Genesis 27:1 – 28:22
Isaac Blesses Jacob
1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.” 2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now therefore, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 Then make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son; and Esau went to the field to hunt game for his father. 6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her younger son, saying, “Indeed, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you. 9 Go now to the sheep and bring me from there two kids, choice and good, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it and bless you before his death.”
11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” 13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 She also put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the exposed part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread she had prepared into the hands of her son Jacob.
18 Thus he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it you have found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.” 23 Thus he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24 Then he said, “Are you my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
25 He said, “Bring your game to me, my son, and I will eat from it, that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing.
Thus he blessed him and said:
“Surely, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field the Lord has blessed.
28 Therefore, may God give you of the dew of heaven
And of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
And cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
Esau’s Lost Blessing
30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac finished blessing Jacob his son, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.” 32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—and indeed, he shall be blessed.” 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.” 36 Then Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing.” So he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed, I have made him your lord, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” But when Isaac was troubled, Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
Jacob Sent to Laban
41 Thus Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his mind, “Let the days of mourning for my father draw near, then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 So the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely, your brother Esau is threatening to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee to Mesopotamia to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s anger 45 and wrath turn away from you, and he forgets what you did to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of this land, what good will my life be to me?”
Isaac Sends Jacob to Mesopotamia
1 Now Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 May God bless you, and increase and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of nations; 4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your seed with you, that you may inherit the land of your sojourning, which God gave to Abraham.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Mesopotamia, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Mesopotamia to take himself a wife from there, and as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Mesopotamia. 8 Also, Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
Jacob’s Ladder
10 Now Jacob went out from the Well of Oath and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. Then he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 So behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. Do not fear, the land on which you lie I will give to you and your seed. 14 Also, your seed shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 So he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 18 Now Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone he put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 Thus Jacob called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city was Luz previously.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If the Lord God will be with me, and keep me in this way I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 and bring me back in safety to my father’s house, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone I set as a pillar shall be God’s house to me, and of all You give me I will surely give a tithe to You.”
Psalms 10
For the End; a psalm by David.
In the Lord I trust. How will you say to my soul,
“Flee to the mountains like a sparrow”?
2 See, the sinners stretch tight their bow;
They prepare their arrows in the quiver,
That in a moonless night they may shoot down the upright in heart.
3 For the things You created, they destroyed.
But what did the righteous man do?
4 The Lord is in His holy temple;
The Lord, His throne is in heaven;
His eyes are fixed upon the poor man,
His eyelids examine the sons of men.
5 The Lord examines the righteous man and the ungodly man,
And he who loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.
6 He shall rain down snares upon sinners;
Fire and brimstone and a raging wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 The righteous Lord loves righteousness;
His face beholds the upright.
Psalms 11
For the End, concerning the eighth; a psalm by David.
2 Save me, O Lord, for the holy man has ceased;
The truthful are diminished from among the sons of men.
3 Each one speaks useless things to his neighbor;
Deceptive lips speak with a double heart.
4 May the Lord destroy all deceptive lips
And the tongue that speaks boastful things,
5 Saying, “We will make our tongue powerful;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”
6 “Because of the suffering of the needy,
And because of the groaning of the poor,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will establish them in salvation;
I will declare it boldly.”
7 The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver fired in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
8 You shall guard us, O Lord;
You shall preserve us from this generation forever.
9 The ungodly walk in a circle;
In Your exaltation, You highly exalted the sons of men.
Proverbs 2:6-9
For the Lord gives wisdom,
And from His face come knowledge and understanding;
7 And He stores up salvation for the upright;
He will protect their journey,
8 That He might guard the ways of His ordinances;
And He will carefully guard the way of those who reverence Him.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and judgment,
And accomplish successfully every good path for yourself.
Matthew 7
“Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12 “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The Narrow Way
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Build on the Rock
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.