Jacob and Esau

¹⁹ This is the account^(A) of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old^(B) when he married Rebekah^(C) daughter of Bethuel^(D) the Aramean from Paddan Aram^[a](E) and sister of Laban^(F) the Aramean.^(G)

²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.^(H) The Lord answered his prayer,^(I) and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.^(J)

²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth,^(M) there were twin boys in her womb.^{(N) 25} The first to come out was red,^(O) and his whole body was like a hairy garment;^(P) so they named him Esau.^{[b](Q) 26} After this, his brother came out,^(R) with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;^(S) so he was named Jacob.^[c](T) Isaac was sixty years old^(U) when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,^(V) a man of the open country,^(W) while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game,^(X) loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.^(Y)

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew,^(Z) Esau came in from the open country,^(AA) famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!^(AB) I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.^[d])^(AC)

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.^(AD)”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear^(AE) to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright^(AF) to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.^(AG) He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

³⁶ Then he put a three-day journey^(A) between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Jacob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond^(B) and plane trees^(C) and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches.^{(D) 38} Then he placed the peeled branches^(E) in all the watering troughs,^(F) so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat^(G) and came to drink, ³⁹ they mated in front of the branches.^(H) And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.^{(I) 40} Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals^(J) that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. ⁴¹ Whenever the stronger females were in heat,^(K) Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,^{(L) 42} but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob.^{(M) 43} In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.^(N)

Jacob Flees From Laban

31 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons^(O) were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.”^{(P) 2} And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been.^(Q)