Genesis 27
27
1Isaac had become old. His eyes were so weak he couldn’t see anymore. One day he called for his older 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 older 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 oldest 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 recognize 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 grain 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 oldest 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 oldest 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 grain 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 older 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.”
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Genesis 27: NIrV
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Genesis 27
27
The Stolen Blessing
1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see,#Gn 48:10; 1Sm 3:2 he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
2He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death. 3So now take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me.#Gn 25:27–28 4Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.”#Gn 27:19,25,31; 48:9,15–16; Dt 33:1; Heb 11:20
5Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said, 7‘Bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ 8Now, my son, listen to me and do what I tell you. 9Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father — the kind he loves. 10Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.”
11Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin.#Gn 25:25 12Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.”
13His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.”
14So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved. 15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them. 16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. 17Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
18When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”
And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.”
20But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”
He replied, “Because the Lord your God made it happen for me.”
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?”
22So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he 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 those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
And he replied, “I am.”
25Then he said, “Bring it closer to me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it closer to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.
26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.” 27So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled#27:27 Lit smelled the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said:
Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.
28May God give to you —
from the dew of the sky#Gn 27:39; Dt 32:2; 33:13,28; 2Sm 1:21; Pr 3:20; Is 18:4; Hs 14:5; Hg 1:10; Zch 8:12
and from the richness of the land#Nm 18:12 —
an abundance of grain and new wine.#Dt 7:13; Jl 2:19
29May peoples serve you#Gn 25:23; Is 45:14; 49:7,23; 60:12–14
and nations bow in homage to you.
Be master over your relatives;
may your mother’s sons bow in homage to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed.#Gn 12:3; Nm 24:9
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting. 31He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
32But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.”
33Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. “Who was it then,” he said, “who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!”
34When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” #Heb 12:17
35But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob?#27:36 = He Grasps the Heel#Gn 25:26,32–34 For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37But Isaac answered Esau, “Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”
38Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.#27:38 Lit Esau lifted up his voice and wept
39His father Isaac answered him,
Look, your dwelling place will be
away from the richness of the land,
away from the dew of the sky above.
40You will live by your sword,
and you will serve your brother.
But when you rebel,#27:40 Hb obscure
you will break his yoke from your neck.
Esau’s Anger
41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. 43So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, 44and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides — 45until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
46So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls.#Gn 26:34–35; 28:8 If Jacob marries someone from around here,#27:46 Lit someone like these daughters of the land like these Hethite girls, what good is my life?” #Gn 24:3
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