¹⁹ This is the ^(A)genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. ^(B)Abraham begot Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, ^(C)the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, ^(D)the sister of Laban the Syrian. ²¹ Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; ^(E)and the Lord granted his plea, ^(F)and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²² But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” ^(G)So she went to inquire of the Lord.

²³ And the Lord said to her:

²⁴ So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ And the first came out red. He was ^(K)like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name ^[a]Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out, and ^(L)his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so ^(M)his name was called ^[b]Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷ So the boys grew. And Esau was ^(N)a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was ^(O)a ^[c]mild man, ^(P)dwelling in tents. ²⁸ And Isaac loved Esau because he ^(Q)ate of his game, ^(R)but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright^(S)

²⁹ Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called ^[d]Edom.

³¹ But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”

³² And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so ^(T)what is this birthright to me?”

³³ Then Jacob said, ^[e]“Swear to me as of this day.”

So he swore to him, and ^(U)sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then ^(V)he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau ^(W)despised his birthright.

³⁶ Then he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.

³⁷ Now ^(A)Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled white strips in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. ³⁸ And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹ So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰ Then Jacob separated the lambs, and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

⁴¹ And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴² But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. ⁴³ Thus the man ^(B)became exceedingly prosperous, and ^(C)had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob Flees from Laban

31 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this ^(D)wealth.” ² And Jacob saw the ^(E)countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not ^(F)favorable toward him as before.