¹ Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

² A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard it said, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

³ Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he who goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said to thee.

⁴ Speak not thou in thy heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

⁵ Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations, the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD swore to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶ Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.

⁷ Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart from the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

⁸ Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

⁹ When I ascended the mount, to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither ate bread, nor drank water:

¹⁰ And the LORD delivered to me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words which the LORD spoke with you in the mount, from the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.

¹¹ And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

¹² And the LORD said to me, Arise, go down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

¹³ Furthermore, the LORD spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

¹⁴ Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

¹⁵ So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶ And I looked, and behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you.

¹⁷ And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

¹⁸ And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I neither ate bread, nor drank water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

¹⁹ (For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you.) But the LORD hearkened to me at that time also.

²⁰ And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²¹ And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended from the mount.

²² And at Taberah, and at Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.

²³ Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

²⁴ Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

²⁵ Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

²⁶ I prayed therefore to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷ Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

²⁸ Lest the land from which thou hast brought us should say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

²⁹ Yet they are thy people and thy inheritance which thou hast brought out by thy mighty power and by thy out-stretched arm.

¹ It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am."

² He said, "See now, I am old. I don't know the day of my death.

³ Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison.

⁴ Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die."

⁵ Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

⁶ Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,

⁷ 'Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.'

⁸ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.

⁹ Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good young goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.

¹⁰ You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."

¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

¹² What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."

¹³ His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me."

¹⁴ He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.

¹⁵ Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.

¹⁶ She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.

¹⁷ She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me."

²⁰ Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because Yahweh your God gave me success."

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."

²² Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

²³ He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him.

²⁴ 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 venison, that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶ His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son."

²⁷ He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed.

²⁸ God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.

²⁹ Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you."

³⁰ It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

³¹ He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me."

³² Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."

³³ Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."

³⁵ He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing."

³⁶ He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?"

³⁸ Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

³⁹ Isaac his father answered him, "Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above.

⁴⁰ By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck."

⁴¹ Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob."

⁴² The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.

⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.

⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away;

⁴⁵ until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"