1 Later on God tested Abraham's faith and obedience. "Abraham!" God called."Yes," he replied. "Here I am." 2 "Take your son, your only son _ yes, Isaac, whom you love so much _ and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you."

3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go. 4 On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance. 5 "Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the young men. "The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back." 6 Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and the fire. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac said, "Father?""Yes, my son," Abraham replied."We have the wood and the fire," said the boy, "but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" 8 "God will provide a lamb, my son," Abraham answered. And they both went on together. 9 When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood. 10 And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to the LORD.

11 At that moment the angel of the LORD shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!""Yes," he answered. "I'm listening." 12 "Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me." 13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the altar in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place "The LORD Will Provide." F67 This name has now become a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

15 Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven, 16 "This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that 17 I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies, 18 and through your descendants, F68 all the nations of the earth will be blessed _ all because you have obeyed me." 19 Then they returned to Abraham's young men and traveled home again to Beersheba, where Abraham lived for quite some time.

19 This is the history of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. 20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan_aram and the sister of Laban. 21 Isaac pleaded with the LORD to give Rebekah a child because she was childless. So the LORD answered Isaac's prayer, and his wife became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the LORD about it. "Why is this happening to me?" she asked. 23 And the LORD told her, "The sons in your womb will become two rival nations. One nation will be stronger than the other; the descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son." 24 And when the time came, the twins were born. 25 The first was very red at birth. He was covered with so much hair that one would think he was wearing a piece of clothing. So they called him Esau. F76 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So they called him Jacob. F77 Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. 27 As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open fields, while Jacob was the kind of person who liked to stay at home. 28 Isaac loved Esau in particular because of the wild game he brought home, but Rebekah favored Jacob.

29 One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home exhausted and hungry from a hunt. 30 Esau said to Jacob, "I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew you've made." (This was how Esau got his other name, Edom _ "Red.") 31 Jacob replied, "All right, but trade me your birthright for it." 32 "Look, I'm dying of starvation!" said Esau. "What good is my birthright to me now?" 33 So Jacob insisted, "Well then, swear to me right now that it is mine." So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his younger brother. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright.

1 When Isaac was old and almost blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, "My son?""Yes, Father?" Esau replied. 2 "I am an old man now," Isaac said, "and I expect every day to be my last. 3 Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows out into the open country, and hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare it just the way I like it so it's savory and good, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die." 5 But Rebekah overheard the conversation. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game,

6 she said to her son Jacob, "I overheard your father asking Esau 7 to prepare him a delicious meal of wild game. He wants to bless Esau in the LORD's presence before he dies. 8 Now, my son, do exactly as I tell you. 9 Go out to the flocks and bring me two fine young goats. I'll prepare your father's favorite dish from them. 10 Take the food to your father; then he can eat it and bless you instead of Esau before he dies." 11 "But Mother!" Jacob replied. "He won't be fooled that easily. Think how hairy Esau is and how smooth my skin is! 12 What if my father touches me? He'll see that I'm trying to trick him, and then he'll curse me instead of blessing me." 13 "Let the curse fall on me, dear son," said Rebekah. "Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats." 14 So Jacob followed his mother's instructions, bringing her the two goats. She took them and cooked a delicious meat dish, just the way Isaac liked it. 15 Then she took Esau's best clothes, which were there in the house, and dressed Jacob with them. 16 She made him a pair of gloves from the hairy skin of the young goats, and she fastened a strip of the goat's skin around his neck. 17 Then she gave him the meat dish, with its rich aroma, and some freshly baked bread.

18 Jacob carried the platter of food to his father and said, "My father?""Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it _ Esau or Jacob?" 19 Jacob replied, "It's Esau, your older son. I've done as you told me. Here is the wild game, cooked the way you like it. Sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing." 20 Isaac asked, "How were you able to find it so quickly, my son?""Because the LORD your God put it in my path!" Jacob replied. 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come over here. I want to touch you to make sure you really are Esau." 22 So Jacob went over to his father, and Isaac touched him. "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's," Isaac said to himself. 23 But he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy just like Esau's. So Isaac pronounced his blessing on Jacob. 24 "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked."Yes, of course," Jacob replied. 25 Then Isaac said, "Now, my son, bring me the meat. I will eat it, and then I will give you my blessing." So Jacob took the food over to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said, 26 "Come here and kiss me, my son." 27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, "The smell of my son is the good smell of the open fields that the LORD has blessed. 28 May God always give you plenty of dew for healthy crops and good harvests of grain and wine. 29 May many nations become your servants. May you be the master of your brothers. May all your mother's sons bow low before you. All who curse you are cursed, and all who bless you are blessed."

30 As soon as Isaac had blessed Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunting trip. 31 Esau prepared his father's favorite meat dish and brought it to him. Then he said, "I'm back, Father, and I have the wild game. Sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing." 32 But Isaac asked him, "Who are you?""Why, it's me, of course!" he replied. "It's Esau, your older son." 33 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, "Then who was it that just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I blessed him with an irrevocable blessing before you came." 34 When Esau understood, he let out a loud and bitter cry. "O my father, bless me, too!" he begged. 35 But Isaac said, "Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has carried away your blessing." 36 Esau said bitterly, "No wonder his name is Jacob, F83 for he has deceived me twice, first taking my birthright and now stealing my blessing. Oh, haven't you saved even one blessing for me?" 37 Isaac said to Esau, "I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine _ what is there left to give?" 38 Esau pleaded, "Not one blessing left for me? O my father, bless me, too!" Then Esau broke down and wept. 39 His father, Isaac, said to him, "You will live off the land and what it yields, 40 and you will live by your sword. You will serve your brother for a time, but then you will shake loose from him and be free."

41 Esau hated Jacob because he had stolen his blessing, and he said to himself, "My father will soon be dead and gone. Then I will kill Jacob." 42 But someone got wind of what Esau was planning and reported it to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob and told him, "Esau is threatening to kill you. 43 This is what you should do. Flee to your uncle Laban in Haran. 44 Stay there with him until your brother's fury is spent. 45 When he forgets what you have done, I will send for you. Why should I lose both of you in one day?" 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm sick and tired of these local Hittite women. I'd rather die than see Jacob marry one of them."

1 So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, "Do not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2 Instead, go at once to Paddan_aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban's daughters. 3 May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants become a great assembly of nations! 4 May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where we now are foreigners, for God gave it to Abraham." 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan_aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother's brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.

1 During this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw what a beautiful baby he was and kept him hidden for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a little basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile River. 4 The baby's sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.

5 Soon after this, one of Pharaoh's daughters came down to bathe in the river, and her servant girls walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the little basket among the reeds, she told one of her servant girls to get it for her. 6 As the princess opened it, she found the baby boy. His helpless cries touched her heart. "He must be one of the Hebrew children," she said. 7 Then the baby's sister approached the princess. "Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" she asked. 8 "Yes, do!" the princess replied. So the girl rushed home and called the baby's mother. 9 "Take this child home and nurse him for me," the princess told her. "I will pay you for your help." So the baby's mother took her baby home and nursed him. 10 Later, when he was older, the child's mother brought him back to the princess, who adopted him as her son. The princess named him Moses, for she said, "I drew him out of the water."