ⁸ Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father. ⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, in addition to the wives he had.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰ Then Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Harran. ¹¹ He came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² He dreamed and saw a ladder set up on the earth with the top of it reaching to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ The Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, to you will I give it and to your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and in your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁵ Remember, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.”

¹⁶ Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ So Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel, but previously the name of the city was called Luz.

²⁰ Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will protect me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, ²¹ so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord will be my God. ²² Then this stone, which I have set for a pillar, will be the house of God, and from all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Jacob Meets Rachel

29 Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east. ² As he looked, he saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. A large stone was on the well’s opening. ³ When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds rolled the stone from the well’s opening, watered the sheep, then put the stone back on the well’s opening in its place.

⁴ Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?”

And they said, “We are from Harran.”

⁵ Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?”

And they said, “We know him.”

⁶ He said to them, “Is he well?”

And they said, “He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.”

⁷ He said, “Since it is yet midday, it is not the time that the livestock should be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

⁸ They said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the well’s opening. Then we may water the sheep.”

⁹ While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s opening and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ¹¹ Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. ¹² Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. Then she ran and told her father.

¹³ When Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then Jacob told Laban all these things. ¹⁴ Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.”

And he stayed with him for a month. ¹⁵ Laban said to Jacob, “Since you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah’s eyes were tender, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”

¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, so that I may have relations with her.”

²² Laban gathered together all the men of the place and prepared a feast. ²³ But in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob had relations with her. ²⁴ Laban gave Zilpah his maid to his daughter Leah for a maidservant.

²⁵ In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah, and he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have you tricked me?”

²⁶ Then Laban said, “It is not the custom in our country to marry off the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷ Fulfill the period of seven days for this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”

²⁸ Jacob did so and completed her week. Then Laban gave him Rachel his daughter as his wife also. ²⁹ Laban gave Bilhah his maidservant to Rachel his daughter to be her maid. ³⁰ So Jacob also had relations with Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served Laban another seven years.

Jacob’s Children

³¹ When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³² Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Surely the Lord has looked upon my affliction. Now therefore my husband will love me.”

³³ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I was unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” Then she called his name Simeon.

³⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.

³⁵ She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now I will praise the Lord!” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped giving birth.