Chronological Plan

¹Now when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his elder [and favorite] son Esau and said to him, "My son." And Esau answered him, "Here I am."

²Isaac said, "See here, I am old; I do not know when I may die.

³So now, please take your [hunting] gear, your quiver [of arrows] and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me;

⁴and make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], the kind I love, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul may bless you [as my firstborn son] before I die."

⁵But Rebekah overheard what Isaac said to Esau his son; and when Esau had gone to the open country to hunt for game that he might bring back,

⁶Rebekah said to Jacob her [younger and favorite] son, "Listen carefully: I heard your father saying to Esau your brother,

⁷'Bring me some game and make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], so that I may eat it, and declare my blessing on you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'

⁸So now, my son, listen [carefully] to me [and do exactly] as I command you.

⁹Go now to the flock and bring me two good and suitable young goats, and I will make them into a savory dish [of meat] for your father, the kind he loves [to eat].

¹⁰Then you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before his death."

¹¹Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Listen, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth [skinned] man.

¹²Suppose my father touches me and feels my skin; then I will be seen by him as a cheat (imposter), and I will bring his curse on me and not a blessing."

¹³But his mother said to him, "May your curse be on me, my son; only listen and obey me, and go, bring the young goats to me."

¹⁴So Jacob went and got the two young goats, and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared a delicious dish of food [with a delightful aroma], the kind his father loved [to eat].

¹⁵Then Rebekah took her elder son Esau's best clothes, which were with her in her house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

¹⁶And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷Then she gave her son Jacob the delicious meat and the bread which she had prepared.

¹⁸So he went to his father and said, "My father." And Isaac said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now please, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me."

²⁰Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found the game so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God caused it to come to me."

²¹But Isaac [wondered and] said to Jacob, "Please come close [to me] so that I may touch you, my son, and determine if you are really my son Esau or not."

²²So Jacob approached Isaac, and his father touched him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

²³He could not recognize him [as Jacob], because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

²⁴But he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" Jacob answered, "I am."

²⁵Then Isaac said, "Bring the food to me, and I will eat some of my son's game, so that I may bless you." He brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, "Please come, my son, and kiss me."

²⁷So he came and kissed him; and Isaac smelled his clothing and blessed him and said, "The scent of my son [Esau] Is like the aroma of a field which the LORD has blessed;

²⁸Now may God give you of the dew of heaven [to water your land], And of the fatness (fertility) of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine;

²⁹May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be lord and master over your brothers, And may your mother's sons bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, And may those who bless you be blessed."

³⁰Now as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

³¹Esau also made a delicious dish [of meat] and brought it to his father and said to him, "Let my father get up and eat some of his son's game, so that you may bless me."

³²Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he replied, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."

³³Then Isaac trembled violently, and he said, "Then who was the one [who was just here] who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I blessed him. Yes, and he [in fact] shall be (shall remain) blessed."

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and extremely bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"

³⁵Isaac said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has [fraudulently] taken away your blessing [for himself]."

³⁶Esau replied, "Is he not rightly named Jacob (the supplanter)? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"

³⁷But Isaac replied to Esau, "Listen carefully: I have made Jacob your lord and master; I have given him all his brothers and relatives as servants; and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then, can I do for you, my son?"

³⁸Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." Then Esau [no longer able to restrain himself] raised his voice and wept [loudly].

³⁹Then Isaac his father answered and [prophesied and] said to him, "Your dwelling shall be away from the fertility of the earth And away from the dew of heaven above;

⁴⁰But you shall live by your sword, And serve your brother; However it shall come to pass when you break loose [from your anger and hatred], That you will tear his yoke off your neck [and you will be free of him]."

⁴¹So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are very near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

⁴²When these words of her elder son Esau were repeated to Rebekah, she sent for Jacob her younger son, and said to him, "Listen carefully, your brother Esau is comforting himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

⁴³So now, my son, listen and do what I say; go, escape to my brother Laban in Haran!

⁴⁴Stay with him for a while, until your brother's anger subsides.

⁴⁵When your brother's anger toward you subsides and he forgets what you did to him, then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of you both in a single day?"

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth [these insolent wives of Esau]. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?"

¹So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, "You shall not marry one of the women of Canaan.

²Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take from there as a wife for yourself one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

³May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a [great] company of peoples.

⁴May He also give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the [promised] land of your sojournings, which He gave to Abraham."

⁵Then 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.

⁶Now Esau noticed that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife for himself from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a prohibition, saying, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,"

⁷and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸So Esau realized that [his two wives] the daughters of Canaan displeased Isaac his father;

⁹and [to appease his parents] Esau went to [the family of] Ishmael and took as his wife, in addition to the wives he [already] had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth [Ishmael's firstborn son].

¹⁰Now Jacob left Beersheba [never to see his mother again] and traveled toward Haran.

¹¹And he came to a certain place and stayed overnight there because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down there [to sleep].

¹²He dreamed that there was a ladder (stairway) placed on the earth, and the top of it reached [out of sight] toward heaven; and [he saw] the angels of God ascending and descending on it [going to and from heaven].

¹³And behold, the LORD stood above and around him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your [father's] father and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land [of promise] on which you are lying.

¹⁴Your descendants shall be as [countless as] the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and all the families (nations) of the earth shall be blessed through you and your descendants.

¹⁵Behold, I am with you and will keep [careful watch over you and guard] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this [promised] land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, "Without any doubt the LORD is in this place, and I did not realize it."

¹⁷So he was afraid and said, "How fearful and awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gateway to heaven."

¹⁸So Jacob got up early in the morning, and took the stone he had put under his head and he set it up as a pillar [that is, a monument to the vision in his dream], and he poured [olive] oil on the top of it [to consecrate it].

¹⁹He named that place Bethel (the house of God); the previous name of that city was Luz (Almond Tree).

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow (promise), saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and clothing to wear,

²¹and if [He grants that] I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God.

²²This stone which I have set up as a pillar (monument, memorial) will be God's house [a sacred place to me], and of everything that You give me I will give the tenth to You [as an offering to signify my gratitude and dependence on You]."

¹Then Jacob went on his way and came to the land of the people of the East [near Haran].

²As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep lying there [resting] beside it because the flocks were watered from that well. Now the stone on the mouth of the well [that covered and protected it] was large,

³and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, water the sheep, and [afterward] replace the stone on the mouth of the well.

⁴Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where are you from?" And they said, "We are from Haran."

⁵So he said to them, "Do you know Laban the grandson of Nahor [Abraham's brother]?" And they replied, "We know him."

⁶And he asked them, " Is it well with him?" And they said, "He is doing well; look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep!"

⁷Jacob said, "Look, the sun is still high [overhead]; it is a long time before the flocks need to be gathered [in their folds for the night]. Water the sheep, and go, and return them to their pasture."

⁸But they said, "We cannot [leave] until all the flocks are gathered together, and the shepherds roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we will water the sheep."

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

¹⁰When Jacob saw [his cousin] Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he came up and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban, his uncle.

¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel [in greeting], and he raised his voice and wept.

¹²Jacob told Rachel he was her father's relative, Rebekah's son; and she ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard of the arrival of Jacob, his sister's son, he ran to meet him, and embraced and kissed him and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things.

¹⁴Then Laban said to him, "You are my bone and my flesh." And Jacob stayed with him a month.

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, "Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?"

¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

¹⁷Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.

¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, "I will serve you [as a hired workman] for seven years [in return] for [the privilege of marrying] Rachel your younger daughter."

¹⁹Laban said, "It is better that I give her [in marriage] to you than give her to another man. Stay and work with me."

²⁰So Jacob served [Laban] for seven years for [the right to marry] Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

²¹Finally, Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my time [of service] is completed, so that I may take her to me [as my wife]."

²²So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and prepared a [wedding] feast [with wine].

²³But in the evening he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob went in to [consummate the marriage with] her.

²⁴Laban also gave Zilpah his maid to his daughter Leah as a maid.

²⁵But in the morning [when Jacob awoke], it was Leah [who was with him]! And he said to Laban, "What is this that you have done to me? Did I not work for you [for seven years] for Rachel? Why have you deceived and betrayed me [like this]?"

²⁶But Laban only said, "It is not the tradition here to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the older.

²⁷Finish the week [of the wedding feast] for Leah; then we will give you Rachel also, and in return you shall work for me for seven more years."

²⁸So Jacob complied and fulfilled Leah's week [of celebration]; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his [second] wife.

²⁹Laban also gave Bilhah his maid to his daughter Rachel as a maid.

³⁰So Jacob consummated his marriage and lived with Rachel [as his wife], and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.

³¹Now when the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren.

³²Leah conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Reuben (See, a son!), for she said, "Because the LORD has seen my humiliation and suffering; now my husband will love me [since I have given him a son]."

³³Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, "Because the LORD heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son also." So she named him Simeon (God hears).

³⁴She conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, "Now this time my husband will become attached to me [as a companion], for I have given him three sons." Therefore he was named Levi.

³⁵Again she conceived and gave birth to a [fourth] son, and she said, "Now I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah; then [for a time] she stopped bearing [children].