Wells, a stolen blessing, a ladder, and two sisters' sons.

Genesis 26

Isaac stays in Gerar under God's command, fears for Rebekah as his father feared for Sarah, and reopens wells until the Lord appears at Beersheba.

¹There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. ²Yahweh appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. ³Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, ⁵because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁶Isaac lived in Gerar. ⁷The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.” ⁸When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. ⁹Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”

¹⁰Abimelech 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 on us!”

¹¹Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

¹²Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. ¹³The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. ¹⁴He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. ¹⁵Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. ¹⁶Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

¹⁸Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. ¹⁹Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water. ²⁰The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. So he called its name Sitnah. ²²He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. So he called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

²³He went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

²⁵He built an altar there, and called on Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. ²⁷Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”

²⁸They said, “We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let’s make a covenant with you, ²⁹that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of Yahweh.”

³⁰He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ³²The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³He called it “Shibah”. Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba” to this day.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.

Genesis 27

Rebekah and Jacob deceive blind Isaac, Jacob receives the blessing meant for Esau, and Esau weeps, takes a harder word, and plans his brother's death.

¹When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?”

He said to him, “Here I am.”

²He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death. ³Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison. ⁴Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. ⁶Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ⁷‘Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’ ⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. ⁹Go now to the flock and get me two good young goats from there. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.”

¹³His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”

¹⁴He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. ¹⁶She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. ¹⁷She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸He came to his father, and said, “My father?”

He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

He said, “Because Yahweh your God gave me success.”

²¹Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²²Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. ²⁴He said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless you.”

He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said,

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.”

³²Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?”

He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”

³⁵He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

³⁹Isaac his father answered him,

⁴¹Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴²The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ⁴⁴Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away— ⁴⁵until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”

Genesis 28

Isaac sends Jacob toward Paddan-aram, and at Bethel Jacob dreams of a stairway and the Lord, then names the place the house of God and vows a tenth.

¹Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ²Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ³May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, ⁴and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;” ⁷and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram. ⁸Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father. ⁹So Esau went to Ishmael, and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

¹⁰Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. ¹¹He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie on to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁵Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

¹⁶Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.” ¹⁷He was afraid, and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. ¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, ²¹so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, ²²then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

Genesis 29

Jacob serves seven years for Rachel, is given Leah, serves seven more, and Leah bears Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah while Rachel remains barren.

¹Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east. ²He looked, and saw a well in the field, and saw three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well’s mouth was large. ³There all the flocks were gathered. They rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone back on the well’s mouth in its place. ⁴Jacob said to them, “My relatives, where are you from?”

They said, “We are from Haran.”

⁵He said to them, “Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor?”

They said, “We know him.”

⁶He said to them, “Is it well with him?”

They said, “It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.”

⁷He said, “Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.”

⁸They said, “We can’t, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well’s mouth. Then we will water the sheep.”

⁹While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them. ¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. ¹¹Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹²Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things. ¹⁴Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month. ¹⁵Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what will your wages be?”

¹⁶Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and attractive. ¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel. He said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.”

¹⁹Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”

²⁰Jacob served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her.

²¹Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”

²²Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. ²³In the evening, he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to Jacob. He went in to her. ²⁴Laban gave Zilpah his servant to his daughter Leah for a servant. ²⁵In the morning, behold, it was Leah! He said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Didn’t I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”

²⁶Laban said, “It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you will serve with me for seven more years.”

²⁸Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as wife. ²⁹Laban gave Bilhah, his servant, to his daughter Rachel to be her servant. ³⁰He went in also to Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him seven more years.

³¹Yahweh saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³²Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” ³³She conceived again, and bore a son, and said, “Because Yahweh has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.” She named him Simeon. ³⁴She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. ³⁵She conceived again, and bore a son. She said, “This time I will praise Yahweh.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Genesis 30

Rachel and Leah's rivalry fills the camp with sons through Bilhah and Zilpah, Joseph is born, and Jacob's flocks increase under Laban's changing wages.

¹When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”

²Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³She said, “Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her.” ⁴She gave him Bilhah her servant as wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ⁶Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. ⁷Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Rachel said, “I have wrestled with my sister with mighty wrestlings, and have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Leah said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad. ¹²Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a second son. ¹³Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵Leah said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes, also?”

Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”

He lay with her that night. ¹⁷God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my servant to my husband.” She named him Issachar. ¹⁹Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun. ²¹Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.

²²God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. ²³She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” ²⁴She named him Joseph, saying, “May Yahweh add another son to me.”

²⁵When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.”

²⁷Laban said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake.” ²⁸He said, “Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.”

²⁹Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. ³⁰For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?”

³¹Laban said, “What shall I give you?”

Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. ³²I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire. ³³So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be considered stolen.”

³⁴Laban said, “Behold, let it be according to your word.”

³⁵That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶He set three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, and plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in Laban’s flock. He put his own droves apart, and didn’t put them into Laban’s flock. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, Jacob laid the rods in front of the eyes of the flock in the watering troughs, that they might conceive among the rods; ⁴²but when the flock were feeble, he didn’t put them in. So the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.