Old/New Testament
Isaac Calls to Bless Esau
27 Now it happened that 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)And Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death. 3 So now, please take up 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 Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. Then Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring to Isaac. 6 (F)But Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speaking 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 Yahweh before my death.’ 8 So now, my son, (G)listen to my voice [b]as I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and [c]get for me two choice [d]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 Then Jacob [e]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 mocker 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)listen to 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 a savory dish such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the [f]best (K)garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the [g]young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 She also gave the savory dish and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
Isaac Blesses Jacob and Esau
18 Then 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 as you told me. (L)Rise up, please, sit and eat of my game, that (M)your soul may bless me.” 20 Then Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “(N)Because Yahweh your God caused it to happen to me.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that (O)I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob came near 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 And 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 near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that (Q)my soul may bless you.” And he brought it near to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and then he (R)blessed him and said,
“See, (S)the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field (T)which Yahweh 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.”
30 Now it happened that 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 a savory dish 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 (AB)your soul may bless me.” 32 And Isaac his father said to him, “(AC)Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, (AD)your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac [h]trembled exceedingly 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)Indeed, he shall be blessed.” 34 As 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, me also, O my father!” 35 And he said, “(AH)Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 36 Then he said, “[i]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 answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him (AJ)your master, and all his fellow brothers I have given to him [j]as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, 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.” So Esau lifted his voice and (AK)wept.
39 Then (AL)Isaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, [k](AM)away from the fatness of the earth shall be your habitation,
And [l]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 be (AO)when you become restless,
That you will [m]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 in his heart, “(AQ)The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 Then the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah. So 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 So now, my son, (AR)listen to my voice, and arise, [n]flee to (AS)Haran, to my brother (AT)Laban! 44 Stay with him (AU)a few days, until your brother’s wrath [o]subsides, 45 until your brother’s anger [p]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 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of [q]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 to Laban
28 So Isaac called Jacob and (AY)blessed him and commanded 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 [r](BB)God Almighty (BC)bless you and (BD)make you fruitful and (BE)multiply you, that you may become an (BF)assembly of peoples. 4 May He also give you the (BG)blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed 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 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take for himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, “(BK)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So Esau saw that (BL)the daughters of Canaan were displeasing [s]in the sight of his father Isaac; 9 and Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, (BM)besides the wives that he had.
Jacob’s Dream
10 Then Jacob departed from (BN)Beersheba and went toward (BO)Haran. 11 And he reached [t]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 [u]under his head and lay down in that place. 12 (BQ)Then he had a dream, and behold, a [v]ladder stood on the earth with its top touching heaven; and behold, (BR)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, (BS)Yahweh stood [w]above it and said, “I am Yahweh, (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 seed. 14 And your seed will also be like (BW)the dust of the earth, and you will [x]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 seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, (BZ)I am with you and (CA)will keep you wherever you go. And (CB)I will bring you back to this land; for (CC)I will not forsake you until I have done what I have [y]promised you.” 16 Then Jacob (CD)awoke from his sleep and said, “(CE)Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “(CF)How fearsome 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 [z]under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. 19 And he called the name of that place [aa](CH)Bethel; however, [ab]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 on which I am going, and will give me [ac](CL)food to eat and garments to wear, 21 and (CM)I return to my father’s house in peace, (CN)then Yahweh will be my God. 22 Now 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.”
The Cost of Following Jesus
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 And 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 And 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.”
Jesus Calms a Storm
23 (E)And 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 sleeping. 25 And they came to Him and got Him up, saying, “(F)Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” 26 And He *said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, (G)you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and [d]it became perfectly calm. 27 And the men marveled, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Jesus Saves Men from Demons
28 (H)And when He came to the other side, into the region 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 behold, they cried out, saying, “[e](J)What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the [f]time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding at a distance from them. 31 And the demons began to plead with 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 coming out, they went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the waters. 33 Now the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, [g]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 pleaded with Him to leave their region.
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