Twenty years had passed, and Rebekah had no children. Then the Lord said
to her: Thou shalt bear two sons, and the elder shall serve the younger.
When her time came, she bore twins; the first-born was hairy all over,
and was called Esau, and the second was called Jacob. And the boys grew,
and Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a quiet
man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob had boiled pottage and Esau came in from the field,
feeling faint, Esau said: Give me, I pray thee, the pottage. Jacob
answered: Sell me first thy birthright. And Esau said: Behold, I am
about to die; what profit shall the birthright do to me? So he sold his
birthright to Jacob for that pottage of lentils, and he did eat and
drink, and rose up and went his way, and he despised his birthright.
(Gen. 25:23-34.)