15:1 “I am the true vine ¹  and my Father is the gardener. ²  15:2 He takes away ³  every branch that does not bear ⁴  fruit in me. He ⁵  prunes ⁶  every branch that bears ⁷  fruit so that it will bear more fruit. 15:3 You are clean already ⁸  because of the word that I have spoken to you. 15:4 Remain ⁹  in me, and I will remain in you. ¹⁰  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, ¹¹  unless it remains ¹²  in ¹³  the vine, so neither can you unless you remain ¹⁴  in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ¹⁵  in me – and I in him – bears ¹⁶  much fruit, ¹⁷  because apart from me you can accomplish ¹⁸  nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain ¹⁹  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ²⁰  and are burned up. ²¹ 

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ¹  in the days of Abraham. ²  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. 26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ³  settle down in the land that I will point out to you. ⁴  26:3 Stay ⁵  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ⁶  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ⁷  and I will fulfill ⁸  the solemn promise I made ⁹  to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them ¹⁰  all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. ¹¹  26:5 All this will come to pass ¹²  because Abraham obeyed me ¹³  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ¹⁴  26:6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ¹⁵  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ¹⁶  “The men of this place will kill me to get ¹⁷  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

26:8 After Isaac ¹⁸  had been there a long time, ¹⁹  Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed ²⁰  Isaac caressing ²¹  his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really ²²  your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” ²³ 

26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? ²⁴  One of the men ²⁵  might easily have had sexual relations with ²⁶  your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches ²⁷  this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” ²⁸ 

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ²⁹  because the Lord blessed him. ³⁰  26:13 The man became wealthy. ³¹  His influence continued to grow ³²  until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had ³³  so many sheep ³⁴  and cattle ³⁵  and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous ³⁶  of him. 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up ³⁷  all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

26:16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, ³⁸  for you have become much more powerful ³⁹  than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. ⁴⁰  26:18 Isaac reopened ⁴¹  the wells that had been dug ⁴²  back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up ⁴³  after Abraham died. Isaac ⁴⁴  gave these wells ⁴⁵  the same names his father had given them. ⁴⁶ 

26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing ⁴⁷  water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ⁴⁸  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ⁴⁹  named the well ⁵⁰  Esek ⁵¹  because they argued with him about it. ⁵²  26:21 His servants ⁵³  dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it ⁵⁴  Sitnah. ⁵⁵  26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ⁵⁶  named it ⁵⁷  Rehoboth, ⁵⁸  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

26:23 From there Isaac ⁵⁹  went up to Beer Sheba. 26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 26:25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped ⁶⁰  the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. ⁶¹ 

26:26 Now Abimelech had come ⁶²  to him from Gerar along with ⁶³  Ahuzzah his friend ⁶⁴  and Phicol the commander of his army. 26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me ⁶⁵  and sent me away from you.” 26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see ⁶⁶  that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be ⁶⁷  a pact between us ⁶⁸  – between us ⁶⁹  and you. Allow us to make ⁷⁰  a treaty with you 26:29 so that ⁷¹  you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed ⁷²  you, but have always treated you well ⁷³  before sending you away ⁷⁴  in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” ⁷⁵ 

26:30 So Isaac ⁷⁶  held a feast for them and they celebrated. ⁷⁷  26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. ⁷⁸  Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. ⁷⁹ 

26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. ⁸⁰  26:33 So he named it Shibah; ⁸¹  that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba ⁸²  to this day.

26:34 When ⁸³  Esau was forty years old, ⁸⁴  he married ⁸⁵  Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 26:35 They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety. ⁸⁶ 

27:1 When ⁸⁷  Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, ⁸⁸  he called his older ⁸⁹  son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau ⁹⁰  replied. 27:2 Isaac ⁹¹  said, “Since ⁹²  I am so old, I could die at any time. ⁹³  27:3 Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game ⁹⁴  for me. 27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then ⁹⁵  I will eat it so that I may bless you ⁹⁶  before I die.”

27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. ⁹⁷  When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, ⁹⁸  27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, 27:7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat ⁹⁹  it and bless you ¹⁰⁰  in the presence of the Lord ¹⁰¹  before I die.’ 27:8 Now then, my son, do ¹⁰²  exactly what I tell you! ¹⁰³  27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare ¹⁰⁴  them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 27:10 Then you will take ¹⁰⁵  it to your father. Thus he will eat it ¹⁰⁶  and ¹⁰⁷  bless you before he dies.”

27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! ¹⁰⁸  27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him ¹⁰⁹  and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, ¹¹⁰  my son! Just obey me! ¹¹¹  Go and get them for me!”

27:14 So he went and got the goats ¹¹²  and brought them to his mother. She ¹¹³  prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. 27:15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 27:16 She put the skins of the young goats ¹¹⁴  on his hands ¹¹⁵  and the smooth part of his neck. 27:17 Then she handed ¹¹⁶  the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac ¹¹⁷  replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?” ¹¹⁸  27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up ¹¹⁹  and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” ¹²⁰  27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ¹²¹  did you find it so quickly, ¹²²  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ¹²³  he replied. ¹²⁴  27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you, ¹²⁵  my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau.” ¹²⁶  27:22 So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.” 27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. ¹²⁷  27:24 Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob ¹²⁸  replied. 27:25 Isaac ¹²⁹  said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. ¹³⁰  Then I will bless you.” ¹³¹  So Jacob ¹³²  brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac ¹³³  drank. 27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.” 27:27 So Jacob ¹³⁴  went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent ¹³⁵  of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,

“Yes, ¹³⁶  my son smells

like the scent of an open field

which the Lord has blessed.

27:28 May God give you

the dew of the sky ¹³⁷ 

and the richness ¹³⁸  of the earth,

and plenty of grain and new wine.

27:29 May peoples serve you

and nations bow down to you.

You will be ¹³⁹  lord ¹⁴⁰  over your brothers,

and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. ¹⁴¹ 

May those who curse you be cursed,

and those who bless you be blessed.”

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ¹⁴²  his father’s ¹⁴³  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ¹⁴⁴  27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau ¹⁴⁵  said to him, “My father, get up ¹⁴⁶  and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” ¹⁴⁷  27:32 His father Isaac asked, ¹⁴⁸  “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” ¹⁴⁹  he replied, “Esau!” 27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ¹⁵⁰  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ¹⁵¹  He will indeed be blessed!”

27:34 When Esau heard ¹⁵²  his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. ¹⁵³  He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 27:35 But Isaac ¹⁵⁴  replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away ¹⁵⁵  your blessing.” 27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! ¹⁵⁶  He has tripped me up ¹⁵⁷  two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”

27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?” 27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” ¹⁵⁸  Then Esau wept loudly. ¹⁵⁹ 

27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,

“Indeed, ¹⁶⁰  your home will be

away from the richness ¹⁶¹  of the earth,

and away from the dew of the sky above.

27:40 You will live by your sword

but you will serve your brother.

When you grow restless,

you will tear off his yoke

from your neck.” ¹⁶² 

27:41 So Esau hated ¹⁶³  Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. ¹⁶⁴  Esau said privately, ¹⁶⁵  “The time ¹⁶⁶  of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill ¹⁶⁷  my brother Jacob!”

27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, ¹⁶⁸  she quickly summoned ¹⁶⁹  her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. ¹⁷⁰  27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. ¹⁷¹  Run away immediately ¹⁷²  to my brother Laban in Haran. 27:44 Live with him for a little while ¹⁷³  until your brother’s rage subsides. 27:45 Stay there ¹⁷⁴  until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. ¹⁷⁵  Why should I lose both of you in one day?” ¹⁷⁶ 

27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed ¹⁷⁷  because of these daughters of Heth. ¹⁷⁸  If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!” ¹⁷⁹