Study Desk

The men of the place asked him about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife"—thinking, "the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is very beautiful."

It happened when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife.

Then Abimelech commanded all his people, "Whoever touches this man [Isaac] or his wife [Rebekah] shall without exception be put to death."

Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with dirt.

Now Isaac again dug [and reopened] the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had filled them up [with dirt] after the death of Abraham; and he gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

Then his servants dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so Isaac named it Sitnah (enmity).

So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD [in prayer]. He pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, his [close friend and confidential] adviser, and Phicol, the commander of his army.

When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite as his wives;

Now when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his elder [and favorite] son Esau and said to him, "My son." And Esau answered him, "Here I am."

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,

"Then you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before his death."

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Listen, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth [skinned] man.

"Suppose my father touches me and feels my skin; then I will be seen by him as a cheat (imposter), and I will bring his curse on me and not a blessing."

But his mother said to him, "May your curse be on me, my son; only listen and obey me, and go, bring the young goats to me."

So Jacob went and got the two young goats, and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared a delicious dish of food [with a delightful aroma], the kind his father loved [to eat].

And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

So he went to his father and said, "My father." And Isaac said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now please, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me."

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."