1 Isaac Calls to Bless Esau Now it happened that when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
2 27:2Lit He And Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old,andI do not know the day of my death.
3 So now, please take up your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;
4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. Then Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bringto Isaac.
6 But Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying,
7 ‘Bring mesomegame and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat and bless you in the presence of Yahweh before my death.’
8 So now, my son, listen to my voice 27:8Lit according to what as I command you.
9 Go now to the flock and 27:9Lit take get for me two choice 27:9Lit kids of goats young goats from there, that I may prepare themasa savory dish for your father, such as he loves.
10 Then you shall bringitto your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”
11 Then Jacob 27:11Lit said to answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12 Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a mocker in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, getthemfor me.”
14 So he went and gotthemand broughtthemto his mother; and his mother made a savory dish such as his father loved.
15 Then Rebekah took the 27:15Or choice, cf. 3:6 ;lit desirable best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And she put the skins of the 27:16Lit kids of the goats young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 She also gave the savory dish and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.Isaac Blesses Jacob and Esau
18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Rise up, please, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”
20 Then Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have founditso quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Yahweh your God causeditto happen to me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22 So Jacob came near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
25 So he said, “Bringitnear to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that my soul may bless you.” And he broughtitnear to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and then he blessed him and said,“See, the smell of my sonIs like the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed;
28 Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,And of the fatness of the earth,And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 May peoples serve you,And nations bow down to you;Be master of your brothers,And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.Cursed be those who curse you,And blessed be those who bless you.”
30 Now it happened that as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 Then he also made a savory dish and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”
32 And Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac 27:33Lit trembled with a very great trembling trembled exceedingly violently and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and broughtitto me, so that I ate of allof itbefore you came and blessed him? Indeed, he shall be blessed.”
34 As Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, O my father!”
35 And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”
36 Then he said, “ 27:36Or Was he then named Jacob that he has Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all hisfellowbrothers I have given to him 27:37 Lit for as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”
38 And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me,evenme also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,“Behold, 27:39Or of away from the fatness of the earth shall be your habitation,And 27:39Or of away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 “By your sword you shall live,And your brother you shall serve;But it shall be when you become restless,That you will 27:40Lit tear off break his yoke from your neck.”
41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 Then the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning youby planningto kill you.
43 So now, my son, listen to my voice, and arise, 27:43Lit flee for yourself flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!
44 Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s wrath 27:44Lit turns away subsides,
45 until your brother’s anger 27:45Lit turns away from you against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of 27:46Lit my life living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”