Genesis 26-30

Genesis

Chapters 26-30

Isaac Deceives Abimelech 26[1-6] A great lack of food struck the land, as had happened before in Abraham’s time, so Isaac moved to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lived. But Yahweh appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I’ll be with you and bless you. I‘ll make good the promise that I’ll give all these lands to you and your descendants, as I promised Abraham, your father. I’ll cause your descendants to be as many as the stars of the sky, and I’ll give them all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I’ll do this because Abraham believed Me and obeyed all My conditions, commands, laws, and instructions.” So Isaac stayed in Gerar. [7-11] When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She’s my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She’s my wife,” thinking, “They’ll kill me to get her, because she’s so beautiful.” But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac playfully holding Rebekah. So Abimelech called for Isaac and said excitedly, “She’s clearly your wife! Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’?” So Isaac said, “Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me.” Then Abimelech said excitedly, “How could you do this to us? One of my people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of a great sin.” So Abimelech issued a public statement saying, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!” Conflict over Water Rights

[12-16] When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he had planted. Yahweh blessed him and he became a very rich man. He had so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him. So they filled up all of Isaac’s wells with sand, which had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham. So finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country, saying, “Go somewhere else! You’ve become too great for us.” [17-22] So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down. He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. And Isaac gave them the names Abraham had given them. Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and found a well of fresh water. But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. “This is our water,” they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s people, who kept the animals. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means “argument”). Then Isaac’s men dug another well, but again there was an argument over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means “hostility”). So leaving that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no argument over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last Yahweh has given us enough space to do well in this land.” [23-25] From there Isaac moved to Beersheba, where Yahweh appeared to him on the night he got there. So Yahweh said to him, “I am the God of your father, Abraham. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I’ll make you have many descendants, and they’ll become a great nation. I’ll do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.” So Isaac built an altar there and worshiped Yahweh. He set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well. Isaac’s Promise with Abimelech [26-31] Then one day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander. So Isaac asked, “Why have you come here? You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.” So they said, “We clearly see that Yahweh is with you. So we want to make a treaty with you. Promise that you’ll not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how Yahweh has blessed you!” So Isaac made a feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together. Early the next morning, they each made a promise not to bother each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left him in peace. [32-35] That very day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. “We’ve found water!” they said excitedly. So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means “promise”). And to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means “well of the promise”). Then at the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. But Esau’s wives made Isaac and Rebekah miserable. Jacob Steals Esau’s Blessing 27[1-4] One day when Isaac was old and almost blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, “My son, I am an old man now, and I don’t know when I may die. Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Make my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I’ll give you the blessing of the firstborn, before I die.” [5-13] But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game, she said to her son Jacob, “Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau, ‘Bring me some wild game and make me my favorite dish. Then I’ll bless you in Yahweh’s presence before I die.’ Now, listen to me, my son. Do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to make your father’s favorite dish. Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.” So Jacob said to Rebekah, “ But my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.” But his mother said, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! But do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!” [14-17] So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebekah took them and made a good meal, just the way Isaac liked it. Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Jacob. She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats. Then she gave Jacob the tasty meal, with freshly baked bread. [18-24] So Jacob took the food to his father. “Father,” he said. And Isaac answered, “Yes, my son! Who are you, Esau or Jacob?” So Jacob said, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here’s the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.” So Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” So Jacob said, “Yahweh your God put it right in my path!” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.” So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” Isaac said. But he didn’t recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy fair like Esau’s. So Isaac blessed Jacob. Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. So Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.” [25-29] Then Isaac said, “Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I’ll give you my blessing.” So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.” So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son, saying, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which Yahweh has blessed! From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.” [30-33] As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and right after Jacob had left his father, Esau came back from his hunt. Then Esau made a tasty meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, “Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing.” But Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” So Esau said, “It’s your son, your firstborn son, Esau.” Then Isaac was visibly shaken and said, “Then who just served me that tasty meal? I have already eaten, and I blessed him before you came. And that promise is unbreakable!” [34-39] When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!” he begged. But Isaac said, “Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing.” So Esau said excitedly, “No wonder his name is Jacob, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?” Isaac said to Esau, “I have made Jacob your master and have said that all his brothers will be his servants. I have given him an abundance of grain and wine—what’s left for me to give you, my son?” But Esau begged, “But don’t you have just one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!” Then Esau broke down and cried. So finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, “You’ll live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above. You’ll live by your sword, and you’ll serve your brother. But when you’re strong, you’ll break free from his control over you.” Jacob Flees to Paddan-Aram [41-46] From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to plan: “I’ll soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I’ll kill my brother, Jacob.” But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told him, “Listen, Esau is comforting himself by plotting to kill you. So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran. Stay there with him until your brother cools off. When he calms down and forgets what you’ve done to him, I’ll send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these Hittite women! I’d rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.” 28[1-5] So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may you have many descendants and become many nations! May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.” So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. [6-9] Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman” and knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram. So it was very clear to Esau that his father didn’t like the Canaanite women. So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. Jacob’s Dream at Bethel [10-15] Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. At sundown he found a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven and saw the angels of God going up and coming down the stairway. At the top of the stairway stood Yahweh, who said, “I am Yahweh, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They’ll spread out in all directions, to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. I am with you, and I’ll protect you wherever you go, and one day I’ll bring you back to this land. I won’t leave you until I have given you everything I have promised you.” [16-22] Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It’s the house of God, the very gates of heaven!” So the next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although the name of the nearby town was Luz. Then Jacob made this promise: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if Yahweh provides me with food and clothing, and if I go back safely to my father’s home, then Yahweh will certainly be my God. And this memorial stone I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I’ll give to God a tenth of everything I have been given.” Jacob Arrives at Paddan-Aram 29[1-6] Then Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the land of the east. He saw a well in the distance. Three flocks of sheep and goats lay in an open field beside it, waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone covered the mouth of the well. It was the custom there to wait for all the flocks to come before removing the stone and watering the animals. Afterward the stone would be placed back over the mouth of the well. Jacob went over to the shepherds and asked, “Where are you from, my friends?” They answered, “We are from Haran.” So Jacob asked, “Do you know a man there named Laban, the grandson of Nahor?” They said, “Yes, we do.” So Jacob asked, “Is he doing well?” They answered, “Yes, he’s well. Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock now.” [7-12] Then Jacob said, “Look, it’s still mid-day! It’s too early to round up the animals. Why don’t you water the sheep and goats so they can get back out to pasture?” So they said, “We can’t water the animals until all the flocks have come. Then the shepherds move the stone from the mouth of the well, and we water all the sheep and goats.” And Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel got there with her father’s flock, because she was the shepherd. So because Rachel was his cousin, the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and because the sheep and goats belonged to his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the well and moved the stone from its mouth and watered his uncle’s flock. Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he cried aloud, explaining to Rachel that he was her cousin on her father’s side, the son of her aunt Rebekah. So Rachel quickly ran and told her father, Laban. Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel

[13-20] As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had come, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story, Laban said excitedly, “You really are my own flesh and blood!” Then after Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month, Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.” Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were sad, but Rachel was a beautiful girl. Jacob loved Rachel, so he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.” So Laban agreed and said, “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel, but his love for her was so strong that it seemed only a few days to him. [21-27] Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I’ve done what I agreed to do,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can marry her.” So Laban invited everyone in the area and made a wedding feast. But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, who slept with her. (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.) But when Jacob woke up in the morning, his bride was Leah instead of Rachel! So Jacob ran out to Laban and shouted, “What have you done to me? I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?” So Laban said, “It’s not our custom here to marry a younger daughter before the firstborn. But wait until the bridal week is over, then we’ll give you Rachel, too, provided you promise to work another seven years for me.” [28-30] So Jacob agreed to work seven more years, and a week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban for seven more years. Jacob’s Children [31-35] When Yahweh saw that Leah was unloved, God made her able to have children, but Rachel wasn’t able to get pregnant. So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “Yahweh has seen my misery, and now my husband will love me.” She soon became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon, for she said, “Yahweh heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” Then she became pregnant a third time and gave birth to another son. She named him Levi, for she said, “Surely this time my husband will love me, since I have given him three sons!” And once again Leah became pregnant and gave birth to another son. She named him Judah, for she said, “Now I’ll praise Yahweh!” And then she stopped having children for a while. 30[1-8] When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She begged Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Then Jacob became angry with Rachel, saying, “Am I God? God is the one who has kept you from having children! Not Me.” Then Rachel told him, “Take my maid, Bilhah, and sleep with her. She’ll bear children for me, and through her I can have a family, too.” So Rachel gave her servant, Bilhah, to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave him a son. Rachel named him Dan, for she said, “God has defended me! God has heard my request and given me a son.” Then Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel named him Naphtali, for she said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I’m winning!” [9-13] Meanwhile, Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Soon Zilpah gave him a son. So Leah named him Gad, for she said, “How happy I am!” Then Zilpah gave Jacob a second son. And Leah named him Asher, for she said, “What joy is mine! Now the other women will celebrate with me.” [14-21] Then one day during the wheat harvest, Reuben found some mandrakes growing in a field and brought them to his mother, Leah. Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah angrily said, “Wasn’t it enough that you stole my husband? Now will you steal my son’s mandrakes, too?” So Rachel answered, “I’ll let Jacob sleep with you tonight if you give me some of the mandrakes.” So that evening, as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. “You must come and sleep with me tonight!” She said. “I have paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found.” So that night he slept with Leah. And God answered Leah’s prayers and she became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. She named him Issachar, for she said, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband as a wife.” Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. She named him Zebulun, for she said, “God has given me a good reward. Now my husband will treat me with respect, for I have given him six sons.” Then later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. [22-24] Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. “God has removed my disgrace,” she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, “May Yahweh add yet another son to my family.” Jacob’s Wealth Increases [25-30] Soon after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Please let me go so I can go home to my own country. Let me take my wives and children, for I have earned them by serving you, and let me be on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.” But Laban said, “Please listen to me, I have become wealthy, for Yahweh has blessed me because of you. Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.” So Jacob said, “You know how hard I’ve worked for you, and how your flocks and herds have grown under my care. You had little indeed before I came, but your wealth has increased greatly. Yahweh has blessed you through everything I’ve done. But now, what about me? When can I start providing for my own family?” [31-33] Then Laban asked, “What do you want me to pay you?” So Jacob said, “Don’t give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I’ll stay and tend to your flocks. Let me inspect your flocks today and remove all the sheep and goats that are speckled or spotted, along with all the black sheep. Give these to me as my pay. In the future, when you check on the animals you’ve given me as my pay, you’ll see that I have been honest. If you find in my flock any goats without speckles or spots, or any sheep that are not black, you’ll know that I have stolen them from you.” [34-40] So Laban agreed and said, “It’ll be as you say.” But that very day Laban went out and took away all the male and female goats that were streaked and spotted, speckled, or had white patches, and all the black sheep. He placed them in the care of his own sons, who took them a three-days’ journey from where Jacob was. Meanwhile, Jacob stayed and cared for the rest of Laban’s flock. Then Jacob took some fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off strips of bark, making white streaks on them. Then he placed these peeled branches in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, for that was where they mated. And when they mated in front of the white-streaked branches, they gave birth to young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted. So Jacob separated those lambs from Laban’s flock. And at mating time he turned the flock to face Laban’s animals that were streaked or black. This is how he built his own flock instead of increasing Laban’s. [41-43] Whenever the stronger females were ready to mate, Jacob would place the peeled branches in the watering troughs in front of them. Then they would mate in front of the branches. But he didn’t do this with the weaker ones, so the weaker lambs belonged to Laban, and the stronger ones were Jacob’s. As a result, Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, male and female servants, and many camels and donkeys.