1Isaac had become old. His eyes were so weak he couldn’t see anymore. One day he called for his elder son Esau. He said to him, ‘My son.’ ‘Here I am,’ he answered.2Isaac said, ‘I’m an old man now. And I don’t know when I’ll die.3Now then, get your weapons. Get your bow and arrows. Go out to the open country. Hunt some wild animals for me.4Prepare for me the kind of tasty food I like. Bring it to me to eat. Then I’ll give you my blessing before I die.’5Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. Esau left for the open country. He went to hunt for a wild animal and bring it back.6Then Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘Look, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau.7He said, “Bring me a wild animal. Prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I’ll give you my blessing before I die. The LORD will be my witness.” ’8Rebekah continued, ‘My son, listen carefully. Do what I tell you.9Go out to the flock. Bring me two of the finest young goats. I will prepare tasty food for your father. I’ll make it just the way he likes it.10I want you to take it to your father to eat. Then he’ll give you his blessing before he dies.’11Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, ‘My brother Esau’s body is covered with hair. But my skin is smooth.12What if my father touches me? He would know I was trying to trick him. He would curse me instead of giving me a blessing.’13His mother said to him, ‘My son, let the curse be on me. Just do what I say. Go and get the goats for me.’14So he went and got the goats. He brought them to his mother. And she prepared some tasty food. She made it just the way his father liked it.15The clothes of her elder son Esau were in her house. She took Esau’s best clothes and put them on her younger son Jacob.16She covered his hands with the skins of the goats. She also covered the smooth part of his neck with them.17Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.18He went to his father and said, ‘My father.’ ‘Yes, my son,’ Isaac answered. ‘Who is it?’19Jacob said to his father, ‘I’m your eldest son Esau. I’ve done as you told me. Please sit up. Eat some of my wild meat. Then give me your blessing.’20Isaac asked his son, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’ ‘The LORD your God gave me success,’ he replied.21Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near so I can touch you, my son. I want to know whether you really are my son Esau.’22Jacob went close to his father. Isaac touched him and said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob. But the hands are the hands of Esau.’23Isaac didn’t recognise Jacob. Jacob’s hands were covered with hair like those of his brother Esau. So Isaac blessed him.24‘Are you really my son Esau?’ he asked. ‘I am’, Jacob replied.25Isaac said, ‘My son, bring me some of your wild meat to eat. Then I’ll give you my blessing.’ Jacob brought it to him. So Isaac ate. Jacob also brought some wine. And Isaac drank.26Then Jacob’s father Isaac said to him, ‘Come here, my son. Kiss me.’27So Jacob went to him and kissed him. When Isaac smelled the clothes, he gave Jacob his blessing. He said, ‘It really is the smell of my son. It’s like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.28May God give you dew from heaven. May he give you the richness of the earth. May he give you plenty of corn and fresh wine.29May nations serve you. May they bow down to you. Rule over your brothers. May the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed. And may those who bless you be blessed.’30When Isaac finished blessing him, Jacob left his father. Just then his brother Esau came in from hunting.31He too prepared some tasty food. He brought it to his father. Then Esau said to him, ‘My father, please sit up. Eat some of my wild meat. Then give me your blessing.’32His father Isaac asked him, ‘Who are you?’ ‘I’m your son,’ he answered. ‘I’m Esau, your eldest son.’33Isaac began to shake all over. He said, ‘Then who hunted a wild animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my blessing. And he will certainly be blessed!’34Esau heard his father’s words. Then he yelled loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, ‘Bless me! Bless me too, my father!’35But Isaac said, ‘Your brother came and tricked me. He took your blessing.’36Esau said, ‘Isn’t Jacob just the right name for him? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me. First, he took my rights as the eldest son. And now he’s taken my blessing!’ Then Esau asked, ‘Haven’t you saved any blessing for me?’37Isaac answered Esau, ‘I’ve made him ruler over you. I’ve made all his relatives serve him. And I’ve provided him with corn and fresh wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?’38Esau said to his father, ‘Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!’ Then Esau wept loudly.39His father Isaac answered him, ‘You will live far away from the fruit of the earth. You will live far away from the dew of heaven above.40You will live by using the sword. And you will serve your brother. But you will grow restless. Then you will throw off the heavy load he has caused you to carry.’41Esau was angry with Jacob. He was angry because of the blessing his father had given to Jacob. He said to himself, ‘The days of sorrow over my father’s death are near. Then I’ll kill my brother Jacob.’42Rebekah was told what her elder son Esau had said. So she sent for her younger son Jacob. She said to him, ‘Your brother Esau is planning to get back at you by killing you.43Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away at once to my brother Laban in Harran.44Stay with him until your brother’s anger calms down.45When he forgets what you did to him, I’ll let you know. Then you can come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?’46Then Rebekah spoke to Isaac. She said, ‘I’m sick of living because of Esau’s Hittite wives. Suppose Jacob also marries a Hittite woman. If he does, my life won’t be worth living.’
Genesis 27
English Standard Version
Isaac Blesses Jacob
1When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” (Ge 48:10; 1Sa 3:2)2He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.3Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, (Ge 25:27)4and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.” (Ge 10:25; Ge 48:9; Ge 48:15; Ge 49:28; De 33:1)5Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,7‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. (Ge 27:13)9Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.10And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” (Ge 27:4)11But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. (Ge 25:25)12Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” (Ge 27:21; De 27:18)13His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.” (1Sa 25:24; 2Sa 14:9; Mt 27:25)14So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.15Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. (Ge 27:27)16And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.17And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.18So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”20But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” (Ge 27:12)22So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. (Ge 27:16; Heb 11:20)24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”25Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. (Ge 27:10)26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”27So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed! (Ge 27:23; Ho 14:6)28May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. (Ge 49:25; De 7:13; De 33:13; De 33:28; 2Sa 1:21; Joe 2:19; Zec 8:12)29Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Ge 12:3; Ge 49:8; Nu 24:9; 2Sa 8:14)30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.31He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.”32His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”33Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”34As soon 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, even me also, O my father!” (Heb 12:17)35But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.”36Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?[1] For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” (Ge 25:26; Ge 25:33)37Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” (Ge 27:28; Ge 27:29; 2Sa 8:14)38Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. (Ge 27:34)39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Behold, away from[2] the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from[3] the dew of heaven on high. (Ge 27:28; Ge 36:6)40By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.” (Ge 25:23; 2Sa 8:14; 2Ki 8:20; Ob 1:18)41Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” (Ge 37:4; Ge 50:3; Ge 50:10; Am 1:11; Ob 1:10)42But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran44and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away—45until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.[4] If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?” (Ge 24:3; Ge 26:34; Ge 28:8)