Old/New Testament
Jacob’s Deception
27 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and (A)his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his (B)older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 2 [a](C)Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and (D)hunt game for me; 4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that (E)my soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, 6 (F)Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, (G)listen to [b]me [c]as I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and [d]bring me two choice [e]young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” 11 Jacob [f]answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a (H)hairy man and I am a smooth man. 12 (I)Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a [g]deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only (J)obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the [h]best (K)garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the [i]young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, [j]to her son Jacob.
18 Then he came 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. (L)Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that [k](M)you may bless me.” 20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “(N)Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that (O)I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, 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 (P)hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” 25 So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that [l](Q)I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he (R)blessed him and said,
“See, (S)the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field (T)which the Lord has blessed;
28 Now may (U)God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the (V)fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 (W)May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
(X)Be master of your brothers,
(Y)And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
(Z)Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
The Stolen Blessing
30 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “(AA)Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that [m](AB)you may bless me.” 32 Isaac his father said to him, “(AC)Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, (AD)your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac [n]trembled violently, and said, “(AE)Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? (AF)Yes, and he shall be blessed.” 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, (AG)he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” 35 And he said, “(AH)Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 36 Then he said, “[o]Is he not rightly named (AI)Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37 But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him (AJ)your master, and all his [p]relatives I have given to him [q]as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and (AK)wept.
39 Then (AL)Isaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, [r](AM)away from the [s]fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And [t]away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 “By your sword you shall live,
And your brother (AN)you shall serve;
But it shall come about (AO)when you become restless,
That you will [u]break his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau (AP)bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said [v]to himself, “(AQ)The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, (AR)obey my voice, and arise, [w]flee to (AS)Haran, to my brother (AT)Laban! 44 Stay with him (AU)a few days, until your brother’s fury [x]subsides, 45 until your brother’s anger [y]against you subsides and he forgets (AV)what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of [z]living because of (AW)the daughters of Heth; (AX)if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
Jacob Is Sent Away
28 So Isaac called Jacob and (AY)blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “(AZ)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of (BA)Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 May [aa](BB)God Almighty (BC)bless you and (BD)make you fruitful and (BE)multiply you, that you may become a (BF)company of peoples. 4 May He also give you the (BG)blessing of Abraham, to you and to your [ab]descendants with you, that you may (BH)possess the land of your (BI)sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” 5 Then (BJ)Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “(BK)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So Esau saw that (BL)the daughters of Canaan displeased [ac]his father Isaac; 9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and [ad]married, (BM)besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob’s Dream
10 Then Jacob departed from (BN)Beersheba and went toward (BO)Haran. 11 He [ae]came to [af]a (BP)certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it [ag]under his head, and lay down in that place. 12 (BQ)He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, (BR)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, (BS)the Lord stood [ah]above it and said, “I am the Lord, (BT)the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it (BU)to you and to (BV)your [ai]descendants. 14 Your [aj]descendants will also be like (BW)the dust of the earth, and you will [ak]spread out (BX)to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and (BY)in you and in your [al]descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, (BZ)I am with you and (CA)will keep you wherever you go, and (CB)will bring you back to this land; for (CC)I will not leave you until I have done what I have [am]promised you.” 16 Then Jacob (CD)awoke from his sleep and said, “(CE)Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “(CF)How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took (CG)the stone that he had put [an]under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 19 He called the name of that place [ao](CH)Bethel; however, [ap]previously the name of the city had been (CI)Luz. 20 Then Jacob (CJ)made a vow, saying, “(CK)If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I [aq]take, and will give me [ar](CL)food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and (CM)I return to my father’s house in [as]safety, (CN)then the Lord will be my God. 22 This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, (CO)will be God’s house, and (CP)of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Discipleship Tested
18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, (A)He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 (B)Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the [a]air have [b]nests, but (C)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus *said to him, “(D)Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”
23 (E)When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 And behold, there arose [c]a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. 25 And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “(F)Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” 26 He *said to them, “Why are you [d]afraid, (G)you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and [e]it became perfectly calm. 27 The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Jesus Casts Out Demons
28 (H)When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were (I)demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. 29 And they cried out, saying, “[f](J)What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before [g]the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 The demons began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” 32 And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. 33 The herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, [h]including what had happened to the (K)demoniacs. 34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, (L)they implored Him to leave their region.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.