Isaiah 48:17-49:4

¹⁷ Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. ¹⁸ Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. ¹⁹ Your offspring also would have been as the sand, and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.” ²⁰ Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth: say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!” ²¹ They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He split the rock also, and the waters gushed out. ²² “There is no peace”, says Yahweh, “for the wicked.” ¹ Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name. ² He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver. ³ He said to me, “You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” ⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”

Genesis 27:1-41

¹ 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 two good young goats from there. 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 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, 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 I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. 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.”

Proverbs 19:16-25

¹⁶ He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is contemptuous in his ways shall die. ¹⁷ He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him. ¹⁸ Discipline your son, for there is hope; don’t be a willing party to his death. ¹⁹ A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty, for if you rescue him, you must do it again. ²⁰ Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end. ²¹ There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail. ²² That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. A poor man is better than a liar. ²³ The fear of Yahweh leads to life, then contentment; he rests and will not be touched by trouble. ²⁴ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. ²⁵ Flog a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke one who has understanding, and he will gain knowledge.