Old/New Testament
The Theft of Esau’s Blessing
27 Eventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see.[a] One day, he called his eldest son Esau. “My son,” he called out to him. 2 “Look how old I am! I could die any day now,[b] 3 so go find your weapons, take your bow and arrows, go outside, and hunt some game for me. 4 Then prepare some food, just the way I like it, and bring it to me so that I can eat and bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah overheard Isaac while he was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out to the field to hunt and bring in some game, 6 Rebekah gave these instructions to her son Jacob: “Quick! Pay attention!” she said. “I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He told him, 7 ‘Bring me some game and then prepare some food for me so I can eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8 So now, my son, listen to what I have to say and pay attention to what I’m about to tell you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two healthy young goats. I’ll prepare some delicious food for your father, just the way he loves it. 10 Then you are to take it to your father so that he can eat and bless you before he dies.”
11 “But look!” Jacob pointed out to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I’m smooth skinned. 12 My father might touch me and he’ll realize that I’m deceiving him. Then, I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”
13 “My son,” she replied, “let any curse against you fall on me. Just listen to me, then go and get them for me.” 14 So out he went, got them, and brought them to his mother, who then prepared some delicious food, just the way his father liked it.
Rebekah and Jacob Deceive Isaac
15 Then Rebekah took some garments that belonged to her elder son Esau—the best ones available—and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She put some goat skins over his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she handed the delicious food and bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob, 18 who went to his father and said, “My father…”
“It’s me!” he replied. “Which one are you, my son?”
19 “I’m Esau, your firstborn!” Jacob told his father. “I’ve done what you asked, so please sit up and eat what I caught, so you can bless me.”
20 “How did you get it so quickly, my son?” Isaac asked.
Jacob[c] responded, “…because the Lord your God made me successful.”
21 So Isaac told Jacob, “Come here, my son, so I can feel you and know for sure whether or not you’re my son Esau.”
22 So Jacob approached his father, who felt him and said, “It’s Jacob’s voice, but Esau’s hands.” 23 He didn’t recognize Jacob,[d] because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau, so Isaac[e] blessed him.
24 He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
“I am,” Jacob[f] replied.
25 “Come closer to me,” Isaac replied, “so I can eat some of the game, my son, and then bless you.” So Jacob came closer, and Isaac ate. Jacob also brought wine so his father[g] could drink. 26 After this, Jacob’s father Isaac told him, “Come closer and kiss me, my son.” 27 So Jacob[h] drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac[i] smelled the scent of his son’s[j] clothes, he blessed him and said,
“How my son’s scent is the fragrance of the field
that the Lord has blessed.
28 May the Lord grant you dew from the skies,[k]
and from the fertile land;
may he grant you[l]
abundant grain and fresh wine.
29 May people serve and bow before you;
may you be master over your brothers;
may your mother’s sons bow before you;
may anyone who curses you be cursed;
and may anyone who blesses you be blessed.”
Esau Learns of Isaac’s Deception
30 Just after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, Jacob’s[m] brother Esau returned from hunting, 31 prepared some delicious food, brought it to his father, and told him, “Can you get up now, father, so you may eat some of your son’s game and then bless me?”
32 But his father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I’m Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
33 At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. “Who then,” he asked, “hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I’ve blessed him? Indeed, he is blessed.”
34 When Esau realized[n] what his father Isaac was saying, he began to wail out loud bitterly. “Bless me,” he cried, “even me, too, my father!”
35 Isaac[o] replied, “Your brother came here deceitfully and stole your blessing.”
36 Then he said, “Isn’t his name rightly called Jacob?”[p] Esau asked. “He has circumvented me this second time. First,[q] he took away my birthright, and now, look how he also stole my blessing.” Then he added, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
37 In response, Isaac told Esau, “Look! I’ve predicted that he’s going[r] to become your master, and I’ve assigned all his brothers to be his servants. What then can I do for you, my son?”
38 Then Esau implored his father, “Don’t you have even one blessing for me, my father? Bless me, even me too, my father!” Then Esau lifted his voice and wept bitterly.
39 At this, his father Isaac replied to him,
“Look! Away from the fertile land will be your dwellings;
away from the dew of the skies above.
40 By your sword you’ll live;
but you’ll serve your brother.
But when you’ve become restless,
you’ll break off his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself,[s] “The time[t] to mourn for my father is very near. That’s when I’m going to kill my brother Jacob.”
42 Eventually, what Rebekah’s older son Esau had been saying was reported to her, so she sent for her younger son Jacob and warned him, “Look! Your brother is planning to get even by killing you.[u] 43 Son, you’d better do what I say! Get up, run off to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay there with him a few days until your brother’s fury subsides.[v] 45 After that happens[w] and he has forgotten what you’ve done to him, I’ll send for you so you can return from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46 Rebekah also told herself,[x] “Heth’s daughters are making me tired of living. If Jacob marries one of Heth’s daughters, and she turns out to be just like these other local women,[y] what kind of life would there be left for me?”
Isaac Sends Jacob to Paddan-aram
28 Later, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, instructing him, “Don’t marry a wife from the local Canaanite women. 2 Instead, get up, travel to Paddan-aram,[z] and visit the household of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of Laban’s daughters, since he’s your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful so that your descendants[aa] become a whole group of people. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessings that he gave Abraham. May you possess the land where you have lived[ab] that God gave to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob off toward Paddan-aram[ac] to visit Bethuel’s son Laban, the Aramean[ad] and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Esau Marries a Canaanite Woman
6 Esau noticed that after Isaac had blessed Jacob as he was sending him off to Paddan-aram[ae] to marry a wife from there, he had instructed Jacob,[af] “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman.” 7 After Jacob had obeyed his father and mother’s instructions to set out for Paddan-aram,[ag] 8 Esau realized[ah] that Canaan women didn’t please his father Isaac, 9 so he went to Abraham’s son Ishmael and married Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth.
God Visits Jacob in a Dream
10 Meanwhile, Jacob had left[ai] Beer-sheba and was on his way to Haran. 11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow,[aj] and slept there for the night, 12 when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God’s angels were ascending and descending on it. 13 And there was the Lord, standing above it and telling Jacob, “I am the Lord God of your grandfather Abraham. I’m Isaac’s God, too. I’m giving you and your descendants the ground on which you’re sleeping. 14 Your descendants are going to become like the dust of the earth and spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth[ak] will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 Now pay attention! I’m here with you, and I’m going to be watching over you wherever you go. I’m going to bring you back to this land, because I won’t ever leave you until I’ve accomplished what I’ve promised about you.”
Jacob Worships God in Bethel
16 Then Jacob woke up during the night[al] and told himself,[am] “Surely, the Lord is in this place and I never knew it!” 17 In mounting terror, he cried out, “How scary this place is! This is nothing less than God’s house and the gateway to heaven!” 18 When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that he had used for his pillow,[an] set it up as a pillar, drenched it with oil, 19 and named[ao] the place Beth-el, although previously[ap] the city had been named Luz.
20 Then he made this solemn vow:[aq] “If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I’m taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, 21 and returns me safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God, 22 this stone that I’ve erected in the form of a pillar will be God’s house, and I’ll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me.”
The Would-be Followers of Jesus(A)
18 When Jesus saw the large crowds around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.[a] 19 Just then, a scribe came up and told him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus told him,
21 Then another of his disciples told him, “Lord,[d] first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms the Sea(B)
23 When Jesus[e] got into the boat, his disciples went with him. 24 Suddenly, a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat began to be swamped by the waves. Yet Jesus[f] kept sleeping. 25 They[g] went to him and woke him up. “Lord!” they cried, “Save us! We’re going to die!”
26 He asked them, “Why are you afraid, you who have little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 The men were amazed. “What kind of man is this?” they asked. “Even the winds and the sea obey him!”
Jesus Heals Two Demon-Possessed Men(C)
28 When Jesus[h] arrived on the other side in the region of the Gerasenes,[i] two demon-possessed men met him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could travel on that road. 29 Suddenly, they screamed, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Did you come here to torture us before the proper time?”
30 Now a large herd of pigs was grazing some distance away from them. 31 So the demons began to plead with Jesus,[j] saying, “If you drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”
32 He told them, “Go,” and they came out and went into the pigs. Suddenly, the whole herd rushed down a steep slope into the sea and drowned in the water.
33 Now when those who had been taking care of the pigs ran away, they came into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole city went out to meet Jesus, and as soon as they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
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