Genesis 27 Cross References - MSB

¹ When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied. ² “Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death. ³ Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me. ⁴ Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.” ⁵ Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ ⁸ Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you. ⁹ Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves. ¹⁰ Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹ Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned. ¹² What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.” ¹³ His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.” ¹⁴ So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved. ¹⁵ And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made. ¹⁸ So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?” ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” ²⁰ But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied. ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?” ²² So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. ²⁴ Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.” ²⁵ “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. ²⁸ May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine. ²⁹ May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.” ³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ³¹ He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.” ³² But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?” “I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered. ³³ Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!” ³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!” ³⁵ But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” ³⁶ So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. ³⁹ His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above. ⁴⁰ You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.” ⁴¹ Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. ⁴³ So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides— ⁴⁵ until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” ⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

²³ and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” ²⁴ When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau.

¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

² And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.

³ on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly,

³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.

²⁹ When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

³ But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

¹ Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

¹⁰ Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

¹ In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

³ saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

³⁵ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return—whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.

¹⁴ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ²⁸ Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

¹² “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹⁹ and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”

⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’

²³ Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

²⁵ “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁷ So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.

³¹ He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

³ May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.

⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”

¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.” ¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. ¹⁸ “Not so, my father!” Joseph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²⁸ These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

²² Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having made the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, he stepped down. ²³ Moses and Aaron then entered the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.

¹ This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. ² He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand. ³ Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words— ⁴ the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob. ⁵ So the LORD became King in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people gathered, when the tribes of Israel came together. ⁶ Let Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few.” ⁷ And concerning Judah he said: “O LORD, hear the cry of Judah and bring him to his people. With his own hands he defends his cause, but may You be a help against his foes.” ⁸ Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah. ⁹ He said of his father and mother, ‘I do not consider them.’ He disregarded his brothers and did not know his own sons, for he kept Your word and maintained Your covenant. ¹⁰ He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar. ¹¹ Bless his substance, O LORD, and accept the work of his hands. Smash the loins of those who rise against him, and of his foes so they can rise no more.” ¹² Concerning Benjamin he said: “May the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him; God shields him all day long, and upon His shoulders he rests.” ¹³ Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath, ¹⁴ with the bountiful harvest from the sun and the abundant yield of the seasons, ¹⁵ with the best of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills, ¹⁶ with the choice gifts of the land and everything in it, and with the favor of Him who dwelt in the burning bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph and crown the brow of the prince of his brothers. ¹⁷ His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.” ¹⁸ Concerning Zebulun he said: “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents. ¹⁹ They will call the peoples to a mountain; there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness. For they will feast on the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.” ²⁰ Concerning Gad he said: “Blessed is he who enlarges the domain of Gad! He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or a head. ²¹ He chose the best land for himself, because a ruler’s portion was reserved for him there. He came with the leaders of the people; he administered the LORD’s justice and His ordinances for Israel.” ²² Concerning Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out of Bashan.” ²³ Concerning Naphtali he said: “Naphtali is abounding with favor, full of the blessing of the LORD; he shall take possession of the sea and the south.” ²⁴ And concerning Asher he said: “May Asher be the most blessed of sons; may he be the most favored among his brothers and dip his foot in oil. ²⁵ May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.” ²⁶ “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty. ²⁷ The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’ ²⁸ So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew. ²⁹ Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”

¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.

⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.

³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,

⁵¹ While He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

²⁸ Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

¹ This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.

²⁶ At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”

¹⁹ When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.

²³ and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

¹³ His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”

⁴³ So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.

¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.

²⁹ But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

¹⁵ “Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

²⁰ And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and one young goat, and sent them to Saul with his son David.

²⁵ The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau.

²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?” ²² So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

³⁶ So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

¹⁸ ‘Cursed is he who lets a blind man wander in the road.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁶ True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

¹⁰ Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the LORD, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.

¹⁴ “But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.

⁸ through glory and dishonor, slander and praise; viewed as imposters, yet genuine;

²² Abstain from every form of evil.

³³ “Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright.

⁸ Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you.

⁹ I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life.

²⁴ Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted any food. ²⁵ Then all the troops entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground. ²⁶ And when they entered the forest and saw the flowing honey, not one of them put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. ²⁷ Jonathan, however, had not heard that his father had charged the people with the oath. So he reached out the end of the staff in his hand, dipped it into the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened. ²⁸ Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the troops with a solemn oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ That is why the people are faint.”

³⁶ And Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until dawn, leaving no man alive!” “Do what seems good to you,” the troops replied. But the priest said, “We must consult God here.” ³⁷ So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” But God did not answer him that day. ³⁸ Therefore Saul said, “Come here, all you leaders of the troops, and let us investigate how this sin has occurred today. ³⁹ As surely as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is my son Jonathan, he must die!” But not one of the troops said a word. ⁴⁰ Then Saul said to all Israel, “You stand on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other side.” “Do what seems good to you,” the troops replied. ⁴¹ So Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Why have You not answered Your servant this day? If the fault is with me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim; but if the fault is with the men of Israel, respond with Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were selected, but the people were cleared of the charge. ⁴² Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was selected. ⁴³ “Tell me what you have done,” Saul commanded him. So Jonathan told him, “I only tasted a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. And now I must die?” ⁴⁴ And Saul declared, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if you, Jonathan, do not surely die!” ⁴⁵ But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for with God’s help he has accomplished this today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.

⁹ But the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

⁴ Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

⁹ Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.

¹⁷ Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.

⁴ Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies.

² and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite. ³ Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

³⁴ But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.

²² But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, and they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”

²⁴ Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.” ²⁵ “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.

²³ But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. ²⁴ And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant. ²⁵ When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”

¹⁸ Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,

² and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now get up, disguise yourself so they will not recognize you as my wife, and go to Shiloh. For Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who spoke about my kingship over this people.

¹⁵ For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

³ And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through. ⁴ And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.

⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all: “I do not know what you are talking about.” ⁷¹ When Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was also with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷² And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man!” ⁷³ After a little while, those standing nearby came up to Peter. “Surely you are one of them,” they said, “for your accent gives you away.” ⁷⁴ At that he began to curse and swear to them, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed.

¹² “O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

⁷ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?

¹² What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”

²⁸ But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.

¹⁹ bringing praise to their lips. Peace, peace to those far and near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal them.”

⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

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

¹¹ Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or evil, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, ¹² not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

² “The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.

¹³ So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.

¹⁰ who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”

⁵ “What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.

⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him? ⁸ Would you show Him partiality or argue in His defense?

⁵ For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

¹⁹ Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

²² Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but those who deal faithfully are His delight.

⁸ Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.

¹⁶ These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,

⁷ For if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? ⁸ Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,

¹² Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,

¹⁰ You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth.

¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.”

¹¹ Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon. ¹² My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed. ¹³ Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard, ¹⁴ with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.

¹² Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love. ¹³ The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

⁶ His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. ⁷ They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁷ For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God.

³⁹ His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above.

¹⁸ Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’

²⁰ Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies.

²⁰ Is the soil fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous, and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

¹² I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.

¹³ He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

⁷ For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.

¹¹ But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. ¹² It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.

² Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.

¹³ Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,

²⁸ So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

⁶ For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

²¹ O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.

¹¹ and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

¹⁰ I will pay your servants, the woodcutters, 20,000 cors of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”

⁸ They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.

⁹ You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth. ¹⁰ You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty. ¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy. ¹³ The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

¹⁵ wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

³ It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing of life forevermore.

⁸ Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.

²² Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹⁹ And the LORD answered His people: “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and by them you will be satisfied. I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.

⁷ Then the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or linger for mankind.

¹² “For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.

¹⁷ How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

¹⁷ Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,

²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” ²⁶ He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸ And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

²² But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD, ²³ and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

³⁷ But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”

⁸ Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹ Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

¹¹ ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them away.’” ¹² But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse this people, for they are blessed.”

⁸ How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced?

⁹ He crouches, he lies down like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”

¹ Some time later, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines. ² David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute. ³ David also defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, who had marched out to restore his dominion along the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots. ⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand men. ⁶ Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze. ⁹ When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ he sent his son Joram to greet King David and bless him for fighting and defeating Hadadezer, who had been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze, ¹¹ and King David dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had dedicated from all the nations he had subdued— ¹² from Edom and Moab, from the Ammonites and Philistines and Amalekites, and from the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³ And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. ¹⁵ Thus David reigned over all Israel and administered justice and righteousness for all his people: ¹⁶ Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder; ¹⁷ Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the scribe; ¹⁸ Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priestly leaders.

¹ Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died and was succeeded by his son Hanun. ² And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console Hanun concerning his father. But when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites, ³ the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Has not David instead sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the hips, and sent them away. ⁵ When this was reported to David, he sent messengers to meet the men, since they had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.” ⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob. ⁷ On hearing this, David sent Joab and the entire army of mighty men. ⁸ The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country. ⁹ When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. ¹⁰ And he placed the rest of the forces under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites. ¹¹ “If the Arameans are too strong for me,” said Joab, “then you will come to my rescue. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to your rescue. ¹² Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight.” ¹³ So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, who fled before him. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent messengers to bring more Arameans from beyond the Euphrates, and they came to Helam with Shobach the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them. ¹⁷ When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, and went to Helam. Then the Arameans arrayed themselves against David and fought against him. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

²¹ And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

⁴⁷ And there was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king.

² And though Judah prevailed over his brothers and a ruler came from him, the birthright belonged to Joseph.

¹¹ Amaziah, however, summoned his strength and led his troops to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down 10,000 men of Seir, ¹² and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces. ¹³ Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had dismissed from battle raided the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-horon. They struck down 3,000 people and carried off a great deal of plunder. ¹⁴ When Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the Seirites, set them up as his own gods, bowed before them, and burned sacrifices to them.

⁶ “I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.” ⁷ I will proclaim the decree spoken to Me by the LORD: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father. ⁸ Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession. ⁹ You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us! ² You have shaken the land and torn it open. Heal its fractures, for it is quaking. ³ You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink. ⁴ You have raised a banner for those who fear You, that they may flee the bow. Selah ⁵ Respond and save us with Your right hand, that Your beloved may be delivered. ⁶ God has spoken from His sanctuary: “I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem and apportion the Valley of Succoth. ⁷ Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter. ⁸ Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.” ⁹ Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? ¹⁰ Have You not rejected us, O God? Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies? ¹¹ Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. ¹² With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.

⁸ May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.

⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

⁷ Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

²³ Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

¹ Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.” ² Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress? ³ “I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained. ⁴ For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come. ⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me. ⁶ I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”

⁴⁴ In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever. ⁴⁵ And just as you saw a stone being cut out of the mountain without human hands, and it shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, so the great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

⁸ “I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders. ⁹ Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”

² “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved, ³ but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” ⁴ Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever. ⁵ You will see this with your own eyes, and you yourselves will say, ‘The LORD is great—even beyond the borders of Israel.’”

⁴⁰ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

⁴⁵ Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

¹² not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

¹⁶ And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

¹⁸ So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”

³ May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴ And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁶ When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.

¹ “At this my heart also pounds and leaps from its place.

⁵ Fear and trembling grip me, and horror has overwhelmed me.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

²⁰ The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

²⁹ For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

⁴ So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

²⁴ Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand, ²⁵ because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction, ²⁶ in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you, ²⁷ when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you. ²⁸ Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

³¹ So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

³ A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ ²⁶ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ ²⁸ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out.

¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” ²⁰ But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied. ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?” ²² So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

¹⁹ Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. See that no one is missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing will not live.” But Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

¹⁰ Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

⁷ Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.

⁶ and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.

²⁶ After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

³¹ “First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied. ³² “Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” ³³ “Swear to me first,” Jacob said. So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”

²⁸ May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine. ²⁹ May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”

¹⁴ He placed garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac.

³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”

²⁴ Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand, ²⁵ because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction, ²⁶ in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,

¹⁰ In a little more than a year you will tremble, O secure ones. For the grape harvest will fail and the fruit harvest will not arrive. ¹¹ Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists. ¹² Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines,

¹⁴ My servants will shout for joy with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart and wail with a broken spirit.

²⁸ May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.

⁶ Later, Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the people of his household, along with his livestock, all his other animals, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir.

⁴ and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”

¹⁵ Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom. ¹⁷ But Hadad, still just a young boy, had fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites who were servants of his father.

²⁰ In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king. ²¹ So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night. His troops, however, fled to their homes. ²² So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time.

⁷ Amaziah struck down 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He took Sela in battle and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this very day.

¹⁰ You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

¹¹ and King David dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all these nations—from Edom and Moab, and from the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites. ¹² Moreover, Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³ He placed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

⁸ In the days of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against the hand of Judah and appointed their own king.

¹⁰ So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled against his rule at the same time, because Jehoram had forsaken the LORD, the God of his fathers.

¹¹ Amaziah, however, summoned his strength and led his troops to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down 10,000 men of Seir, ¹² and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

¹⁷ The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away captives.

⁸ Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession. ¹⁸ Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken. ¹⁹ Those from the Negev will possess the mountains of Esau; those from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. ²⁰ And the exiles of this host of the Israelites will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath; and the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev. ²¹ The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to rule over the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to the LORD.

³⁴ Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

² Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil. ³ So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD, ⁴ while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶ “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.” ⁸ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.

²⁹ Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

⁴ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁸ “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.

³ taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. ⁴ When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that

¹⁰ When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days. ¹¹ When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.

⁸ The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

²⁸ Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!” ²⁹ So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule.

²⁴ So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. And Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

¹⁴ I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.

¹² The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them, ¹³ but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming.

¹⁶ Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.

⁴ Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble. ⁵ The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah

³ Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.

¹² let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. ¹³ We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.

¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁴ With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

¹² This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt, ¹³ therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword. ¹⁴ I will take My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they will deal with Edom according to My anger and wrath. Then they will know My vengeance, declares the Lord GOD.’ ¹⁵ This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, taking vengeance with malice of soul to destroy Judah with ancient hostility,

⁵ Because you harbored an ancient hatred and delivered the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their disaster at the final stage of their punishment,

¹¹ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly. ¹² So I will send fire upon Teman to consume the citadels of Bozrah.”

¹⁰ Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever. ¹¹ On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them. ¹² But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress. ¹³ You should not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, nor loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. ¹⁴ Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.

²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

³ For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. ¹³ So do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love his brother remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.

¹⁸ Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him. ¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. ²⁰ “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹ Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” ²² And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

⁵ David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken captive.

¹² Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, ¹³ though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, ¹⁴ yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.

⁵ They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.

¹⁴ from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,

¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall. ¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

³¹ And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.

⁴ So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring.

⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

¹⁰ Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

¹⁷ As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.

¹⁴ The words of Jonadab son of Rechab have been carried out. He commanded his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk it to this very day because they have obeyed the command of their forefather. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not obeyed Me!

³⁸ I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.

⁴¹ Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!

⁸ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

⁵ And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: ⁶ Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.

³⁵ But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

⁶ And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. ⁷ Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”

²¹ Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.

³⁷ Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

⁴ When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today and tomorrow let us go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” ¹⁴ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, let us live and do this or that.”

³ and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵ And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

⁸ And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

¹ Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

¹⁵ If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”

⁴ while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

²⁰ Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul, ²¹ who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure, ²² who rejoice and greatly exult when they can find the grave?

¹⁶ I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹³ If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me!

³ And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹ Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”