Page:JPS-1917-Universal.djvu/52

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
25.29
GENESIS

sod pottage; and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. 30And Esau said to Jacob: 'Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.' Therefore was his name called [1]Edom. 31And Jacob said: 'Sell me first thy birthright.' 32And Esau said: 'Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall the birthright do to me?' 33And Jacob said: 'Swear to me first'; and he swore unto him; and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

26And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2And the Lord appeared unto him, and said: 'Go not down unto Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. 3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father; 4and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these lands; and by thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves; 5because that Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.' 6And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said: 'She is my sister'; for he feared to say: 'My wife'; 'lest the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she is fair to look upon.' 8And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9And Abimelech called Isaac, and said: 'Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou: She is my sister?' And Isaac said unto him: 'Because I said: Lest I die because of her.' 10And Abimelech said: 'What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou wouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.' 11And Abimelech charged all the people, saying: 'He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.' 12And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. 13And the man waxed great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household; and the Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16And Abimelech said unto Isaac: 'Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.' 17And Isaac departed thence, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water. 20And the herdmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdmen, saying: 'The water is ours.' And he called the name of the well [2]Esek; because they con-

  1. That is, Red.
  2. That is, Contention.

30