The birth of Esau and Jacob

19 ◄This is an account of/I will now tell you about► Abraham’s son, Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and when Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. Bethuel was one of the descendants of Aram from Paddan-Aram. Rebekah was the sister of Laban, who belonged to the Aram people-group. 21 Almost 20 years after they were married, Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac prayed to Yahweh concerning his wife, and Yahweh answered his prayer. His wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 She was carrying twins in her womb, and they kept jostling each other. So she said, “Why is it that this is happening to me?” So she asked Yahweh about it. 23 Yahweh said to her, “The older one of your twins will serve the younger one. The twins will be ancestors of two nations. And those two people-groups will separate from each other.” [CHI]

24 When Rebekah gave birth, it was true! Twin boys were born! 25 The first one born was red, and his body had hair all over it, like a garment made of hair. So they named him Esau, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘hairy'. 26 Then his brother was born, grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘heel’. Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born.