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. 3Take 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 the 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 obey every order I give you, my son. 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 worked it out 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, “Serve me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it 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 # 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 down to you.
Be master over your brothers;
may your mother’s sons bow down 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 the hunt. 31He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then 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? # = 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 only have one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father! ” And Esau wept loudly. # Lit Esau lifted up his voice and wept
39Then his 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, # 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 Hittite women. # Gn 26:34-35; 28:8 If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like one of them, # Lit of these daughters of the land what good is my life? ” # Gn 24:3
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Genesis 27
27
1And when Izhak was olde, and his eyes were dimme (so that he coulde not see) he called Esau his eldest sonne, and sayde vnto him, My sonne. And he answered him, I am here. 2Then he sayd, Beholde, I am nowe olde, and knowe not the day of my death: 3Wherefore nowe, I pray thee take thine instruments, thy quiuer and thy bowe, and get thee to the fielde, that thou mayest take mee some venison. 4Then make mee sauourie meate, such as I loue, and bring it me that I may eat, and that my soule may blesse thee, before I die. 5(Nowe Rebekah heard, when Izhak spake to Esau his sonne) and Esau went into the fielde to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6Then Rebekah spake vnto Iaakob her sonne, saying, Beholde, I haue heard thy father talking with Esau thy brother, saying, 7Bring mee vension, and make mee sauourie meate, that I may eate and blesse thee before the Lord, afore my death. 8Nowe therefore, my sonne, heare my voyce in that which I command thee. 9Get thee nowe to the flocke, and bring me thence two good kids of the goates, that I may make pleasant meate of them for thy father, such as he loueth. 10Then shalt thou bring it to thy father, and he shall eate, to the intent that he may blesse thee before his death. 11But Iaakob sayde to Rebekah his mother, Beholde, Esau my brother is rough, and I am smoothe. 12My father may possibly feele me, and I shall seem to him to be a mocker: so shall I bring a curse vpon me, and not a blessing. 13But his mother sayd vnto him, vpon me be thy curse, my sonne: onely heare my voyce, and go and bring me them. 14So he went and set them, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made pleasant meat, such as his father loued. 15And Rebekah tooke faire clothes of her elder sonne Esau, which were in her house, and clothed Iaakob her yonger sonne: 16And she couered his hands and the smoothe of his necke with the skinnes of the kiddes of the goates. 17Afterward she put the pleasant meate and bread, which she had prepared, in the hand of her sonne Iaakob. 18And when he came to his father, he sayd, My father. Who answered, I am here: who art thou, my sonne? 19And Iaakob sayde to his father, I am Esau thy first borne, I haue done as thou badest me, arise, I pray thee: sit vp and eate of my venison, that thy soule may blesse me. 20Then Izhak said vnto his sonne, Howe hast thou founde it so quickly my sonne? Who sayde, Because the Lord thy God brought it to mine hande. 21Againe sayde Izhak vnto Iaakob, Come neere nowe, that I may feele thee, my sonne, whether thou be that my sonne Esau or not. 22Then Iaakob came neere to Izhak his father, and he felt him and sayd, The voyce is Iaakobs voyce, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23(For he knewe him not, because his hands were rough as his brother Esaus hands: wherefore he blessed him) 24Againe he sayd, Art thou that my sonne Esau? Who answered, Yea. 25Then said he, Bring it me hither, and I will eate of my sonnes venison, that my soule may blesse thee. And he brought it to him, and he ate: also he brought him wine, and he dranke. 26Afterward his father Izhak sayd vnto him, Come neere nowe, and kisse me, my sonne. 27And hee came neere and kissed him. Then he smellled the sauour of his garmentes, and blessed him, and sayde, Behold, the smelll of my sonne is as the smelll of a fielde, which the Lord hath blessed. 28God giue thee therefore of the dewe of heauen, and the fatnesse of the earth, and plentie of wheate and wine. 29Let people bee thy seruantes, and nations bowe vnto thee: be Lord ouer thy brethren, and let thy mothers children honour thee. cursed be he that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. 30And when Izhak had made an ende of blessing Iaakob, and Iaakob was scarce gone out from the presence of Izhak his father, then came Esau his brother from his hunting, 31And hee also prepared sauourie meate and brought it to his father, and sayd vnto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his sonnes venison, that thy soule may blesse me. 32But his father Izhak sayde vnto him, Who art thou? And he answered, I am thy sonne, euen thy first borne Esau. 33Then Izhak was stricken with a marueilous great feare, and sayde, Who and where is hee that hunted venison, and brought it mee, and I haue eate of all before thou camest? and I haue blessed him, therefore he shalbe blessed. 34When Esau heard the wordes of his father, he cryed out with a great crye and bitter, out of measure, and sayde vnto his father, Blesse me, euen me also, my father. 35Who answered, Thy brother came with subtiltie, and hath taken away thy blessing. 36Then he sayde, Was hee not iustly called Iaakob? for hee hath deceiued mee these two times: he tooke my birthright, and loe, nowe hath he taken my blessing. Also he sayd, Hast thou not reserued a blessing for me? 37Then Izhak answered, and sayd vnto Esau, Beholde, I haue made him thy lorde, and all his brethre haue I made his seruants: also with wheate and wine haue I furnished him, and vnto thee now what shall I doe, my sonne? 38Then Esau sayde vnto his father, Hast thou but one blessing my father? blesse mee, euen me also, my father: and Esau lifted vp his voyce, and wept. 39Then Izhak his father answered, and sayde vnto him, Behold, the fatnesse of the earth shall be thy dwelling place, and thou shalt haue of the dewe of heauen from aboue. 40And by thy sword shalt thou liue, and shalt be thy brothers seruant. But it shall come to passe, when thou shalt get the masterie, that thou shalt breake his yoke from thy necke. 41Therefore Esau hated Iaakob, because of the blessing, wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau thought in his minde, The dayes of mourning for my father will come shortly, then I will slay may brother Iaakob. 42And it was told to Rebekah of the wordes of Esau her elder sonne, and shee sent and called Iaakob her yonger sonne, and sayd vnto him, Beholde, thy brother Esau is comforted against thee, meaning to kill thee: 43Now therefore my sonne, heare my voyce, arise, and flee thou to Haran to my brother Laban, 44And tarie with him a while vntill thy brothers fiercenesse be swaged, 45And till thy brothers wrath turne away from thee, and hee forget the thinges, which thou hast done to him: then will I sende and take thee from thence: why shoulde I bee depriued of you both in one day? 46Also Rebekah said to Izhak, I am weary of my life, for the daughters of Heth. If Iaakob take a wife of the daughters of Heth like these of the daughters of the lande, what auaileth it me to liue?
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