Genesis 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

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Genesis 27

Isaac Blesses Jacob

1When Isaac was old and #ch. 48:10; 1 Sam. 3:2his 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.” 2He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3#ch. 25:27, 28Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul #ch. 10:25; 48:9, 15; 49:28; Deut. 33:1may bless you before I die.”

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, #ver. 13obey my voice as I command you. 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, #ver. 4so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, #ch. 25:25my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12Perhaps my father #ver. 21, 22 will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring #[Deut. 27:18]a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13His mother said to him, #[1 Sam. 25:24; 2 Sam. 14:9; Matt. 27:25]“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

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 #ver. 27best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 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 #ver. 12may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 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 #ver. 16 his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. #Heb. 11:20So he blessed him. 24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25Then he said, “Bring it near to me, #ver. 10that 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.

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 #[See ver. 23 above] and blessed him and said,

“See, #[Hos. 14:6]the smell of my son

is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!

28May God give you of #Deut. 33:13; Zech. 8:12; [ch. 49:25; 2 Sam. 1:21] the dew of heaven

and of the fatness of the earth

and #Deut. 7:13; 33:28; Joel 2:19plenty of grain and wine.

29Let peoples serve you,

and nations #[ch. 49:8] bow down to you.

# [2 Sam. 8:14] Be lord over your brothers,

and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

# ch. 12:3; Num. 24:9 Cursed be everyone who curses you,

and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

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, #Heb. 12:17he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” 35But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36Esau said, #ch. 25:26 “Is he not rightly named Jacob?#27:36 Jacob means He takes by the heel, or He cheats For he has cheated me these two times. #ch. 25:33He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, #ver. 29; [2 Sam. 8:14] I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and #ver. 28with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” 38Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And #[See ver. 34 above]Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, #ver. 28; ch. 36:6, 7away from#27:39 Or Behold, of the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be,

and away from#27:39 Or and of the dew of heaven on high.

40By your sword you shall live,

and you #ch. 25:23; [2 Sam. 8:14]; See Obad. 18-21 shall serve your brother;

but when you grow restless

# [2 Kgs. 8:20-22] you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

41Now Esau #[ch. 37:4] hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, #ch. 50:3, 4, 10 “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; #[Amos 1:11; Obad. 10]then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 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 Haran 44and 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, #ch. 26:34, 35; 28:8 “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.#27:46 Hebrew daughters of Heth #ch. 24:3If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

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