Genesis 27
27
1Isaac was old and going blind. He called for Esau, his oldest son, and said, “My son.”
“I'm here,” Esau replied.
2“I'm old now,” said Isaac, “I may die soon, who knows? 3So please take your bow and arrows and go hunting in the countryside for some meat for me. 4Make me that tasty food that I love and bring it to me to eat, so I can bless you before I die.”
5Rebekah heard what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau left to go hunting in the countryside for wild game, 6Rebekah told her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father tell your brother, 7‘Get me some wild game and make me some tasty food so I can eat it and then bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8Now then, my son, listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. 9Go to the flock and bring me two nice young goats. I'll cook them and make the tasty food your father loves. 10Then you take it to your father to eat, so he can bless you in the presence of the Lord before he dies.”
11“But listen,” Jacob replied to his mother Rebekah, “my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a smooth man. 12Maybe my father will notice when he touches me. Then it will look like I'm deceiving him and I'll bring a curse down on myself instead of a blessing.”
13“Let the curse fall on me, my son,” his mother replied. “Just do what I tell you. Go and get the young goats for me.”
14So Jacob went and got them and took them to his mother, and she made some tasty food, the way his father loved. 15Then Rebekah went and got her older son Esau's best clothes that she had at home and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16She put the goatskins on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she'd made.
18He went in to see his father, and called out, “My father, I'm here.”
“Which son are you?” Isaac asked.
19“It's me Esau, your firstborn son,” Jacob told his father. “I did what you told me. So please sit up and eat some of my wild game meat so you can bless me.”
20“How did you find an animal so fast, my son?” Isaac asked.
“Because the Lord your God sent it my way,” Jacob replied.
21“Come over here so I can touch you, my son,” Isaac told Jacob, “so I can tell if you're really my son Esau or not.”
22Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “It's Jacob's voice but Esau's hands.” 23Isaac didn't realize it was really Jacob because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's, so Isaac got ready to bless him.
24“It's really you, my son Esau?” he asked again. “Yes, it's me,” Jacob replied.
25Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your wild game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.” Jacob brought some for him to eat, as well as some wine for him to drink.
26Afterwards he said to Isaac, “Come here and kiss me, my son.” 27So Jacob went over and kissed him, and Isaac could smell the clothes Jacob was wearing. So he went ahead with the blessing, saying to himself, “See—the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.”
28“May God use the dew of heaven and fertile land to give you rich harvests of grain and new wine! 29May the people of different nations serve you and bow down to you. May you rule over your relatives, and may they bow down to you. May everyone who curses you be cursed, and may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”
30After Isaac finished blessing Jacob—in fact Jacob had just left his father—Esau returned from his hunting trip. 31He had also made some tasty food, and took it to his father. Esau said to Isaac, “Sit up, my father, and eat some of my wild game so you can bless me.”
32“Who are you?” Isaac asked him.
“I'm your son, your firstborn son, Esau,” he replied.
33Isaac started to shake all over and asked, “So who was it who went hunting game and then brought it to me? I ate it all before you came back and I blessed him. His blessing will remain.”
34When Esau heard his father's words, he cried out in great anger and bitterness, and pleaded with his father, “Please bless me too, my father!”
35But Isaac replied, “Your brother came and deceived me—he stole your blessing!”
36“Isn't he well named—Jacob the deceiver!”#27:36. “Deceiver.” See 25:26. said Esau. “He's deceived me twice. First he took my birthright, and now he's stolen my blessing! Haven't you kept a blessing for me?”
37Isaac replied to Esau. “I have made him ruler over you, and have said that all his relatives will be his servants. I have declared that he will be well supplied with grain and new wine. So what is left that I can do for you, my son?”
38“Do you only have one blessing, my father?” Esau asked. “Please bless me too!” Then Esau began to cry very loudly.
39Then his father Isaac declared, “Listen! You will live far away from fertile land, far from the dew of heaven that falls from above. 40You will make a living by using your sword, and you will be your brother's servant. But when you rebel, you will throw off his yoke from your neck.”
41From then on Esau hated Jacob because of his father's blessing. Esau said to himself, “Soon the time will come when I'll mourn my father's death. Then I'll kill my brother Jacob!”
42However, Rebekah found out what Esau was saying, so she sent for Jacob. “Look,” she told him, “your brother Esau is making himself feel better by making plans to kill you. 43So, my son, listen carefully to what I tell you. Leave immediately and go to my brother Laban in Haran. 44Stay with him for a while until your brother's anger cools down. 45Once he's cooled down and forgets what you did to him, I'll send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in a single day?”
46Then Rebekah went and told Isaac, “I'm so sick of these Hittite women—they're ruining my life! If Jacob also marries a Hittite woman like them, one of the local people, I'd rather die!”
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Genesis 27
27
Jacob acquires his father’s blessing
1When Isaac had grown old and his eyesight was failing, he summoned his older son Esau and said to him, “My son?”
And Esau said, “I’m here.”
2He said, “I’m old and don’t know when I will die. 3So now, take your hunting gear, your bow and quiver of arrows, go out to the field, and hunt game for me. 4Make me the delicious food that I love and bring it to me so I can eat. Then I can bless you before I die.”
5Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out to the field to hunt game to bring back, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I just heard your father saying to your brother Esau, 7‘Bring me some game and make me some delicious food so I can eat, and I will bless you in the LORD’s presence before I die.’ 8Now, my son, listen to me, to what I’m telling you to do. 9Go to the flock and get me two healthy young goats so I can prepare them as the delicious food your father loves. 10You can bring it to your father, he will eat, and then he will bless you before he dies.”
11Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I have smooth skin. 12What if my father touches me and thinks I’m making fun of him? I will be cursed instead of blessed.”
13His mother said to him, “Your curse will be on me, my son. Just listen to me: go and get them for me.” 14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food that his father loved. 15Rebekah took her older son Esau’s favorite clothes that were in the house with her, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. 16On his arms and smooth neck she put the hide of young goats, 17and the delicious food and the bread she had made she put into her son’s hands.
18Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.”
And he said, “I’m here. Who are you, my son?”
19Jacob said to his father, “I’m Esau your oldest son. I’ve made what you asked me to. Sit up and eat some of the game so you can bless me.”
20Isaac said to his son, “How could you find this so quickly, my son?”
He said, “The LORD your God led me right to it.”#27.20 Or made something good happen for me
21Isaac said to Jacob, “Come here and let me touch you, my son. Are you my son Esau or not?” 22So Jacob approached his father Isaac, and Isaac touched him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the arms are Esau’s arms.” 23Isaac didn’t recognize him because his arms were hairy like Esau’s arms, so he blessed him.
24Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
And he said, “I am.”
25Isaac said, “Bring some food here and let me eat some of my son’s game so I can bless you.” Jacob put it before him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. 26His father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.” 27So he came close and kissed him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his clothes, he blessed him,
“See, the scent of my son
is like the scent of the field
that the LORD has blessed.
28May God give you
showers from the sky,
olive oil from the earth,
plenty of grain and new wine.
29May the nations serve you,
may peoples bow down to you.
Be the most powerful man among your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed.”
Esau receives a secondary blessing
30After Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and just as Jacob left his father Isaac, his brother Esau came back from his hunt. 31He too made some delicious food, brought it to his father, and said, “Let my father sit up and eat from his son’s game so that you may bless me.”
32His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
And he said, “I’m your son, your oldest son, Esau.”
33Isaac was so shocked that he trembled violently. He said, “Who was the hunter just here with game? He brought me food, and I ate all of it before you came. I blessed him, and he will stay blessed!”
34When Esau heard what his father said, he let out a loud agonizing cry and wept bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me! Me too, my father!”
35Isaac said, “Your brother has already come deceitfully and has taken your blessing.”
36Esau said, “Isn’t this why he’s called Jacob? He’s taken me#27.36 Heb ya’acob, a wordplay on Jacob twice now: he took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing.” He continued, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37Isaac replied to Esau, “I’ve already made him more powerful than you, and I’ve made all of his brothers his servants. I’ve made him strong with grain and wine. What can I do for you, my son?”
38Esau said to his father, “Do you really have only one blessing, Father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.
39His father Isaac responded and said to him,
“Now, you will make a home
far away from the olive groves of the earth,
far away from the showers of the sky above.
40You will live by your sword;
you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,#27.40 Heb uncertain
you will tear away his harness
from your neck.”
Jacob sent away for protection
41Esau was furious at Jacob because his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, When the period of mourning for the death of my father is over, I will kill my brother.
42Rebekah was told what her older son Esau was planning, so she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Esau your brother is planning revenge. He plans to kill you. 43So now, my son, listen to me: Get up and escape to my brother Laban in Haran. 44Live with him for a short while until your brother’s rage subsides, 45until your brother’s anger at you goes away and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I suffer the loss of both of you on one day?”
46Rebekah then said to Isaac, “I really loathe these Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women, like the women of this land, why should I go on living?”
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