Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



And prepare me appetizing meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat of it, [preparatory] to giving you my blessing [as my firstborn] before I die. But Rebekah heard what Isaac said to Esau his son; and when Esau had gone to the open country to hunt for game that he might bring it, Rebekah said to Jacob her younger son, See here, I heard your father say to Esau your brother, read more.
Bring me game and make me appetizing meat, so that I may eat and declare my blessing upon you before the Lord before my death. So now, my son, do exactly as I command you. Go now to the flock, and from it bring me two good and suitable kids; and I will make them into appetizing meat for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat and declare his blessing upon you before his death. But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Listen, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Suppose my father feels me; I will seem to him to be a cheat and an imposter, and I will bring [his] curse on me and not [his] blessing. But his mother said to him, On me be your curse, my son; only obey my word and go, fetch them to me. So [Jacob] went, got [the kids], and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared appetizing meat with a delightful odor, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took her elder son Esau's best clothes which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. So he went to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I; who are you, my son? And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may proceed to bless me. And Isaac 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. But Isaac said to Jacob, Come close to me, I beg of you, that I may feel you, my son, and know whether you really are my son Esau or not. So Jacob went near to Isaac, and his father felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. He could not identify him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. But he said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am. Then [Isaac] said, Bring it to me and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you. He brought it to him and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said, Come near and kiss me, my son. So he came near and kissed him; and [Isaac] smelled his clothing and blessed him and said, The scent of my son is as the odor of a field which the Lord has blessed. And may God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth and abundance of grain and [new] wine; Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you; be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Let everyone be cursed who curses you and favored with blessings who blesses you. As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob was scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. Esau had also prepared savory food and brought it to his father and said to him, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me. And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he replied, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. Then Isaac trembled and shook violently, and he said, Who? Where is he who has hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of it all before you came and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father! [Isaac] said, Your brother came with crafty cunning and treacherous deceit and has taken your blessing. [Esau] 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 still a blessing reserved for me? And Isaac answered Esau, Behold, I have made [Jacob] your lord and master; I have given all his brethren to him for servants, and with corn and [new] wine have I sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son? Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father! And Esau lifted up [could not control] his voice and wept aloud. Then Isaac his father answered, Your [blessing and] dwelling shall all come from the fruitfulness of the earth and from the dew of the heavens above; By your sword you shall live and serve your brother. But [the time shall come] when you will grow restive and break loose, and you shall tear his yoke from off your neck. And 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. When [he is gone] I will kill my brother Jacob. These words of Esau her elder son were repeated to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob her younger son and said to him, See here, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you [by intending] to kill you. So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran; Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent. When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth [these wives of Esau]! If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these Hittite girls around here, what good will my life be to me?


Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together to go from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran [about five hundred and fifty miles northwest of Ur], they settled there.

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God sent him to this country in which you now live.

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

Did the gods of the nations whom my forefathers destroyed rescue them—Gozan and Haran [of Mesopotamia] and Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?

Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

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


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

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


But if a man acts intentionally against another and kills him by [design through] treachery, you are to take him from My altar [to which he may have fled for protection], so that he may be put to death.

And surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another's lifeblood] I will require a reckoning. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man.

But if he struck him down with an instrument of iron so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he struck him down by throwing a stone, by which a person may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he struck him down with a weapon of wood in his hand, by which one may die, and he died, the offender is a murderer; he shall surely be put to death. read more.
The avenger of blood shall himself slay the murderer; when he meets him, he shall slay him. But if he stabbed him through hatred or hurled at him by lying in wait so that he died Or in enmity struck him down with his hand so that he died, he that smote him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meets him.

Whoever kills any person [intentionally], the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. read more.
So you shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

Then Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the land, and from Your face I will be hidden; and I will be a fugitive and a vagabond and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. And the Lord said to him, Therefore, if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark or sign upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran; Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent. When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?



But if any man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and attacks him and wounds him mortally so that he dies, and the assailant flees into one of these cities, Then the elders of his own city shall send for him and fetch him from there and give him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall clear Israel of the guilt of innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, doing evil in His sight? You have slain Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife. You have murdered him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because [you have not only despised My command, but] you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. read more.
For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.


And 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. When [he is gone] I will kill my brother Jacob. These words of Esau her elder son were repeated to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob her younger son and said to him, See here, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you [by intending] to kill you. So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran; read more.
Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent. When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth [these wives of Esau]! If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these Hittite girls around here, what good will my life be to me?

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, You shall not marry one of the women of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take from there as a wife one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you until you become a group of peoples. read more.
May He give the blessing [He gave to] Abraham to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land He gave to Abraham, in which you are a sojourner. Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Padan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother.


Now Jacob (Israel) fled into the open country of Aram (Paddan-aram),
And [there] Israel (Jacob) worked and served for a wife,
And for a wife he kept sheep.


These words of Esau her elder son were repeated to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob her younger son and said to him, See here, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you [by intending] to kill you. So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran;


These words of Esau her elder son were repeated to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob her younger son and said to him, See here, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you [by intending] to kill you. So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran; Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent. read more.
When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day? Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth [these wives of Esau]! If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these Hittite girls around here, what good will my life be to me?