Bible Reading Plan – Day 8

₁There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. ₂The LORD had appeared to Isaac and had said, “Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay. ₃Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham. ₄I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. ₅I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands.”

₆So Isaac lived at Gerar. ₇When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful. ₈When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love. ₉Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?”

He answered, “I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife.”

₁₀“What have you done to us?” Abimelech said. “One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt.” ₁₁Abimelech warned all the people: “Anyone who ill-treats this man or his wife will be put to death.”

₁₂Isaac sowed seed in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the LORD blessed him. ₁₃He continued to prosper and became a very rich man. ₁₄Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him. ₁₅So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.

₁₆Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.” ₁₇So Isaac left and set up his camp in the Valley of Gerar, where he stayed for some time. ₁₈He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

₁₉Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water. ₂₀The shepherds of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel”.

₂₁Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity”. ₂₂He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it “Freedom”. He said, “Now the LORD has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here.”

₂₃Isaac left and went to Beersheba. ₂₄That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham.” ₂₅Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the LORD. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.

₂₆Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac. ₂₇So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”

₂₈They answered, “Now we know that the LORD is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise ₂₉that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you leave peacefully. Now it is clear that the LORD has blessed you.” ₃₀Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ₃₁Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said goodbye to them, and they parted as friends.

₃₂On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, “We have found water.” ₃₃He named the well “Vow”. That is how the city of Beersheba got its name.

₃₄When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittite women, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon. ₃₅They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.

₁Isaac was now old and had become blind. He sent for his elder son Esau and said to him, “My son!”

“Yes,” he answered.

₂Isaac said, “You see that I am old and may die soon. ₃Take your bow and arrows, go out into the country, and kill an animal for me. ₄Cook me some of that tasty food that I like, and bring it to me. After I have eaten it, I will give you my final blessing before I die.”

₅While Isaac was talking to Esau, Rebecca was listening. So when Esau went out to hunt, ₆she said to Jacob, “I have just heard your father say to Esau, ₇‘Bring me an animal and cook it for me. After I have eaten it, I will give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ ₈Now, my son,” Rebecca continued, “listen to me and do what I say. ₉Go to the flock and pick out two fat young goats, so that I can cook them and make some of that food your father likes so much. ₁₀You can take it to him to eat, and he will give you his blessing before he dies.”

₁₁But Jacob said to his mother, “You know that Esau is a hairy man, but I have smooth skin. ₁₂Perhaps my father will touch me and find out that I am deceiving him; in this way I will bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”

₁₃His mother answered, “Let any curse against you fall on me, my son; just do as I say, and go and get the goats for me.” ₁₄So he went to get them and brought them to her, and she cooked the kind of food that his father liked. ₁₅Then she took Esau's best clothes, which she kept in the house, and put them on Jacob. ₁₆She put the skins of the goats on his arms and on the hairless part of his neck. ₁₇She handed him the tasty food, together with the bread she had baked.

₁₈Then Jacob went to his father and said, “Father!”

“Yes,” he answered. “Which of my sons are you?”

₁₉Jacob answered, “I am your elder son Esau; I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessing.”

₂₀Isaac said, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

Jacob answered, “The LORD your God helped me to find it.”

₂₁Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so that I can touch you. Are you really Esau?” ₂₂Jacob moved closer to his father, who felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob's voice, but your arms feel like Esau's arms.” ₂₃He did not recognize Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau's. He was about to give him his blessing, ₂₄but asked again, “Are you really Esau?”

“I am,” he answered.

₂₅Isaac said, “Bring me some of the meat. After I have eaten it, I will give you my blessing.” Jacob brought it to him, and he also brought him some wine to drink. ₂₆Then his father said to him, “Come closer and kiss me, my son.” ₂₇As he came up to kiss him, Isaac smelt his clothes — so he gave him his blessing. He said, “The pleasant smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed. ₂₈May God give you dew from heaven and make your fields fertile! May he give you plenty of corn and wine! ₂₉May nations be your servants, and may peoples bow down before you. May you rule over all your relatives, and may your mother's descendants bow down before you. May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed.”

₃₀Isaac finished giving his blessing, and as soon as Jacob left, his brother Esau came in from hunting. ₃₁He also cooked some tasty food and took it to his father. He said, “Please, father, sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessing.”

₃₂“Who are you?” Isaac asked.

“Your elder son Esau,” he answered.

₃₃Isaac began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, “Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his for ever.”

₃₄When Esau heard this, he cried out loudly and bitterly and said, “Give me your blessing also, father!”

₃₅Isaac answered, “Your brother came and deceived me. He has taken away your blessing.”

₃₆Esau said, “This is the second time that he has cheated me. No wonder his name is Jacob. He took my rights as the firstborn son, and now he has taken away my blessing. Haven't you saved a blessing for me?”

₃₇Isaac answered, “I have already made him master over you, and I have made all his relatives his slaves. I have given him corn and wine. Now there is nothing that I can do for you, my son!”

₃₈Esau continued to plead with his father: “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” He began to cry.

₃₉Then Isaac said to him,

₄₁Esau hated Jacob, because his father had given Jacob the blessing. He thought, “The time to mourn my father's death is near; then I will kill Jacob.”

₄₂But when Rebecca heard about Esau's plan, she sent for Jacob and said, “Listen, your brother Esau is planning to get even with you and kill you. ₄₃Now, my son, do what I say. Go at once to my brother Laban in Haran, ₄₄and stay with him for a while, until your brother's anger cools down ₄₅and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send someone to bring you back. Why should I lose both my sons on the same day?”

₄₆Rebecca said to Isaac, “I am sick and tired of Esau's foreign wives. If Jacob also marries one of these Hittite women, I might as well die.”

₁Isaac called Jacob, greeted him, and said to him, “Don't marry a Canaanite woman. ₂Go instead to Mesopotamia, to the home of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of the young women there, one of your uncle Laban's daughters. ₃May Almighty God bless your marriage and give you many children, so that you will become the father of many nations! ₄May he bless you and your descendants as he blessed Abraham, and may you take possession of this land, in which you have lived and which God gave to Abraham!” ₅Isaac sent Jacob away to Mesopotamia, to Laban, who was the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

₆Esau learnt that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Mesopotamia to find a wife. He also learnt that when Isaac blessed him, he commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman. ₇He found out that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Mesopotamia. ₈Esau then understood that his father Isaac did not approve of Canaanite women. ₉So he went to Ishmael son of Abraham and married his daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth.

₁₀Jacob left Beersheba and started towards Haran. ₁₁At sunset he came to a holy place and camped there. He lay down to sleep, resting his head on a stone. ₁₂He dreamt that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels going up and coming down on it. ₁₃And there was the LORD standing beside him. “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham and Isaac,” he said. “I will give to you and to your descendants this land on which you are lying. ₁₄They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations. ₁₅Remember, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done all that I have promised you.”

₁₆Jacob woke up and said, “The LORD is here! He is in this place, and I didn't know it!” ₁₇He was afraid and said, “What a terrifying place this is! It must be the house of God; it must be the gate that opens into heaven.”

₁₈Jacob got up early next morning, took the stone that was under his head, and set it up as a memorial. Then he poured olive oil on it to dedicate it to God. ₁₉He named the place Bethel. (The town there was once known as Luz.) ₂₀Then Jacob made a vow to the LORD: “If you will be with me and protect me on the journey I am making and give me food and clothing, ₂₁and if I return safely to my father's home, then you will be my God. ₂₂This memorial stone which I have set up will be the place where you are worshipped, and I will give you a tenth of everything you give me.”

₁Jacob continued on his way and went towards the land of the East. ₂Suddenly he came upon a well out in the fields with three flocks of sheep lying round it. The flocks were watered from this well, which had a large stone over the opening. ₃Whenever all the flocks came together there, the shepherds would roll the stone back and water them. Then they would put the stone back in place.

₄Jacob asked the shepherds, “My friends, where are you from?”

“From Haran,” they answered.

₅He asked, “Do you know Laban, grandson of Nahor?”

“Yes, we do,” they answered.

₆“Is he well?” he asked.

“He is well,” they answered. “Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with his flock.”

₇Jacob said, “Since it is still broad daylight and not yet time to bring the flocks in, why don't you water them and take them back to pasture?”

₈They answered, “We can't do that until all the flocks are here and the stone has been rolled back; then we will water the flocks.”

₉While Jacob was still talking to them, Rachel arrived with the flock. ₁₀When Jacob saw Rachel with his uncle Laban's flock, he went to the well, rolled the stone back, and watered the sheep. ₁₁Then he kissed her and began to cry for joy. ₁₂He told her, “I am your father's relative, the son of Rebecca.”

She ran to tell her father; ₁₃and when he heard the news about his nephew Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him and kissed him, and brought him into the house. When Jacob told Laban everything that had happened, ₁₄Laban said, “Yes, indeed, you are my own flesh and blood.” Jacob stayed there a whole month.

₁₅Laban said to Jacob, “You shouldn't work for me for nothing just because you are my relative. How much pay do you want?” ₁₆Laban had two daughters; the elder was named Leah, and the younger Rachel. ₁₇Leah had lovely eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.

₁₈Jacob was in love with Rachel, so he said, “I will work seven years for you, if you will let me marry Rachel.”

₁₉Laban answered, “I would rather give her to you than to anyone else; stay here with me.” ₂₀Jacob worked seven years so that he could have Rachel, and the time seemed like only a few days to him, because he loved her.

₂₁Then Jacob said to Laban, “The time is up; let me marry your daughter.” ₂₂So Laban gave a wedding feast and invited everyone. ₂₃But that night, instead of Rachel, he took Leah to Jacob, and Jacob had intercourse with her. ₂₄(Laban gave his slave woman Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.) ₂₅Not until the next morning did Jacob discover that it was Leah. He went to Laban and said, “Why did you do this to me? I worked to get Rachel. Why have you tricked me?”

₂₆Laban answered, “It is not the custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the elder. ₂₇Wait until the week's marriage celebrations are over, and I will give you Rachel, if you will work for me another seven years.”

₂₈Jacob agreed, and when the week of marriage celebrations was over, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. ₂₉(Laban gave his slave woman Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid.) ₃₀Jacob had intercourse with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah. Then he worked for Laban another seven years.