Isaac Blesses Jacob

¹Isaac was now old and had become blind. He sent for his older son Esau and said to him, “Son!” “Yes,” he answered.

²Isaac said, “You see that I am old and may die soon.

³Take your bow and arrows, go out into the country, and kill an animal for me.

⁴Cook me some of that tasty food that I like, and bring it to me. After I have eaten it, I will give you my final blessing before I die.”

⁵While Isaac was talking to Esau, Rebecca was listening. So when Esau went out to hunt,

⁶she said to Jacob, “I have just heard your father say to Esau,

⁷‘Bring me an animal and cook it for me. After I have eaten it, I will give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’

⁸Now, son,” Rebecca continued, “listen to me and do what I say.

⁹Go to the flock and pick out two fat young goats, so that I can cook them and make some of that food your father likes so much.

¹⁰You can take it to him to eat, and he will give you his blessing before he dies.”

¹¹But Jacob said to his mother, “You know that Esau is a hairy man, but I have smooth skin.

¹²Perhaps my father will touch me and find out that I am deceiving him; in this way, I will bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

¹³His mother answered, “Let any curse against you fall on me, my son; just do as I say, and go and get the goats for me.”

¹⁴So he went to get them and brought them to her, and she cooked the kind of food that his father liked.

¹⁵Then she took Esau's best clothes, which she kept in the house, and put them on Jacob.

¹⁶She put the skins of the goats on his arms and on the hairless part of his neck.

¹⁷She handed him the tasty food, along with the bread she had baked.

¹⁸Then Jacob went to his father and said, “Father!” “Yes,” he answered. “Which of my sons are you?”

¹⁹Jacob answered, “I am your older son Esau; I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessing.”

²⁰Isaac said, “How did you find it so quickly, son?” Jacob answered, “The Lord your God helped me find it.”

²¹Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so that I can touch you. Are you really Esau?”

²²Jacob moved closer to his father, who felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob's voice, but your arms feel like Esau's arms.”

²³He did not recognize Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau's. He was about to give him his blessing,

²⁴but asked again, “Are you really Esau?” “I am,” he answered.

²⁵Isaac said, “Bring me some of the meat. After I eat it, I will give you my blessing.” Jacob brought it to him, and he also brought him some wine to drink.

²⁶Then his father said to him, “Come closer and kiss me, son.”

²⁷As he came up to kiss him, Isaac smelled his clothes—so he gave him his blessing. He said, “The pleasant smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.

²⁸May God give you dew from heaven and make your fields fertile! May he give you plenty of grain and wine!

²⁹May nations be your servants, and may peoples bow down before you. May you rule over all your relatives, and may your mother's descendants bow down before you. May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed.”

Esau Begs for Isaac's Blessing

³⁰Isaac finished giving his blessing, and as soon as Jacob left, his brother Esau came in from hunting.

³¹He also cooked some tasty food and took it to his father. He said, “Please, father, sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessing.”

³²“Who are you?” Isaac asked. “Your older son Esau,” he answered.

³³Isaac began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, “Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever.”

³⁴When Esau heard this, he cried out loudly and bitterly and said, “Give me your blessing also, father!”

³⁵Isaac answered, “Your brother came and deceived me. He has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶Esau said, “This is the second time that he has cheated me. No wonder his name is Jacob. He took my rights as the first-born son, and now he has taken away my blessing. Haven't you saved a blessing for me?”

³⁷Isaac answered, “I have already made him master over you, and I have made all his relatives his slaves. I have given him grain and wine. Now there is nothing that I can do for you, son!”

³⁸Esau continued to plead with his father: “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” He began to cry.

³⁹Then Isaac said to him, “No dew from heaven for you, No fertile fields for you.

⁴⁰You will live by your sword, But be your brother's slave. Yet when you rebel, You will break away from his control.”

⁴¹Esau hated Jacob, because his father had given Jacob the blessing. He thought, “The time to mourn my father's death is near; then I will kill Jacob.”

⁴²But when Rebecca heard about Esau's plan, she sent for Jacob and said, “Listen, your brother Esau is planning to get even with you and kill you.

⁴³Now, son, do what I say. Go at once to my brother Laban in Haran,

⁴⁴and stay with him for a while, until your brother's anger cools down

⁴⁵and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send someone to bring you back. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?”

Isaac Sends Jacob to Laban

⁴⁶Rebecca said to Isaac, “I am sick and tired of Esau's foreign wives. If Jacob also marries one of these Hittites, I might as well die.”

¹Isaac called Jacob, greeted him, and told him, “Don't marry a Canaanite.

²Go instead to Mesopotamia, to the home of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of the young women there, one of your uncle Laban's daughters.

³May Almighty God bless your marriage and give you many children, so that you will become the father of many nations!

⁴May he bless you and your descendants as he blessed Abraham, and may you take possession of this land, in which you have lived and which God gave to Abraham!”

⁵Isaac sent Jacob away to Mesopotamia, to Laban, who was the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Takes Another Wife

⁶Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Mesopotamia to find a wife. He also learned that when Isaac blessed him, he commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman.

⁷He found out that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Mesopotamia.

⁸Esau then understood that his father Isaac did not approve of Canaanite women.

⁹So he went to Ishmael son of Abraham and married his daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob's Dream at Bethel

¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and started toward Haran.

¹¹At sunset he came to a holy place and camped there. He lay down to sleep, resting his head on a stone.

¹²He dreamed that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels going up and coming down on it.

¹³And there was the Lord standing beside him. “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac,” he said. “I will give to you and to your descendants this land on which you are lying.

¹⁴They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations.

¹⁵Remember, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done all that I have promised you.”

¹⁶Jacob woke up and said, “The Lord is here! He is in this place, and I didn't know it!”

¹⁷He was afraid and said, “What a terrifying place this is! It must be the house of God; it must be the gate that opens into heaven.”

¹⁸Jacob got up early next morning, took the stone that was under his head, and set it up as a memorial. Then he poured olive oil on it to dedicate it to God.

¹⁹He named the place Bethel. (The town there was once known as Luz.)

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow to the Lord: “If you will be with me and protect me on the journey I am making and give me food and clothing,

²¹and if I return safely to my father's home, then you will be my God.

²²This memorial stone which I have set up will be the place where you are worshiped, and I will give you a tenth of everything you give me.”

¹The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe; there is nothing left for me but the grave.

²I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.

³I am being honest, God. Accept my word. There is no one else to support what I say.

⁴You have closed their minds to reason; don't let them triumph over me now.

⁵In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money, and his children suffer for it.

⁶And now people use this proverb against me; they come and spit in my face.

⁷My grief has almost made me blind; my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.

⁸Those who claim to be honest are shocked, and they all condemn me as godless.

⁹Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right.

¹⁰But if all of them came and stood before me, I would not find even one of them wise.

¹¹My days have passed; my plans have failed; my hope is gone.

¹²But my friends say night is daylight; they say that light is near, but I know I remain in darkness.

¹³My only hope is the world of the dead, where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

¹⁴I will call the grave my father, and the worms that eat me I will call my mother and my sisters.

¹⁵Where is there any hope for me? Who sees any?

¹⁶Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead.

^1-2Job, can't people like you ever be quiet? If you stopped to listen, we could talk to you.

³What makes you think we are as stupid as cattle?

⁴You are only hurting yourself with your anger. Will the earth be deserted because you are angry? Will God move mountains to satisfy you?

⁵The light of the wicked will still be put out; its flame will never burn again.

⁶The lamp in their tents will be darkened.

⁷Their steps were firm, but now they stumble; they fall—victims of their own advice.

⁸They walk into a net, and their feet are caught;

⁹a trap catches their heels and holds them.

¹⁰On the ground a snare is hidden; a trap has been set in their path.

¹¹All around them terror is waiting; it follows them at every step.

¹²They used to be rich, but now they go hungry; disaster stands and waits at their side.

¹³A deadly disease spreads over their bodies and causes their arms and legs to rot.

¹⁴They are torn from the tents where they lived secure, and are dragged off to face King Death.

¹⁵Now anyone may live in their tents— after sulfur is sprinkled to disinfect them!

¹⁶Their roots and branches are withered and dry.

¹⁷Their fame is ended at home and abroad; no one remembers them any more.

¹⁸They will be driven out of the land of the living, driven from light into darkness.

¹⁹They have no descendants, no survivors.

²⁰From east to west, all who hear of their fate shudder and tremble with fear.

²¹That is the fate of evil people, the fate of those who care nothing for God.

Advice to the Young

¹My child, don't forget what I teach you. Always remember what I tell you to do.

²My teaching will give you a long and prosperous life.

³Never let go of loyalty and faithfulness. Tie them around your neck; write them on your heart.

⁴If you do this, both God and people will be pleased with you.