was making. He begged Jacob
to give him some, and Jacob, who wanted to be eldest, and have the
right to the blessing that fathers gave to the first-born in those
days, said:

"Sell me this day thy birthright," and Esau gave him all his rights as
the first born, for a little food which he might have had as a free
gift.

Jacob wanted to be counted in the great promise that God had given to
Abraham, but Esau despised it.

Afterward, when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim, he called Esau,
and asked him to go out into the fields and shoot a deer, and cook the
venison that he loved, so that he might eat it and bless his first born
before he died.

Rebekah heard it, and told Jacob to bring kids from the flock, which
she cooked and served as venison. Then she dressed Jacob in the
clothes of Esau, and told him to say that it was Esau who had brought
the venison. Isaac said:

"The voice is the voice of Jacob," but he put his hands on him, and
believed it was Esau, and blessed him.

When Esau came home and brought venison to his father, Isaac said:

"Who art thou?" and when Esau said, "I am thy son, thy first-born,
Esau," the old man trembled, and told Esau the blessing had been given
to another.

Poor Esau cried out with grief, "Hast thou but one blessing?" "Bless
me, even me also, O my father."

And so Isaac blessed him, but he could not call back the blessing of
the first-born. The Lord knew that Jacob would grow to be a good man,
and love the things of God best, and that Esau would always love the
things of this world best, yet it was wrong of Jacob and Rebekah to
deceive, for we may not do evil that good may come.

[Illustration: Isaac blessing Jacob]

After this Esau hated his brother, and said he would kill him.

So Isaac called Jacob, and, blessing him again, sent him away into
Syria to the house of Laban, where Rebekah had lived, and where
Abraham's servant went to find her for his master's son.

One night, when he was not far on his way, he lay down to sleep, with a
stone for his pillow, on a hillside that looked toward his home, and he
dreamed a wonderful dream. He saw a ladder reaching from earth to
heaven, and a vision of angels who were going up and down upon it.

Above it stood the Lord, who spoke to Jacob, and gave to him the
promise that He had first given to Abraham, and told him that He would
go with him, and bring him again into his own land.

Jacob was afraid when he woke, for he h