Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. ²⁸Now Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison; and Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹And Jacob sod pottage; and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. ³⁰And Esau said to Jacob: 'Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.' Therefore was his name called ²⁵Edom. ³¹And Jacob said: 'Sell me first thy birthright.' ³²And Esau said: 'Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall the birthright do to me?' ³³And Jacob said: 'Swear to me first'; and he swore unto him; and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. ³⁴And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

26And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. ²And the Lord appeared unto him, and said: 'Go not down unto Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. ³Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father; ⁴and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these lands; and by thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves; ⁵because that Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.' ⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said: 'She is my sister'; for he feared to say: 'My wife'; 'lest the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she is fair to look upon.' ⁸And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. ⁹And Abimelech called Isaac, and said: 'Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou: She is my sister?' And Isaac said unto him: 'Because I said: Lest I die because of her.' ¹⁰And Abimelech said: 'What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou wouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.' ¹¹And Abimelech charged all the people, saying: 'He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.' ¹²And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. ¹³And the man waxed great, and grew more and more until he became very great. ¹⁴And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household; and the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵Now all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. ¹⁶And Abimelech said unto Isaac: 'Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.' ¹⁷And Isaac departed thence, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. ¹⁸And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. ¹⁹And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water. ²⁰And the herdmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdmen, saying: 'The water is ours.' And he called the name of the well ²⁶Esek; because they contended with him. ²¹And they digged another well, and they strove for that also. And he called the name of it ²⁷Sitnah. ²²And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not. And he called the name of it ²⁸Rehoboth; and he said: 'For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.' ²³And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. ²⁴And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said: 'I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for My servant Abraham's sake.' ²⁵And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants digged a well. ²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his host. ²⁷And Isaac said unto them: 'Wherefore are ye come unto me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?' ²⁸And they said: 'We saw plainly that the Lord was with thee; and we said: Let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; ²⁹that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace; thou art now the blessed of the Lord.' ³⁰And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. ³¹And they rose up betimes in the morning, and swore one to another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ³²And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him: 'We have found water.' ³³And he called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.

      ³⁴And when Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵And they were a bitterness of spirit unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

      27And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said unto him: 'My son'; and he said unto him: 'Here am I.' ²And he said: 'Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. ³Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison; ⁴and make me savoury food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.' ⁵And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. ⁶And Rebekah spoke unto Jacob her son, saying: 'Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying: ⁷Bring me venison, and make me savoury food, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. ⁸Now therefore, my son, hearken to my voice according to that which I command thee. ⁹Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury food for thy father, such as he loveth; ¹⁰and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, so that he may bless thee before his death.' ¹¹And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother: 'Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a mocker; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.' ¹³And his mother said unto him: 'Upon me be thy curse, my son; only hearken to my voice, and go fetch me them.' ¹⁴And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savoury food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵And Rebekah took the choicest garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck. ¹⁷And she gave the savoury food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. ¹⁸And he came unto his father, and said: 'My father'; and he said: 'Here am I; who art thou, my son?' ¹⁹And Jacob said unto his father: 'I am Esau thy first-born; I have done according as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.' ²⁰And Isaac said unto his son: 'How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?' And he said: 'Because the Lord thy God sent me good speed.' ²¹And Isaac said unto Jacob: 'Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.' ²²And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said: 'The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.' ²³And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴And he said: 'Art thou my very son Esau?' And he said: 'I am.' ²⁵And he said: 'Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee.' And he brought it near to him, and he did eat; and he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶And his father Isaac said unto him: 'Come near now, and kiss me, my son.' ²⁷And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said:

      See, the smell of my sonIs as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.²⁸So God give thee of the dew of heaven,And of the fat places of the earth,And plenty of corn and wine.²⁹Let peoples serve thee,And nations bow down to thee.Be lord over thy brethren,And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee.Cursed be every one that curseth thee,And blessed