Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was ^(A)old and ^(B)his eyes were so dim that 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 ^(C)do not know the day of my death. ^3 (D)Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. ⁴ And make me ^[a]savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul ^(E)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 and to bring it. ⁶ So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me game and make ^[b]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, ^(F)obey my voice according to what I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make ^(G)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 that he ^(H)may bless you before his death.”

¹¹ And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, ^(I)Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. ¹² Perhaps my father will ^(J)feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring ^(K)a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³ But his mother said to him, ^(L)“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” ¹⁴ And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother ^(M)made ^[c]savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took ^(N)the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ So 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; please arise, sit and eat of my game, ^(O)that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I ^(P)may feel you, my son, whether you are really 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 voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ And he did not recognize him, because ^(Q)his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

²⁴ Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so ^(R)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 now and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ And he came near and ^(S)kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

Esau’s Lost Hope^(AB)

³⁰ Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, 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 ^[d]savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and ^(AC)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—^(AD)and indeed he shall be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, ^(AE)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 And Esau said, ^(AF)“Is he not rightly named ^[e]Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, ^(AG)“Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with ^(AH)grain and wine I have ^[f]sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

³⁸ And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice ^(AI)and wept.

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

Jacob Escapes from Esau

⁴¹ So Esau ^(AM)hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, ^(AN)“The days of mourning for my father ^[h]are at hand; ^(AO)then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau ^(AP)comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban ^(AQ)in Haran. ⁴⁴ And stay with him a ^(AR)few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ And Rebekah said to Isaac, ^(AS)“I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; ^(AT)if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Jacob Sent to His Uncle Laban

28 Then Isaac called Jacob and ^(AU)blessed him, and ^[i]charged him, and said to him: ^(AV)“You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ^2 (AW)Arise, go to ^(AX)Padan Aram, to the house of ^(AY)Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of ^(AZ)Laban your mother’s brother.

⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

⁶ Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. ⁸ Also Esau saw ^(BE)that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. ⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael and ^(BF)took ^(BG)Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, ^(BH)the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Jacob’s Vow at Bethel

¹⁰ Now Jacob ^(BI)went out from Beersheba and went toward ^(BJ)Haran. ¹¹ So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And 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 ^(BK)dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there ^(BL)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

^13 (BM)And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ^(BN)“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; ^(BO)the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Also your ^(BP)descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad ^(BQ)to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and ^(BR)in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, ^(BS)I am with you and will ^(BT)keep^[k] you wherever you go, and will ^(BU)bring you back to this land; for ^(BV)I will not leave you ^(BW)until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in ^(BX)this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And 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 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, ^(BY)set it up as a pillar, ^(BZ)and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ And he called the name of ^(CA)that place ^[l]Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. ^20 (CB)Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If ^(CC)God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me ^(CD)bread to eat and clothing to put on, ²¹ so that ^(CE)I come back to my father’s house in peace, ^(CF)then the Lord shall be my God. ²² And this stone which I have set as a pillar ^(CG)shall be God’s house, ^(CH)and of all that You give me I will surely give a ^[m]tenth to You.”

The Safety of the Faithful

To the ^[a]Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

The Model Prayer^(A)

11 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

² So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

A Friend Comes at Midnight

⁵ And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? ⁸ I say to you, ^(D)though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking^(E)

^9 (F)“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; ^(G)seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ^11 (H)If a son asks for ^[e]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give ^(I)good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

A House Divided Cannot Stand^(J)

^14 (K)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, ^(L)“He casts out demons by ^[f]Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶ Others, testing Him, ^(M)sought from Him a sign from heaven. ^17 (N)But ^(O)He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out demons ^(P)with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ^21 (Q)When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. ²² But ^(R)when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his ^[g]spoils. ^23 (S)He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

An Unclean Spirit Returns^(T)

^24 (U)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and ^(V)the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

Keeping the Word

²⁷ And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ^(W)“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸ But He said, ^(X)“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Seeking a Sign^(Y)

^29 (Z)And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a ^(AA)sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah ^[h]the prophet. ³⁰ For as ^(AB)Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. ^31 (AC)The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a ^(AD)greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for ^(AE)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body^(AF)

^33 (AG)“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a ^(AH)basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. ^34 (AI)The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is ^[i]good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is ^[j]bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷ And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. ^38 (AJ)When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.

^39 (AK)Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but ^(AL)your inward part is full of ^[k]greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ Foolish ones! Did not ^(AM)He who made the outside make the inside also? ^41 (AN)But rather give alms of ^[l]such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.

^42 (AO)“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and ^(AP)pass by justice and the ^(AQ)love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ^43 (AR)Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the ^[m]best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. ^44 (AS)Woe to you, ^[n]scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(AT)For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”

⁴⁵ Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.”

⁴⁶ And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! ^(AU)For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ^47 (AV)Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. ⁴⁸ In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ^(AW)‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ ⁵⁰ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, ^51 (AX)from the blood of Abel to ^(AY)the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

^52 (AZ)“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

^53 [o]And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for Him, ^[p]and ^(BA)seeking to catch Him in something He might say, ^[q]that they might accuse Him.