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
© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Genesis 27
27
1And it cometh to pass that Isaac [is] aged, and his eyes are too dim for seeing, and he calleth Esau his elder son, and saith unto him, ‘My son;’ and he saith unto him, ‘Here [am] I.’
2And he saith, ‘Lo, I pray thee, I have become aged, I have not known the day of my death;
3and now, take up, I pray thee, thy instruments, thy quiver, and thy bow, and go out to the field, and hunt for me provision,
4and make for me tasteful things, [such] as I have loved, and bring in to me, and I do eat, so that my soul doth bless thee before I die.’
5And Rebekah is hearkening while Isaac is speaking unto Esau his son; and Esau goeth to the field to hunt provision — to bring in;
6and Rebekah hath spoken unto Jacob her son, saying, ‘Lo, I have heard thy father speaking unto Esau thy brother, saying,
7Bring for me provision, and make for me tasteful things, and I do eat, and bless thee before Jehovah before my death.
8‘And now, my son, hearken to my voice, to that which I am commanding thee:
9Go, I pray thee, unto the flock, and take for me from thence two good kids of the goats, and I make them tasteful things for thy father, [such] as he hath loved;
10and thou hast taken in to thy father, and he hath eaten, so that his soul doth bless thee before his death.
11And Jacob saith unto Rebekah his mother, ‘Lo, Esau my brother [is] a hairy man, and I a smooth man,
12it may be my father doth feel me, and I have been in his eyes as a deceiver, and have brought upon me disesteem, and not a blessing;’
13and his mother saith to him, ‘On me thy disesteem, my son; only hearken to my voice, and go, take for me.’
14And he goeth, and taketh, and bringeth to his mother, and his mother maketh tasteful things, [such] as his father hath loved;
15and Rebekah taketh the desirable garments of Esau her elder son, which [are] with her in the house, and doth put on Jacob her younger son;
16and the skins of the kids of the goats she hath put on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck,
17and she giveth the tasteful things, and the bread which she hath made, into the hand of Jacob her son.
18And he cometh in unto his father, and saith, ‘My father;’ and he saith, ‘Here [am] I; who [art] thou, my son?’
19And Jacob saith unto his father, ‘I [am] Esau thy first-born; I have done as thou hast spoken unto me; rise, I pray thee, sit, and eat of my provision, so that thy soul doth bless me.’
20And Isaac saith unto his son, ‘What [is] this thou hast hasted to find, my son?’ and he saith, ‘That which Jehovah thy God hath caused to come before me.’
21And Isaac saith unto Jacob, ‘Come nigh, I pray thee, and I feel thee, my son, whether thou [art] he, my son Esau, or not.’
22And Jacob cometh nigh unto Isaac his father, and he feeleth him, and saith, ‘The voice [is] the voice of Jacob, and the hands hands of Esau.’
23And he hath not discerned him, for his hands have been hairy, as the hands of Esau his brother, and he blesseth him,
24and saith, ‘Thou art he — my son Esau?’ and he saith, ‘I [am].’
25And he saith, ‘Bring nigh to me, and I do eat of my son's provision, so that my soul doth bless thee;’ and he bringeth nigh to him, and he eateth; and he bringeth to him wine, and he drinketh.
26And Isaac his father saith to him, ‘Come nigh, I pray thee, and kiss me, my son;’
27and he cometh nigh, and kisseth him, and he smelleth the fragrance of his garments, and blesseth him, and saith, ‘See, the fragrance of my son [is] as the fragrance of a field which Jehovah hath blessed;
28and God doth give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of corn and wine;
29peoples serve thee, and nations bow themselves to thee, be thou mighty over thy brethren, and the sons of thy mother bow themselves to thee; those who curse thee [are] cursed, and those who bless thee [are] blessed.’
30And it cometh to pass, as Isaac hath finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob is only just going out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother hath come in from his hunting;
31and he also maketh tasteful things, and bringeth to his father, and saith to his father, ‘Let my father arise, and eat of his son's provision, so that thy soul doth bless me.’
32And Isaac his father saith to him, ‘Who [art] thou?’ and he saith, ‘I [am] thy son, thy first-born, Esau;’
33and Isaac trembleth a very great trembling, and saith, ‘Who, now, [is] he who hath provided provision, and bringeth in to me, and I eat of all before thou comest in, and I bless him? — yea, blessed is he.’
34When Esau heareth the words of his father, then he crieth a very great and bitter cry, and saith to his father, ‘Bless me, me also, O my father;’
35and he saith, ‘Thy brother hath come with subtilty, and taketh thy blessing.’
36And he saith, ‘Is it because [one] called his name Jacob that he doth take me by the heel these two times? my birthright he hath taken; and lo, now, he hath taken my blessing;’ he saith also, ‘Hast thou not kept back a blessing for me?’
37And Isaac answereth and saith to Esau, ‘Lo, a mighty one have I set him over thee, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and [with] corn and wine have I sustained him; and for thee now, what shall I do, my son?’
38And Esau saith unto his father, ‘One blessing hast thou my father? bless me, me also, O my father;’ and Esau lifteth up his voice, and weepeth.
39And Isaac his father answereth and saith unto him, ‘Lo, of the fatness of the earth is thy dwelling, and of the dew of the heavens from above;
40and by thy sword dost thou live, and thy brother dost thou serve; and it hath come to pass when thou rulest, that thou hast broken his yoke from off thy neck.’
41And Esau hateth Jacob, because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau saith in his heart, ‘The days of mourning [for] my father draw near, and I slay Jacob my brother.’
42And the words of Esau her elder son are declared to Rebekah, and she sendeth and calleth for Jacob her younger son, and saith unto him, ‘Lo, Esau thy brother is comforting himself in regard to thee — to slay thee;
43and now, my son, hearken to my voice, and rise, flee for thyself unto Laban my brother, to Haran,
44and thou hast dwelt with him some days, till thy brother's fury turn back,
45till thy brother's anger turn back from thee, and he hath forgotten that which thou hast done to him, and I have sent and taken thee from thence; why am I bereaved even of you both the same day?’
46And Rebekah saith unto Isaac, ‘I have been disgusted with my life because of the presence of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these — from the daughters of the land — why do I live?’
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society