Genesis 25

Abraham Dies; Jacob and Esau Born

Abraham settles his house, gives all he has to Isaac, and dies full of years. Ishmael’s twelve princes are counted and set aside. Then the record turns to Isaac, whose wife, after twenty years, carries twins who struggle before they are born, and the elder sells his birthright for a bowl of stew.

Genesis chaptersChapter 25 of 50

Abraham’s last years (he dies at 175) and the first years of Isaac’s family: Isaac marries at forty and is sixty when the twins are born. The text gives no year. Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

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Background

This chapter is a hinge. Genesis is built on family records, each beginning “These are the generations,” and Abraham, “the chief figure (12:1–25:18),” leaves the story here.

This chapter is a hinge. Genesis is built on family records, each beginning “These are the generations,” and Abraham, “the chief figure (12:1–25:18),” leaves the story here. The chapter closes his life with a last marriage, his will, his death, and his burial beside Sarah in the cave he bought in Gen. 23. It then records the line of Ishmael in seven verses, and at verse 19 opens “the generations of Isaac.”

The book is arranged by family lines, not by a strict timeline. By its own numbers Abraham was a hundred when Isaac was born (Gen. 21:5), and Isaac was sixty when the twins came (verse 26), so Abraham lived fifteen years into Jacob and Esau’s boyhood; yet his death is told here, before their birth, closing his record before Isaac’s opens.

Rebekah, whom Abraham’s servant found in chapter 24, waits twenty years for children and then receives a revelation about them herself. Later scripture returns to these verses often: Hosea to Jacob’s grip on his brother’s heel (Hosea 12:3), Malachi and Paul to the Lord’s choice of Jacob (Mal. 1:2–3; Rom. 9:10–13), and Hebrews to Esau, who “for one morsel of meat sold his birthright” (Heb. 12:16).

The thread through the chapter

Genesis 25 is about who carries the covenant on. Abraham settles it for his own sons before he dies: he gives “all that he had unto Isaac,” and the sons of the concubines are…

Genesis 25 is about who carries the covenant on. Abraham settles it for his own sons before he dies: he gives “all that he had unto Isaac,” and the sons of the concubines are given gifts and sent east (verses 5–6). Ishmael’s line is counted and honored, and then, as Genesis does with its side branches, the record lets it go and follows the chosen line (verse 12).

The same question comes back at once in Isaac’s house, before his sons are born. The Lord answers it to Rebekah: “the elder shall serve the younger” (verse 23). Then the chapter shows how it came about. Jacob does not take the birthright by force or trickery. Esau sells it for a meal, eats, gets up, and goes his way, “thus Esau despised his birthright” (verse 34). God’s choice and Esau’s own choice meet in the same outcome. Election is “an opportunity for service,” but “it is by individual faithfulness that it is done”; in this story “the brothers’ agency will play a major role in their respective experiences with the covenant.”

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–6

Abraham’s last sons and his will

In plain words

Abraham took another wife, named Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim. Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s descendants.

Abraham left everything he had to Isaac. To the sons of his concubines he gave gifts, and while he was still alive he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward, to the land of the east.

1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

Context #

Keturah, Abraham’s last wife

Keturah is known only from this passage and its copy in Chronicles. She became Abraham’s wife “after Sarah’s death,” and from her “sprang various tribes, including the Midianites.”

Keturah is known only from this passage and its copy in Chronicles. She became Abraham’s wife “after Sarah’s death,” and from her “sprang various tribes, including the Midianites.” Genesis says only that Abraham “again” took a wife (Hebrew vayyosef, “and he added”), and tells it after Sarah’s death and Isaac’s marriage (chapters 23–24).

She was a wife of a lesser rank. Verse 6 counts her among “the concubines” (pilagshim), and Chronicles calls her “Abraham’s concubine” (1 Chr. 1:32). A concubine “was a woman within a household who was legally married to a man but had a lower legal and social status than a wife.” Latter-day revelation speaks to these marriages directly: “Abraham received concubines, and they bore him children; and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him” (D&C 132:37). Plural marriage among the patriarchs is explained at Gen. 16:1–3.

Keturah’s sons were among those Abraham sent “eastward” (verse 6). One of them, Midian, matters later (next note).

Sources: “Keturah”, Bible Dictionary. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Genesis 24–33, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).

2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

Context #

Midian and the priesthood of Jethro

Midian, Keturah’s fourth son, is the ancestor of the Midianites, and through them this list reaches Moses.

Midian, Keturah’s fourth son, is the ancestor of the Midianites, and through them this list reaches Moses. “Through Keturah’s line, Moses received the Melchizedek Priesthood from his father-in-law, Jethro.” When Moses fled from Pharaoh he “dwelt in the land of Midian,” and married a daughter of “the priest of Midian” (Ex. 2:15–21). That priest was Jethro, “a prince and priest of Midian who gave Moses a home after his flight from Egypt and afterwards became his father-in-law.”

Latter-day revelation traces that priesthood back. Moses received it “under the hand of his father-in-law, Jethro,” and Jethro’s line of ordination runs through Caleb, Elihu, Jeremy, and Gad to Esaias, who “also lived in the days of Abraham, and was blessed of him” (D&C 84:6–13). So Moses received the priesthood from a descendant of one of the sons Abraham sent “eastward” (verse 6).

Midian appears in later stories in other roles too: Midianite traders carried Joseph to Egypt (Gen. 37:28), and in the days of the judges the Lord “delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years” (Judg. 6:1).

Sources: Genesis 24–33, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). “Jethro”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.

6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

Verses 7–11

Abraham’s death and burial

In plain words

Abraham lived 175 years. Then he breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man satisfied with his years, and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre: the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived near the well of Lahai-roi.

7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.

8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Language #

Gathered to his people

“Gathered to his people” does not mean buried in the family grave. In this verse Abraham dies and “was gathered to his people” (vayye’asef el-‘ammav); only in the next verse is he…

“Gathered to his people” does not mean buried in the family grave. In this verse Abraham dies and “was gathered to his people” (vayye’asef el-‘ammav); only in the next verse is he buried, and he was buried in Canaan, at Machpelah, while his father Terah had died far away in Haran (Gen. 11:32). The expression “is constantly distinguished from departing this life and being buried,” and “denotes the reunion in Sheol with friends who have gone before, and therefore presupposes faith in the personal continuance of a man after death.” Sheol “is the Hebrew word for the world of spirits where one goes when one dies, the equivalent of the spirit world,” and the phrase “is one more evidence of their gospel knowledge.”

The same words close the lives of Ishmael (verse 17), Isaac (Gen. 35:29), Jacob (Gen. 49:33), Aaron (Num. 20:24), and Moses (Deut. 32:50). The verse adds that Abraham died “full of years,” literally “satisfied” (sabea‘). Latter-day revelation says where he went: Abraham “hath entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne” (D&C 132:29).

9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;

Context #

Isaac and Ishmael at the grave

Ishmael, sent away from Abraham’s house long before (Gen. 21:14), stands beside Isaac at their father’s grave.

Ishmael, sent away from Abraham’s house long before (Gen. 21:14), stands beside Isaac at their father’s grave. Genesis records no lasting quarrel between them: “The text does not state that Ishmael was a bad person, nor that there was a long-lasting tension between Ishmael and Isaac in subsequent years,” and here “both Isaac and Ishmael would work together to bury their father.”

They laid him in the cave Abraham had bought for Sarah (Gen. 23:19–20), where Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob would also be buried. The scene repeats in the next generation: at Isaac’s death “his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (Gen. 35:29).

Sources: Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84. “Machpelah”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

10 The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.

Language #

Isaac at Hagar’s well

Isaac lived by the well where the Lord had found Hagar when she fled from Sarah.

Isaac lived by the well where the Lord had found Hagar when she fled from Sarah. There Hagar named the Lord “Thou God seest me,” and the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Gen. 16:13–14), “literally well of the living One that seeth me.” Isaac was already living near it when Rebekah first saw him (Gen. 24:62). The verse places God’s blessing and Isaac’s home together: after Abraham’s death “the blessing was transferred to Isaac, who took up his abode by Hagar’s well, because he had already been there.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 12–18

The family of Ishmael

In plain words

This is the family record of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. These are the names of Ishmael’s sons in the order of their birth: Nebajoth the firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael, named by their villages and their camps: twelve chiefs of their tribes.

Ishmael lived 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. His descendants lived from Havilah to Shur, which faces Egypt on the way toward Assyria. He settled down alongside all his kinsmen.

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:

Literary Structure #

Ishmael’s line first, then Isaac’s

Genesis tells the side branch of a family briefly and first, then sets it aside and follows the chosen line.

Genesis tells the side branch of a family briefly and first, then sets it aside and follows the chosen line. Each section of the book begins “These are the generations” (Hebrew toledot), and the pattern runs through it: “The line of Cain branching off; while the history follows the fortunes of Seth”; “Of Abraham’s own children there branches off first the line of Ishmael and next the children of Keturah”; later Esau’s family is listed in chapter 36 before Jacob’s story goes on. Here Ishmael’s record takes seven verses (12–18); the account of Isaac’s life runs to the end of chapter 35. “God’s relation to Israel holds the first place throughout in the writer’s mind.”

The short list is not a dismissal. It is here “to show that the promises of God, which had been made to Ishmael (Genesis 16:10. and Genesis 17:20), were fulfilled,” and “according to the settled plan of Genesis, this account precedes the history of Isaac.” God had told Abraham, “twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation” (Gen. 17:20), and verse 16 counts them: “twelve princes according to their nations.” The promise to the son outside the covenant was kept to the number.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. “Genesis”, Bible Dictionary. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.

18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.

Language #

He settled facing his brothers

The Hebrew verb here is not “died” but “fell” (naphal), which in this verse means “settle.”

The Hebrew verb here is not “died” but “fell” (naphal), which in this verse means “settle.” The NRSVUE reads “he settled down alongside all his people,” noting “Heb he fell,” with the alternative “down in opposition to.” Ishmael lives on here in his descendants, who “dwelt from Havilah unto Shur.” The KJV’s “died” takes “fell” as a death, which verse 17 has already reported.

The point of the line is an echo. Before Ishmael was born the angel told Hagar, “he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren” (Gen. 16:12), and the Hebrew phrase is the same, ‘al-pene kol-echav, “over against the face of all his brothers.” Ishmael’s record ends by noting that this, too, came true: “according to the announcement of the angel, Ishmael ‘encamped in the presence of all his brethren.’”

Verses 19–26

The birth of Esau and Jacob

In plain words

This is the family record of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham was Isaac’s father. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Padan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she had no children, and the Lord answered his prayer: Rebekah his wife conceived.

The children crushed against each other inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, why am I alive?” So she went to ask the Lord. The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; two peoples will come from you and go separate ways. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

When her time came, there were twins. The first came out reddish, his whole body like a hairy cloak, and they named him Esau. Then his brother came out, his hand gripping Esau’s heel, and he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

21 And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Context #

Twenty years of waiting

The text compresses twenty years into one verse. Isaac married at forty (verse 20) and the twins were born when he was sixty (verse 26), so “it would be another twenty years after…

The text compresses twenty years into one verse. Isaac married at forty (verse 20) and the twins were born when he was sixty (verse 26), so “it would be another twenty years after her marriage to Isaac before Rebekah gave birth to her two sons.” She is the second of three wives in the covenant line to wait: Sarah (Gen. 11:30) and Rachel (Gen. 29:31) were barren too. “All but one of the matriarchs faced trial and refinement through a period of barrenness,” and for them “a son… was the assurance of the continuation of God’s covenant with Abraham.”

Isaac’s prayer and the Lord’s answer use the same verb: Isaac “entreated” (vayye‘tar) and the LORD “was entreated” (vayye‘ater).

22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.

Language #

Why do I live?

Rebekah’s question is hard to translate, and the struggle behind it was violent.

Rebekah’s question is hard to translate, and the struggle behind it was violent. The verb translated “struggled” means “crush”: “the children crushed (thurst, struck) one another within her.” Her words are clipped in Hebrew, lammah zeh anokhi, “why this, I?” Translations divide: “why do I live?” (NRSVUE, which notes that the “meaning of Heb” is “uncertain” and follows the Syriac), or “why is this happening to me?” (ESV, with “why do I live?” in the margin).

Then “she went to inquire of the LORD.” The verb darash is the one used for seeking a word from God, as when the people came to Moses “to inquire of God” (Ex. 18:15). Genesis does not say where or how she inquired. What is clear is that “Rebekah spoke of her concerns directly to God, and he responded directly to her,” and that “the fact that she recognized God’s multifaceted revelation also suggests that communication with God was not a novelty for Rebekah.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Context #

Two nations, Israel and Edom

The Lord’s answer is about nations (goyim) and peoples, not only about two boys.

The Lord’s answer is about nations (goyim) and peoples, not only about two boys. From it “Rebekah learned three prophetic truths: she would give birth to twin boys, each son would be a leader of a nation, and the secondborn would lead the firstborn,” and “in time, all three prophecies were fulfilled.” Esau “is Edom” (Gen. 36:1) and Jacob became Israel, so the twins “became the ancestors of rival nations, the Israelites and Edomites.” Their kinship never kept the peace: “there seems to have been great mutual hatred, and wars were of constant occurrence.” Under David “all they of Edom became David’s servants” (2 Sam. 8:14), and the kingdom of Edom, “populated by Esau’s descendants,” became “a vassal state to Israel.”

The revelation was given to Rebekah. “Rebekah knew by personal revelation that Jacob was to be the son of the covenant,” and that knowledge stands behind what she does when Isaac is ready to give his blessing (Gen. 27:5–17).

Sources: Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. “Esau”, Bible Dictionary. “Edom”, Bible Dictionary. Scripture Central, “Why Was It Significant that Nephi Was Made ‘a Ruler and a Teacher’ Over His Brethren?”, KnoWhy #462. Genesis 24–36: The Covenant Line Continues with Isaac and Jacob, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Related Scriptures #

Chosen before they were born?

Paul quotes this line to make a point about God’s choosing: before the twins were born, “neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might…

Paul quotes this line to make a point about God’s choosing: before the twins were born, “neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand… It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:11–13). The second quotation is from Malachi, and there it is about nations: the Lord “laid his mountains and his heritage waste” (Mal. 1:2–3), meaning Edom’s land.

Read alone, Romans 9 can sound like predestination, and the Church reads it otherwise. Election is “God’s choice of the house of Israel to be the covenant people with privileges and responsibilities, that they might become a means of blessing to the whole world,” and “no one is unconditionally elected to eternal life”; the idea “that God unconditionally elected some to be saved and some to be damned without any effort, action, or choice on their part is not correct.” Paul used Rebekah’s revelation “as evidence for the doctrine of election, God’s practice of choosing specific missions for individuals and peoples before their mortal births.” “Some may be elected by Him to one thing and some to another”: the oracle names which son would carry the covenant line, and even so “the birthright would ultimately be received based upon worthiness, not upon age.”

The pattern runs through scripture. “The elevation of a younger brother over his elder siblings is a recurring theme in the sacred writings of ancient Israel”: Jacob, Joseph, Judah, Ephraim, David, and Solomon, and in the Book of Mormon, Nephi, promised that he would be “a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren” (1 Ne. 2:22). “In general, the reason for this seems to have been that the younger son was simply more righteous.”

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Election”, Bible Dictionary. Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425. Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84. Scripture Central, “Why Was It Significant that Nephi Was Made ‘a Ruler and a Teacher’ Over His Brethren?”, KnoWhy #462.

24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Language #

Jacob, the heel-holder

Jacob’s name is explained from this moment. The Hebrew Ya‘aqov is taken from ‘aqev, “heel”: his hand was grasping ba‘aqev, “at the heel,” of Esau.

Jacob’s name is explained from this moment. The Hebrew Ya‘aqov is taken from ‘aqev, “heel”: his hand was grasping ba‘aqev, “at the heel,” of Esau. A related verb means “overreach,” so the name came to mean “Supplanter.” Esau makes the bitter pun himself after the blessing: “Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times” (Gen. 27:36). Hosea remembers the birth with a different emphasis: “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God” (Hosea 12:3), and God later gave him a new name: “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel” (Gen. 32:28).

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. “Jacob”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 27–34

The birthright sold

In plain words

The boys grew up. Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet, upright man who stayed among the tents. Isaac favored Esau, because he liked to eat the game Esau brought, but Rebekah favored Jacob.

Once when Jacob was boiling a stew, Esau came in from the country, exhausted. He said to Jacob, “Let me gulp down some of that red stuff, that red stuff there; I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also called Edom, “Red.” Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Look, I’m about to die. What good is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So Esau swore an oath and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, got up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Language #

A plain man: whole and upright

“Plain” here is a word of praise. The Hebrew is ’ish tam, and tam means “complete, perfect.”

“Plain” here is a word of praise. The Hebrew is ’ish tam, and tam means “complete, perfect.” Of Jacob it is “sound, wholesome,” and its fullest sense is “complete, morally innocent, having integrity,” the sense of the same two words when the Lord calls Job “a perfect and an upright man” (Job 1:8). The NRSVUE calls him “a quiet man.” This description of him “puts Jacob in outstanding company, and his impeccable character should be kept in mind as we work through these stories.”

The verse sets two ways of life side by side. Esau is a “cunning hunter,” where cunning in older English meant “Knowing; skillful; experienced” (an 1828 dictionary still cites “Esau was a cunning hunter” for that sense), and “a man of the field.” Jacob is “dwelling in tents.” In the next verse each parent “loved” a son in the sense of “favored” or “preferred”: Isaac favored the hunter whose game he ate, and Rebekah favored Jacob.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Genesis 24–36: The Covenant Line Continues with Isaac and Jacob, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003). New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

Language #

The red stuff, and the name Edom

Esau’s words are blunter than the KJV makes them. The verb, used only here in the Bible, means “swallow (greedily)”: “let me swallow.”

Esau’s words are blunter than the KJV makes them. The verb, used only here in the Bible, means “swallow (greedily)”: “let me swallow.” He does not even name the dish: ha’adom ha’adom hazzeh, “the red, the red, this,” or in the NRSVUE, “that red stuff.” Verse 34 shows it was lentil stew.

“Therefore was his name called Edom,” meaning “Red.” The narrator has been preparing the name since the birth. Esau came out “red” (admoni, “ruddy”) and “all over like an hairy garment” (verse 25). Edom takes its name from the first word, and from the second, se‘ar, “hair,” comes a play on Seir, the hill country where his descendants lived. Esau himself means “Hairy,” and Edom became “Name of Esau (Gen. 25:30); of his descendants… of their country in Mount Seir.” So the nation that came from Esau was named for this meal. The two brothers may stand for two kinds of value: Esau’s desire for “red pottage” and Jacob’s concern for the birthright, “concern for worldly values and concern for the eternal covenant.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. “Esau”, Bible Dictionary. “Edom”, Bible Dictionary. Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84.

31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

Context #

What the birthright was

The birthright (bekorah, “right of first-born”) was the eldest son’s place as heir.

The birthright (bekorah, “right of first-born”) was the eldest son’s place as heir. “Under the patriarchal order, the right or inheritance of the firstborn is known as birthright. This generally included a land inheritance as well as the authority to preside.” Under the later law of Deut. 21:17, the eldest son also “received a double portion of his father’s possessions.” In Abraham’s family it meant more. In one reading “it embraced the chieftainship, the rule over the brethren and the entire family,” and “the title to the blessing of the promise,” which “included the future possession of Canaan and of covenant fellowship with Jehovah.” Abraham called his own priesthood “the right of the firstborn,” come down “through the fathers unto me” (Abr. 1:3).

Could such a thing be sold? Not the priesthood itself: “The priesthood component could of course, not be bought, but it could be forsaken.” The firstborn “had to be worthy to assume this responsibility… and could lose his birthright by unrighteousness,” and two who did are named: “such is the case with Esau… and Reuben,” whose birthright “was given unto the sons of Joseph” (1 Chr. 5:1).

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. “Birthright”, Bible Dictionary. “Firstborn”, Bible Dictionary. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84. “Firstborn”, Guide to the Scriptures.

32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Context #

Esau despised his birthright

The chapter ends with the narrator’s verdict, and it falls on Esau. A reader may well ask whether Jacob took advantage of a starving brother.

The chapter ends with the narrator’s verdict, and it falls on Esau. A reader may well ask whether Jacob took advantage of a starving brother. The text answers in five quick verbs: Esau “did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way,” and so “despised” (bazah, “despise, regard with contempt”) his birthright. It is the word used for despising “the word of the LORD” (Num. 15:31) and the Lord’s name (Mal. 1:6). “Although it may seem from our contemporary reading that Jacob unfairly wrests the birthright from Esau in a moment of extremity, the narrative ends placing the wrongdoing squarely on Esau”: “Jacob did not trick Esau, but Esau willingly gave up the birthright because he despised it.”

Esau may also have disqualified himself in ways Genesis does not tell: “the so-called purchase of the birthright from Esau may very well be equally justified by items of Esau’s errant behavior that disqualified him but that are not recorded in our Bible.” Esau’s later choices point the same way: “Esau’s life shows disobedience and some displeasing choices of wives”; at forty he married two Hittite women, “a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah” (Gen. 26:34–35). By selling the birthright “he lost both the leadership of the tribe and also the covenant blessing.” Hebrews calls him a “profane person… who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright” (Heb. 12:16), and latter-day revelation says of Isaac and Jacob that they “did none other things than that which they were commanded” (D&C 132:37). How Jacob later received his father’s blessing is the subject of Gen. 27.

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84. “Jacob”, Bible Dictionary. “Esau”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Seeing Christ in Genesis 25

The birthright Esau sold was the right of the firstborn, and in Israel “the firstborn symbolized Jesus Christ and His earthly ministry, reminding the people that the great Messiah would come.” Jesus “is the firstborn of the spirit children of our Heavenly Father, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, and the first to rise from the dead in the Resurrection.” He says of Himself, “I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn” (D&C 93:21), and “all those who are begotten through me are partakers of the glory of the same, and are the church of the Firstborn” (D&C 93:22). So the faithful “receive through Jesus Christ the inheritance of the firstborn.”

In Hebrews the two come a few verses apart. Soon after warning against being like Esau, who “for one morsel of meat sold his birthright” (Heb. 12:16), it tells the Saints that they have come to “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,” and to “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (Heb. 12:23–24).

Worth exploring next

The twins’ later story. Gen. 27 (the blessing); Gen. 32–33 (Jacob’s new name and the brothers’ reconciliation); Gen. 36 (Esau’s family).
Later scripture reads the twins. Hosea 12:3–4; Mal. 1:2–6; Rom. 9:6–16; Heb. 12:14–24.
The birthright in Israel. Abr. 1:2–4; 1 Chr. 5:1–2; Gen. 48:13–20; D&C 93:21–22.
Two chapters in From Creation to Sinai (BYU Religious Studies Center, 2021): “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings,” on the pottage and the blessing, and “The Matriarchs,” on Rebekah’s revelation.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway.
English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
“Genesis”, Bible Dictionary.
“Keturah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Jethro”, Bible Dictionary.
“Machpelah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Election”, Bible Dictionary.
“Esau”, Bible Dictionary.
“Edom”, Bible Dictionary.
“Jacob”, Bible Dictionary.
“Birthright”, Bible Dictionary.
“Firstborn”, Bible Dictionary.
“Firstborn”, Guide to the Scriptures.
Genesis 24–33, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
Genesis 24–36: The Covenant Line Continues with Isaac and Jacob, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003).
Aaron P. Schade, “Isaac and Jacob: Succession Narratives, Birthrights, and Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 335–84.
Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425.
Scripture Central, “Why Was It Significant that Nephi Was Made ‘a Ruler and a Teacher’ Over His Brethren?”, KnoWhy #462.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

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