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?”
2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Genesis 27
27
1 WHEN ISAAC was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son! And he answered him, Here I am.
2 He said, See here now; I am old, I do not know when I may die.
3 So now, I pray you, take your weapons, your [arrows in a] quiver and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me,
4 And prepare me appetizing meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat of it, [preparatory] to giving you my blessing [as my firstborn] before I die.
5 But Rebekah heard what Isaac said to Esau his son; and when Esau had gone to the open country to hunt for game that he might bring it,
6 Rebekah said to Jacob her younger son, See here, I heard your father say to Esau your brother,
7 Bring me game and make me appetizing meat, so that I may eat and declare my blessing upon you before the Lord before my death.
8 So now, my son, do exactly as I command you.
9 Go now to the flock, and from it bring me two good and suitable kids; and I will make them into appetizing meat for your father, such as he loves.
10 And you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat and declare his blessing upon you before his death.
11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Listen, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
12 Suppose my father feels me; I will seem to him to be a cheat and an imposter, and I will bring [his] curse on me and not [his] blessing.
13 But his mother said to him, On me be your curse, my son; only obey my word and go, fetch them to me.
14 So [Jacob] went, got [the kids], and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared appetizing meat with a delightful odor, such as his father loved.
15 Then Rebekah took her elder son Esau's best clothes which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And she put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 And she gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 So he went to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I; who are you, my son?
19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may proceed to bless me.
20 And Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found the game so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God caused it to come to me.
21 But Isaac said to Jacob, Come close to me, I beg of you, that I may feel you, my son, and know whether you really are my son Esau or not.
22 So Jacob went near to Isaac, and his father felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
23 He could not identify him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
24 But he said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am.
25 Then [Isaac] said, Bring it to me and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you. He brought it to him and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said, Come near and kiss me, my son.
27 So he came near and kissed him; and [Isaac] smelled his clothing and blessed him and said, The scent of my son is as the odor of a field which the Lord has blessed.
28 And may God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth and abundance of grain and [new] wine;
29 Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you; be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Let everyone be cursed who curses you and favored with blessings who blesses you.
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob was scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 Esau had also prepared savory food and brought it to his father and said to him, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.
32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he replied, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.
33 Then Isaac trembled and shook violently, and he said, Who? Where is he who has hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of it all before you came and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father! [Heb. 12:16, 17.]
35 [Isaac] said, Your brother came with crafty cunning and treacherous deceit and has taken your blessing.
36 [Esau] replied, Is he not rightly named Jacob [the supplanter]? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing! Have you not still a blessing reserved for me?
37 And Isaac answered Esau, Behold, I have made [Jacob] your lord and master; I have given all his brethren to him for servants, and with corn and [new] wine have I sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?
38 Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father! And Esau lifted up [could not control] his voice and wept aloud.
39 Then Isaac his father answered, Your [blessing and] dwelling shall all come from the fruitfulness of the earth and from the dew of the heavens above;
40 By your sword you shall live and serve your brother. But [the time shall come] when you will grow restive and break loose, and you shall tear his yoke from off your neck.
41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are very near. When [he is gone] I will kill my brother Jacob.
42 These words of Esau her elder son were repeated to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob her younger son and said to him, See here, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you [by intending] to kill you.
43 So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran;
44 Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent.
45 When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth [these wives of Esau]! If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these Hittite girls around here, what good will my life be to me?
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