Study Desk

But Jacob said, "First, promise me that you will give it to me." So Esau made a promise to Jacob and sold his part of their father's wealth to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and vegetable soup, and he ate and drank, and then left. So Esau showed how little he cared about his rights as the firstborn son.

His wife Rebekah was very beautiful, and the men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to tell them she was his wife. He thought they might kill him so they could have her.

Isaac lived there a long time. One day as Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out his window, he saw Isaac holding his wife Rebekah tenderly.

So Abimelech warned everyone, "Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death."

Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells, but after he died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again and gave them the same names his father had given them.

Then his servants dug another well. When the people also argued about it, Isaac named that well Fight.

So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He also made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.

Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. He brought with him Ahuzzath, who advised him, and Phicol, the commander of his army.

When Isaac was old, his eyesight was poor, so he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, "Son." Esau answered, "Here I am."

So Esau went out in the field to hunt. Rebekah was listening as Isaac said this to his son Esau.

But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "My brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth!

So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother, and she cooked them in the special way Isaac enjoyed.

Jacob went in to his father and said, "Father." And his father said, "Yes, my son. Who are you?"

But Isaac asked his son, "How did you find and kill the animal so quickly?" Jacob answered, "Because the Lord your God helped me to find it."

So Jacob came near to Isaac his father. Isaac touched him and said, "Your voice sounds like Jacob's voice, but your hands are hairy like the hands of Esau."

Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his hands were hairy like Esau's hands, so Isaac blessed him.

So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau's clothes, he blessed him and said, "The smell of my son is like the smell of the field that the Lord has blessed.

Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting.

He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. He said, "Father, rise and eat the food that your son killed for you and then bless me."