Toldot

(23) and the LORD answered her,“Two nations are in your womb,Two separate peoples shall issue from your body;One people shall be mightier than the other,And the older shall serve the younger.”

(25) The first one emerged red, like a hairy mantle all over; so they named him Esau. (26) Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born. (27) When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a mild man who stayed in camp. (28) Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game;^-e but Rebekah favored Jacob. (29) Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished. (30) And Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom. (31) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” (32) And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?” (33) But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. (34) Jacob then gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, and he rose and went away. Thus did Esau spurn the birthright.

(32) His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, Esau, your first-born!” (33) Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. “Who was it then,” he demanded, “that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!” (34) When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!” (35) But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.” (36) [Esau] said, “Was he, then, named Jacob that he might supplant me these two times? First he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing!” And he added, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” (37) Isaac answered, saying to Esau, “But I have made him master over you: I have given him all his brothers for servants, and sustained him with grain and wine. What, then, can I still do for you, my son?” (38) And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!” And Esau wept aloud. (39) And his father Isaac answered, saying to him,“See, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earthAnd^-b the dew of heaven above. (40) Yet by your sword you shall live,And you shall serve your brother;But when you grow restive,You shall break his yoke from your neck.” (41) Now Esau harbored a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing which his father had given him, and Esau said to himself, “Let but the mourning period of my father come, and I will kill my brother Jacob.”

(1) A pronouncement: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. (2) I have shown you love, said the LORD. But you ask, “How have You shown us love?” After all—declares the LORD—Esau is Jacob’s brother; yet I have accepted Jacob (3) and have rejected Esau. I have made his hills a desolation, his territory a home for beasts^-a of the desert. (4) If Edom thinks, “Though crushed, we can build the ruins again,” thus said the LORD of Hosts: They may build, but I will tear down. And so they shall be known as the region of wickedness, the people damned forever of the LORD. (5) Your eyes shall behold it, and you shall declare, “Great is the LORD beyond the borders of Israel!”

(8) Flee, turn away, sit down low,O inhabitants of Dedan,For I am bringing Esau’s doom upon him,The time when I deal with him.

(10) But it is I who have bared Esau,Have exposed his place of concealment;He cannot hide.His offspring is ravaged,His kin and his neighbors—He is no more.^-g

(1) The prophecy of Obadiah.We have received tidings from the LORD,And an envoy has been sent out among the nations:“Up! Let us rise up against her for battle.”Thus said my Lord GOD concerning Edom: (2) I will make you least among nations,You shall be most despised. (3) Your arrogant heart has seduced you,You who dwell in clefts of the rock,In your lofty abode.You think in your heart,“Who can pull me down to earth?” (4) Should you nest as high as the eagle,Should your eyrie be lodged ’mong the stars,Even from there I will pull you down—declares the LORD. (5) If thieves were to come to you,Marauders by night,They would steal no more than they needed.If vintagers came to you,They would surely leave some gleanings.How utterly you are destroyed! (6) How thoroughly rifled is Esau,How ransacked his hoards! (7) All your allies turned you backAt the frontier;Your own confederatesHave duped and overcome you;[Those who ate] your breadHave planted snares under you.He is bereft of understanding. (8) In that day—declares the LORD—I will make the wise vanish from Edom,Understanding from Esau’s mount. (9) Your warriors shall lose heart, O Teman,And not a man on Esau’s mountShall survive the slaughter. (10) For the outrage to your brother Jacob,Disgrace shall engulf you,And you shall perish forever. (11) On that day when you stood aloof,When aliens carried off his goods,When foreigners entered his gatesAnd cast lots for Jerusalem,You were as one of them. (12) How could you^-a gaze with gleeOn your brother that day,On his day of calamity!How could you gloatOver the people of JudahOn that day of ruin!How could you loudly jeerOn a day of anguish! (13) How could you enter the gate of My peopleOn its day of disaster,Gaze in glee with the othersOn its misfortuneOn its day of disaster,And lay hands on its wealthOn its day of disaster! (14) How could you stand at the passesTo cut down its fugitives!How could you betray those who fledOn that day of anguish! (15) As you did, so shall it be done to you;Your conduct shall be requited.Yea, against all nationsThe day of the LORD is at hand. (16) That same cup that you drank on My Holy MountShall all nations drink evermore,Drink till their speech grows thick,And they become as though they had never been. (17) But on Zion’s mount a remnant shall survive,And it shall be holy.The House of Jacob shall dispossessThose who dispossessed them. (18) The House of Jacob shall be fire,And the House of Joseph flame,And the House of Esau shall be straw;They shall burn it and devour it,And no survivor shall be left of the House of Esau—for the LORD has spoken. (19) Thus they shall possess the Negeb and Mount Esau as well, the Shephelah and Philistia. They shall possess the Ephraimite country and the district of Samaria, and Benjamin along with Gilead. (20) And that exiled force of Israelites [shall possess] what belongs to the Phoenicians as far as Zarephath, while the Jerusalemite exile community of Sepharad shall possess the towns of the Negeb. (21) For liberators shall march up^-k on Mount Zion to wreak judgment on Mount Esau; and dominion shall be the LORD’s.

(30) And Jacob cohabited with Rachel also; indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served him another seven years. (31) The LORD saw that Leah was unloved and He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.