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of the land of Canaan were wicked, and served false gods. And it was God's will that the seed of his servant Abraham should not make marriages with them.

Many years after this, when Isaac had grown old, and his eyes had become dim with age, so that he could not see, he thought that the day of his death might be near. And he wished to give Esau, his eldest son, his blessing before he died. So Isaac called Esau his son to him, and said, "Behold, I am old, I know not the day of my death now therefore take thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison, and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die." Then Esau went to hunt for the venison.

Now Rebekah loved her younger son Jacob more than Esau his brother; and when she heard what Isaac said to Esau, she wished that Jacob should have his father's blessing instead of Esau. So Rebekah told Jacob to fetch two kids from the flock, and to bring them to her, that she might

make savoury meat. And she said, that he should take the savoury meat to his father, and make his father, who was blind, think that he was Esau, that Isaac might bless him instead of Esau.

Now Esau was a hairy man, and Jacob was a smooth man. And Jacob thought, that his father Isaac, who was blind and could not see, might touch him. And he feared, that when his father felt that his skin was smooth, he would know that he was not Esau, and would be angry with him for pretending to be Esau.

So Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man my father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing."

Then Rebekah took the skins of the kids and put them upon Jacob's hands, and upon the smooth of his neck, to make him seem hairy like Esau, that when his father should feel him he might think that it was Esau. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of his brother Esau, and put it upon

Jacob. And she made savoury meat of the flesh of the kids, such as his father loved.

Then Jacob took the savoury meat, and went to his father, and said, "My father: and he said, Here am I, who art thou, my son?"

And Jacob said unto his father, "I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me."

And Isaac said unto Jacob, "Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou art my very son Esau or not."

And Jacob went near to his father, and Isaac felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And he said again, “Art thou my very son Esau ?" And Jacob said, "I am."

Then Isaac believed him, and he ate the savoury meat which Jacob his son had brought him; and he blessed him. Isaac gave to Jacob the blessing of the elder son: he said, "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve

thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

Venison is the flesh of a wild animal.

To deceive, is to make a person think what is not true.
Raiment, means clothes.

Chapter XXV.

ESAU'S SORROW.

WHEN Isaac had blessed Jacob, and Jacob had but just gone out from Isaac his father, Esau came in from his hunting. "And he also had made savoury meat; and he brought it to his father, and said, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.

"And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.

"Then Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all

before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

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

Then Isaac told him, that his brother Jacob had come with cunning, and had taken away his blessing. And Isaac said, "Behold, I have made him thy lord: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?"

When Esau heard this, he was very angry with Jacob, and he said, "He hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and now he hath taken away my blessing."

Esau was angry with Jacob, because he had taken away his birthright. But Esau should have remembered, that he had himself sold his birthright to Jacob; he had despised his birthright, and parted with it lightly for a morsel of food. And now the loss of his father's blessing was God's punishment for that wicked act.

Esau had not cared for God's promises before.

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