<t /><p class="bodytext">When<n id="1" /> Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind,<n id="2" /> he called his older<n id="3" /> son Esau and said to him, &#8220;My son!&#8221; &#8220;Here I am!&#8221; Esau<n id="4" /> replied.

<p class="bodytext">Then they asked him, &#8220;Where is Sarah your wife?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;There,<n id="1" /> in the tent.&#8221;

The man asked him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;What is your name?&#8221;<n id="2" /> He answered, &#8220;Jacob.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">But they exclaimed,<n id="1" /> &#8220;No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food!

But we said to him, &#8216;We are honest men; we are not spies!

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> appeared to Abraham<n id="1" /> by the oaks<n id="2" /> of Mamre while<n id="3" /> he was sitting at the entrance<n id="4" /> to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

But the <sc>Lord&#8217;sc>s angel<n id="1" /> called to him from heaven, &#8220;Abraham! Abraham!&#8221; &#8220;Here I am!&#8221; he answered.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Be careful<n id="1" /> never to take my son back there!&#8221; Abraham told him.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">She said to him, &#8220;I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.<n id="1" />

We have plenty of straw and feed,&#8221; she added,<n id="1" /> &#8220;and room for you<n id="2" /> to spend the night.&#8221;p>

The <sc>Lordsc> appeared to Isaac and said, &#8220;Do not go down to Egypt;<n id="1" /> settle down in the land that I will point out to you.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Now Abimelech had come<n id="1" /> to him from Gerar along with<n id="2" /> Ahuzzah his friend<n id="3" /> and Phicol the commander of his army.

Then his father Isaac said to him, &#8220;Come here and kiss me, my son.&#8221;

In the evening he brought his daughter Leah<n id="1" /> to Jacob,<n id="2" /> and Jacob<n id="3" /> had marital relations with her.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">But Laban said to him, &#8220;If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here,<n id="1" /> for I have learned by divination<n id="2" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> has blessed me on account of you.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;You know how I have worked for you,&#8221; Jacob replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;and how well your livestock have fared under my care.<n id="2" />

So they approached the man who was in charge of Joseph&#8217;s household and spoke to him at the entrance to the house.

They answered him, &#8220;Why does my lord say such things?<n id="1" /> Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!<n id="2" />

The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered<n id="1" /> the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah<n id="2" /> in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove,<n id="3" /> and brought it back into the ark.<n id="4" />