Genesis 27
27
Jacob’s Deception
1Now it came about, 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.” 2Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. 3Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; 4and 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.”
5Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 7‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 9Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 10Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” 11Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. 12Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. 15Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.
18Then he came 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. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” 20Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.” 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22So Jacob came close 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.” 23He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” 25So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” 27So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed;
28Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29May 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.”
The Stolen Blessing
30Now it came about, 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. 31Then he also made savory 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.” 32Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” 34When 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!” 35And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 36Then he said, “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?” 37But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” 38Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And away from the dew of heaven from above.
40By your sword you shall live,
And your brother you shall serve;
But it shall come about when you become restless,
That you will break his yoke from your neck.”
41So Esau bore a grudge against 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 near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. 43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! 44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, 45until your brother’s anger 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?”
46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of 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?”
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Genesis 27
27
Jacob Tricks Isaac
1Isaac grew old, and his eyes became so weak that he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, “Son!”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2Isaac said, “I am old. Maybe I will die soon. 3So take your bow and arrows and go hunting. Kill an animal for me to eat. 4Prepare the food that I love. Bring it to me, and I will eat it. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5So Esau went hunting.
Rebekah was listening when Isaac told this to his son Esau. 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 7Your father said, ‘Kill an animal for me to eat. Prepare the food for me, and I will eat it. Then, with the Lord as witness, I will bless you before I die.’ 8So listen, son, and do what I tell you. 9Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them the way your father loves them. 10Then you will carry the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”
11But Jacob told his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am not hairy like him. 12If my father touches me, he will know that I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me—he will curse me because I tried to trick him.”
13So Rebekah said to him, “I will accept the blame if there is trouble. Do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”
14So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. His mother cooked the goats in the special way that Isaac loved. 15Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob. 16She took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and on his neck. 17Then she got the food she had cooked and gave it to Jacob.
18Jacob went to his father and said, “Father.”
His father answered, “Yes, son. Who are you?”
19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat the meat from the animals that I hunted for you. Then you can bless me.”
20But Isaac said to his son, “How have you hunted and killed the animals so quickly?”
Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God allowed me to find the animals quickly.”
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near to me so that I can feel you, my son. If I can feel you, I will know if you are really my son Esau.”
22So Jacob went to Isaac his father. Isaac felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your arms are hairy like the arms of Esau.” 23Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau’s. So Isaac blessed Jacob.
24Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
The Blessing for Jacob
25Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate it. Then Jacob gave him some wine, and he drank it.
26Then Isaac said to him. “Son, come near and kiss me.” 27So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said,
“My son smells like the fields
the Lord has blessed.
28May God give you plenty of rain,
good crops, and wine.
29May the nations serve you
and many people bow down to you.
You will rule over your brothers.
Your mother’s sons will bow down to you and obey you.
Whoever curses you will be cursed.
Whoever blesses you will be blessed.”
Esau’s “Blessing”
30Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. 31Esau prepared the food in the special way his father loved. He brought it to his father and said, “Father, I am your son. Get up and eat the meat from the animals that I killed for you. Then you can bless me.”
32But Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your son—your first son—Esau.”
33Then Isaac became so upset that he began to shake. He said, “Then who was it that cooked and brought me food before you came? I ate it all, and I blessed him. Now it is too late to take back my blessing.”
34When Esau heard his father’s words, he became very angry and bitter. He cried out and said to his father, “Then bless me also, father!”
35Isaac said, “Your brother tricked me! He came and took your blessing!”
36Esau said, “His name is Jacob.#27:36 Jacob This name is like the Hebrew word meaning “heel.” It also means “the one who follows” or “tricky.” That is the right name for him. He has tricked me twice. He took away my rights as the firstborn son. And now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau said, “Have you saved any blessing for me?”
37Isaac answered, “I have already given Jacob the power to rule over you. And I said all his brothers would be his servants. I have given him the blessing for much grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”
38But Esau continued to beg his father. “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me also, father!” Esau began to cry.
39Then Isaac said to him,
“You will not live on good land.
You will not have much rain.
40You will have to fight to live,
and you will be a slave to your brother.
But when you fight to be free,
you will break away from his control.”
Jacob Leaves the Country
41After that Esau hated Jacob because of this blessing. Esau said to himself, “My father will soon die, and after we are finished with that, I will kill Jacob.”
42Rebekah heard about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob. She sent for Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is planning to kill you. 43So, son, do what I say. My brother Laban is living in Haran. Go to him and hide. 44Stay with him for a short time until your brother stops being angry. 45When your brother forgets what you did to him, I will send a servant to bring you back. I don’t want to lose both of my sons the same day.”
46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “Your son Esau married Hittite women. I am very upset about this, because they are not our people. I’ll have nothing to live for if Jacob marries one of these women!”
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