And there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine which was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar. And Yahweh appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land which I will show to you. Dwell as an alien in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham you father. And I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and I will give to your descendants all these lands. And all nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring, because Abraham listened to my voice and kept my charge: my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked concerning his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife," thinking "the men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she was beautiful." And it happened that, when he had been there a long time, Abimelech the king of the Philistines looked through the window, and saw—behold—Isaac was fondling Rebekah his wife. And Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Surely she is your wife. Now why did you say ‘She is my sister’?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I thought I would die on account of her." And Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife! Then you would have brought guilt upon us!" Then Abimelech instructed all the people, saying, "The one who touches this man or his wife shall certainly die."

And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in that same year a hundredfold, and Yahweh blessed him. And the man became wealthier and wealthier until he was exceedingly wealthy. And he possessed sheep and cattle and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. And the Philistines stopped up all the wells that the servants of his father had dug in the days of Abraham his father. They filled them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you have become much too powerful for us." So Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham. And he gave to them the same names which his father had given them. And when the servants of Isaac dug in the valley, they found a well of fresh water there. Then the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, "The water is ours." And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. And they dug another well, and they quarreled over it also. And he called its name Sitnah. Then he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. And he called its name Rehoboth, and said, "Now Yahweh has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." And from there he went up to Beersheba. And Yahweh appeared to him that night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and I will bless you and make your descendants numerous for the sake of my servant Abraham." And he built an altar there and called on the name of Yahweh. And he pitched his tent there, and the servants of Isaac dug a well there. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol his army commander. And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me? You hate me and sent me away from you." And they said, "We see clearly that Yahweh has been with you, so we thought let there be an oath between us—between us and you—and let us make a covenant with you that you may not do us harm just as we have not touched you, but have only done good to you and sent you away in peace. You are now blessed by Yahweh." So he made a meal for them, and they ate and drank. And they arose early in the morning and each one swore to the other, and Isaac sent them away. And they left him in peace. And it happened that on that same day the servants of Isaac came and told him about the well that they had dug. And they said, "We have found water!" And he called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

And when Esau was forty years old he took as wife Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

And it happened that when Isaac was old and his eyesight was weak, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am." And he said, "Look, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. So now, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt food for me. Then make for me tasty food like I love, and bring it to me. And I will eat it so that I can bless you before I die.

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to Esau his son, and when Esau went to the field to hunt wild game to bring back, Rebekah said to Jacob her son, "Look, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother saying, ‘Bring wild game to me and prepare tasty food so I can eat it and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’ So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you. Go to the flock and take two good young goats from it for me, and I will prepare them as tasty food for your father, just as he likes. Then you must take it to your father and he will eat it so that he may bless you before his death." Then Jacob said to his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes as a mocker, and he will bring upon me a curse and not a blessing." Then his mother said to him, "Your curse be upon me, my son, only listen to my voice—go and get them for me." So he went and took them, and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared tasty food as his father liked. Then Rebekah took some of her older son Esau’s best garments that were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the young goats over his hands and over the smooth part of his neck. And she put the tasty food and the bread that she had made into the hand of Jacob, her son. And he went to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please get up, sit up and eat from my wild game so that you may bless me." Then Isaac said to his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because Yahweh your God caused me to find it." Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please, come near and let me feel you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?" And Jacob drew near to Isaac his father. And he felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother. And he blessed him. And he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am." Then he said, "Bring it near to me that I may eat from the game of my son, so that I may bless you." And he brought it to him, and he ate. And he brought wine to him, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." And he drew near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his garments, and he blessed him and said,

And as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, immediately after Jacob had gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came back from his hunting. He too prepared tasty food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat from the wild game of his son, that you may bless me." And Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." Then Isaac trembled violently. Then he said, "Who then was he that hunted wild game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him? Moreover, he will be blessed!" When Esau heard the words of his father he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry of distress. And he said to his father, "Bless me as well, my father!" And he said, "Your brother came in deceit and took your blessing." Then he said, "Isn’t that why he is named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times. He took my birthright and, look, now he has taken my blessing!" Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him lord over you and I have given him all his brothers as servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. Now what can I do for you, my son?" And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me also, my father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,

Then Esau held a grudge against Jacob on account of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are coming, then I will kill Jacob my brother." But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called for her younger son Jacob. And she said to him, "Look, Esau your brother is consoling himself concerning you, intending to kill you. Now then, my son, listen to my voice; arise and flee to Haran to Laban my brother. Stay with him a few days until the wrath of your brother has turned— until the anger of your brother turns from you and he has forgotten what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I lose the two of you in one day?" Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from Hittite women like these, from the native women, what am I living for?"

And from there he set out and came to the region of Judea and the other side of the Jordan, and again crowds came together to him. And again, as he was accustomed to do, he began to teach them. And they asked him if it was permitted for a man to divorce his wife, in order to test him. And he answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" So they said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. But from the beginning of creation ‘he made them male and female. Because of this a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh,’ so that they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."

And in the house again the disciples began to ask him about this. And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

And they were bringing young children to him so that he could touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the young children come to me. Do not forbid them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a young child will never enter into it." And after taking them into his arms, he blessed them, placing his hands on them.

And as he was setting out on his way, one individual ran up and knelt down before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do so that I will inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’" And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: Go, sell all that you have, and give the proceeds to the poor—and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me." But he looked gloomy at the statement and went away sorrowful, because he had many possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How difficult it is for those who possess wealth to enter into the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were astounded at his words. But Jesus answered and said to them again, "Children, how difficult it is to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God." And they were very astounded, saying to one another, "And who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With human beings it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." Peter began to say to him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields on account of me and on account of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, together with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

Now they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going on ahead of them. And they were astounded, but those who were following him were afraid. And taking aside the twelve again, he began to tell them the things that were about to happen to him: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him, and after three days he will rise."

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you." And he said to them, "What do you want that I do for you?" So they said to him, "Grant to us that we may sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" And they said to him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but is for those for whom it has been prepared." And when they heard this, the ten began to be indignant about James and John. And Jesus called them to himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their people in high positions exercise authority over them. But it is not like this among you! But whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be most prominent among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

And they came to Jericho. And as he was setting out from Jericho along with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road. And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And many people warned him that he should be quiet. But he was crying out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man and said to him, "Have courage! Get up! He is calling you." And he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabboni, that I may regain my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go, your faith has healed you." And immediately he regained his sight and began to follow him on the road.