Isaac Settles in Gerar
Now there was aa famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to bAbimelech king of the Philistines. 2 The Lord aappeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; bstay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land and aI will be with you and bbless you, for cto you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish dthe oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 aI will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and bby your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham aobeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”
6 So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “aShe is my sister,” for he was bafraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is cbeautiful.” 8 It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’” 10 aAbimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who atouches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And athe Lord blessed him, 13 and the man abecame rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; 14 for ahe had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 Now aall the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are atoo powerful for us.” 17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there.
Quarrel over the Wells
18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar aquarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “aAt last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be bfruitful in the land.”
23 Then he went up from there to aBeersheba. 24 The Lord aappeared to him the same night and said,
“bI am the God of your father Abraham;
cDo not fear, for I am with you.
I dwill bless you, and multiply your descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25 So he built an aaltar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Covenant with Abimelech
26 Then aAbimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “aWhy have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly athat the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the ablessed of the Lord.’” 30 Then ahe made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they arose early and aexchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. 32 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is aBeersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old ahe married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and athey brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Jacob’s Deception
Now it came about, when Isaac was old and ahis eyes were too dim to see, that he called his bolder son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 2 aIsaac 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 ahunt 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 amy 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 aRebekah 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, alisten to me as I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me two choice 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 answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a ahairy man and I am a smooth man. 12 aPerhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a 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 aobey 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 best agarments 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 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, 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. aGet up, please, sit and eat of my game, that byou may bless me.” 20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “aBecause the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that aI 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 ahairy 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 aI 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 ablessed him and said,
“See, bthe smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field cwhich the Lord has blessed;
28 Now may aGod give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the bfatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 aMay peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
bBe master of your brothers,
cAnd may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
dCursed 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, “aLet my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that byou may bless me.” 32 Isaac his father said to him, “aWho are you?” And he said, “I am your son, byour firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “aWho 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? bYes, and he shall be blessed.” 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, ahe 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, “aYour brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 36 Then he said, “Is he not rightly named aJacob, 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 ayour master, and all his relatives I have given to him 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 awept.
39 Then aIsaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, baway from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 “By your sword you shall live,
And your brother ayou shall serve;
But it shall come about bwhen you become restless,
That you will break his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau abore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “bThe 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, aobey my voice, and arise, flee to bHaran, to my brother cLaban! 44 Stay with him aa few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, 45 until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets awhat 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 living because of athe daughters of Heth; bif 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?” New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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