Study Desk

Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from here, because you are far too powerful for us."

He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over that one; so he named it Rehoboth (broad places), saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be prosperous in the land."

The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father; Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless and favor you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham."

They said, "We see clearly that the LORD has been with you; so we said, 'There should now be an oath between us [with a curse for the one who breaks it], that is, between you and us, and let us make a covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you,

Then Isaac held a [formal] banquet (covenant feast) for them, and they ate and drank.

"So now, please take your [hunting] gear, your quiver [of arrows] and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me;

But Rebekah overheard what Isaac said to Esau his son; and when Esau had gone to the open country to hunt for game that he might bring back,

"Go now to the flock and bring me two good and suitable young goats, and I will make them into a savory dish [of meat] for your father, the kind he loves [to eat].

Isaac said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has [fraudulently] taken away your blessing [for himself]."

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 reserved a blessing for me?"

But Isaac replied to Esau, "Listen carefully: I have made Jacob your lord and master; I have given him all his brothers and relatives as servants; and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then, can I do for you, my son?"

So 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; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

When these words of her elder son Esau were repeated to Rebekah, she sent for Jacob her younger son, and said to him, "Listen carefully, your brother Esau is comforting himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

"Stay with him for a while, until your brother's anger subsides.

"Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take from there as a wife for yourself one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

Now Esau noticed that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife for himself from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a prohibition, saying, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,"

"Behold, I am with you and will keep [careful watch over you and guard] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this [promised] land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Jacob said, "Look, the sun is still high [overhead]; it is a long time before the flocks need to be gathered [in their folds for the night]. Water the sheep, and go, and return them to their pasture."

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

Then Laban said to Jacob, "Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?"