Study Desk

Then food was served. But Abraham's servant said, "I don't want to eat until I have told you why I have come." "All right," Laban said, "tell us."

"But I said to my master, ‘What if I can't find a young woman who is willing to go back with me?'

Then you will have fulfilled your obligation. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her go with you, you will be free from my oath.'

Then they ate their meal, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight. But early the next morning, Abraham's servant said, "Send me back to my master."

"But we want Rebekah to stay with us at least ten days," her brother and mother said. "Then she can go."

But he said, "Don't delay me. The Lord has made my mission successful; now send me back so I can return to my master."

But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac.

But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. "Why is this happening to me?" she asked.

As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home.

Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

"All right," Jacob replied, "but trade me your rights as the firstborn son."

But Jacob said, "First you must swear that your birthright is mine." So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you.

But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah.

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 herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means "argument").

Isaac's men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means "hostility").

But Esau's wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game,

"But look," Jacob replied to Rebekah, "my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth.

But his mother replied, "Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!"