Study Desk

Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.

So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death."

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

Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them.

So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army.

Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am."

Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,

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

But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.

"Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing."

But his mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me."

So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a delicious meal such as his father loved.

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

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

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me."

Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God made it come to me."

So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

Then his father Isaac said to him, "Please come close and kiss me, my son."