Old/New Testament
Jacob Tricks Isaac
27 When Isaac was old, his eyes were not good. He could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him. Isaac said, “Son.”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac said, “I am old. I don’t know when I might die. 3 So take your bow and arrows, and go hunting in the field. Kill an animal for me to eat. 4 Prepare the tasty food that I love. Bring it to me, and I will eat. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5 So Esau went out in the field to hunt.
Rebekah was listening as Isaac said this to his son Esau. 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 7 Your father said, ‘Kill an animal. Prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I will bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 So obey me, my son. Do what I tell you. 9 Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them just the way your father likes them. 10 Then you will take the food to your father. And he will bless you before he dies.”
11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am smooth! 12 If my father touches me, he will know I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me. He will place a curse on me because I tried to trick him.”
13 So Rebekah said to him, “If your father puts a curse on you, I will accept the blame. Just do what I said. Go and get the goats for me.”
14 So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. Then she cooked them in the special way Isaac enjoyed. 15 She took the best clothes of her older son Esau that were in the house. She put them on the younger son Jacob. 16 She took the skins of the goats. And she put them on Jacob’s hands and neck. 17 Then she gave Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18 Jacob went in to his father and said, “Father.”
And his father said, “Yes, my son. Who are you?”
19 Jacob said to him, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat some meat of the animal I hunted for you. Then bless me.”
20 But Isaac asked his son, “How did you find and kill the animal so quickly?”
Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God led me to find it.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son. If I can touch you, I will know if you are really my son Esau.”
22 So Jacob came near to Isaac his father. Isaac touched him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice. But your hands are hairy like the hands of Esau.” 23 Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his hands were hairy like Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. 24 Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
25 Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and Isaac ate. Jacob gave him wine, and he drank. 26 Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come near and kiss me.” 27 So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes and blessed him. Isaac said,
“The smell of my son
is like the smell of the field
that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you plenty of rain
and good soil.
Then you will have plenty of grain and wine.
29 May nations serve you.
May peoples bow down to you.
May you be master over your brothers.
May your mother’s sons bow down to you.
May everyone who curses you be cursed.
And may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”
30 Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. 31 Esau also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. He said, “Father, rise and eat the food that your son killed for you. Then bless me.”
32 Isaac asked, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your son—your firstborn son—Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled greatly. He said, “Then who was it that hunted the animals and brought me food before you came? I ate it, and I blessed him. And it is too late now to take back my blessing.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he let out a loud and bitter cry. He said to his father, “Bless me—me, too, my father!”
35 But Isaac said, “Your brother came and tricked me. He has taken your blessing.”
36 Esau said, “Jacob[a] is the right name for him. He has tricked me these two times. He took away my share of everything you own. And now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered, “I gave Jacob the power to be master over you. And all his brothers will be his servants. And I kept him strong with grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”
38 But Esau continued, “Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me, too, Father!” Then Esau began to cry out loud.
39 Isaac said to him,
“You will live far away from the best land,
far from the rain.
40 You will live by using your sword
and be a slave to your brother.
But when you struggle,
you will break free from him.”
41 After that Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing from Isaac. Esau thought to himself, “My father will soon die, and I will be sad for him. After that I will kill Jacob.”
42 Rebekah heard about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob. So she sent for Jacob. She said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is comforting himself by planning to kill you. 43 So, son, do what I say. My brother Laban is living in Haran. Go to him at once! 44 Stay with him for a while, until your brother is not so angry. 45 In time, your brother will not be angry. He will forget what you did to him. Then I will send a servant to bring you back. I don’t want to lose both of my sons on the same day.”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these Hittite women here in this land, I want to die.”
Jacob Searches for a Wife
28 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Then Isaac commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman. 2 Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, in Northwest Mesopotamia. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters. 3 May God All-Powerful bless you and give you many children. May you become the father of many peoples. 4 May the Lord give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham. Then you may own the land where you are now living as a stranger. This is the land God gave to Abraham.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Northwest Mesopotamia. Jacob went to Laban, the brother of Rebekah. Bethuel, the Aramean, was the father of Laban and Rebekah. And Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Northwest Mesopotamia. Jacob went to find a wife there. Esau also learned that Isaac had commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. 7 And Esau learned that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother. He had gone to Northwest Mesopotamia. 8 So Esau saw that his father Isaac did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women. 9 Now Esau already had wives. But he went to Ishmael son of Abraham. And he married Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter. Mahalath was the sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 He came to a place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He found a stone there and laid his head on it to go to sleep. 12 Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder resting on the earth and reaching up into heaven. And he saw angels of God going up and coming down the ladder. 13 And then Jacob saw the Lord standing above the ladder. The Lord said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your grandfather. And I am the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are now sleeping. 14 Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. They will spread west and east, north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 I am with you, and I will protect you everywhere you go. And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep. He said, “Surely the Lord is in this place. But I did not know it.” 17 Jacob was afraid. He said, “This place frightens me! It is surely the house of God and the gate of heaven.”
18 Jacob rose early in the morning. He took the stone he had slept on and set it up on its end. Then he poured olive oil on the top of it. 19 At first, the name of that city was Luz. But Jacob named it Bethel.[b]
20 Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “I want God to be with me and protect me on this journey. I want God to give me food to eat and clothes to wear. 21 Then I will be able to return in peace to my father’s house. If the Lord does these things, he will be my God. 22 This stone which I have set up on its end will be the house of God. And I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”
People Want to Follow Jesus
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he told his followers to go to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I will follow you any place you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests to live in. But the Son of Man has no place where he can rest his head.”
21 Another man, one of Jesus’ followers, said to Jesus, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the people who are dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Stops a Storm
23 Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him. 24 A very bad storm arose on the lake. The waves covered the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The followers went to Jesus and woke him. They said, “Lord, save us! We will drown!”
26 Jesus answered, “Why are you afraid? You don’t have enough faith.” Then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the sea. The wind stopped, and the sea became very calm.
27 The men were amazed. They said, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons
28 Jesus arrived at the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarene[a] people. There, two men came to Jesus. They had demons in them. These men lived in the burial caves. They were so dangerous that people could not use the road by those caves. 29 The two men came to Jesus and shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Did you come here to punish us before the right time?”
30 Near that place there was a large herd of pigs feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you make us leave these men, please send us into that herd of pigs.”
32 Jesus said to them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd of pigs ran down the hill into the lake and were drowned. 33 The men who were caring for the pigs ran away and went into town. They told about all of this and what had happened to the men who had demons. 34 Then the whole town went out to see Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their area.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.