So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.

Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, “What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.”

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,

She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.

Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident.”

But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well.”

Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.”

And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

“I am a foreign resident among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as a burial place.”

“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

“My lord, listen to me. Land worth 400 shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the presence of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver at the current commercial rate.

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there.

Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

But he responded to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey a success. Send me away so that I may go to my master.”

and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

And the Lord said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;
two people will come from you and be separated.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.

He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom.

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about;

stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,

The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.

Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.

Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Hostility.

and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham.”

On that same day Isaac’s slaves came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, “We have found water!”

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered, “Here I am.”

Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.”

‘Bring me the game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’

Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.”

Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.”

Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.”

Then he said, “Serve me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.

So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said:

Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.

He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.

May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.”

Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on.

He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it

This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.”

He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him, and kissed him. Then he took him to his house, and Jacob told him all that had happened.

Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.”

That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was unable to conceive.

She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “The Lord heard that I am unloved and has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon.

When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister. “Give me sons, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

Then she said, “Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.”

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher.

But Leah replied to her, “Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband? Now you also want to take my son’s mandrakes?”

“Well,” Rachel said, “you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.

Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”

Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. Such will be my wages.

In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen.”

That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them.

As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.

Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.”

And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same.

He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same, but the God of my father has been with me.

You know that I’ve worked hard for your father

and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me.

“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.

In that dream the Angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’

And He said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.

In fact, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has said to you.”

And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, not telling him that he was fleeing.

On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.

If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

She said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime?” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me?

If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.”

This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm.

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.

That is why, to this day, the Israelites don’t eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because He struck Jacob’s hip socket at the thigh muscle.