May Almighty God bless your marriage and give you many children, so that you will become the father of many nations!

May he bless you and your descendants as he blessed Abraham, and may you take possession of this land, in which you have lived and which God gave to Abraham!"

Cook me some of that tasty food that I like, and bring it to me. After I have eaten it, I will give you my final blessing before I die."

As he came up to kiss him, Isaac smelled his clothes---so he gave him his blessing. He said, "The pleasant smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed.

May nations be your servants, and may peoples bow down before you. May you rule over all your relatives, and may your mother's descendants bow down before you. May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed."

He also cooked some tasty food and took it to his father. He said, "Please, father, sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessing."

Isaac began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, "Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever."

Then he blessed Joseph: "May God, whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac served, bless these boys! May God, who has led me to this very day, bless them!

These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he spoke a suitable word of farewell to each son.

These are the blessings that Moses, the man of God, pronounced on the people of Israel before he died.

(SEE 22:6)

some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked.

I want you to make a vow in the name of the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not choose a wife for my son from the people here in Canaan.

My master made me promise with a vow to obey his command. He said, 'Do not choose a wife for my son from the young women in the land of Canaan.

When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon.

They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.

Rebecca said to Isaac, "I am sick and tired of Esau's foreign wives. If Jacob also marries one of these Hittites, I might as well die."

Let us make an agreement that there will be intermarriage between our people and yours.

Then we will agree to intermarriage. We will settle among you and become one people with you.

Do not make any treaties with the people of the country, because when they worship their pagan gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you to join them, and you will be tempted to eat the food they offer to their gods.

Your sons might marry those foreign women, who would lead them to be unfaithful to me and to worship their pagan gods.

Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together?

How can God's temple come to terms with pagan idols? For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, "I will make my home with my people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people."