Genesis 27

Chapter 27.

27 ¹ When Isaac was old and his eyes had grown too dim to see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son." And Esau answered, "Here I am."

² Isaac said, "Look — I am old; I do not know the day of my death." ³ Now then, take your gear — your quiver and your bow — go out to the field, and hunt some game for me. ⁴ Then prepare for me a tasty meal, the kind I love, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.

⁵ Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went out to the field to hunt game and bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I just heard your father speaking to your brother Esau. He said, ⁷ 'Bring me some game and prepare for me a tasty meal to eat, so that I may bless you before the Sovereign Father, before my death.' ⁸ Now then, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly what I tell you. ⁹ Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, so I can prepare them as a tasty meal for your father, the kind he loves. ¹⁰ Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.

¹¹ But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth-skinned." ¹² What if my father touches me? I will seem to him like a deceiver, and I will bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.

¹³ His mother said to him, "Let your curse fall on me, my son. Just listen to my voice — go and bring them to me."

¹⁴ So Jacob went, took the goats, and brought them to his mother. And his mother prepared a tasty meal, the kind his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the skins of the young goats. ¹⁷ Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty meal and the bread she had made.

¹⁸ Jacob went in to his father and said, "My father." And he answered, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

¹⁹ Jacob said 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 your soul may bless me."

²⁰ Isaac said to his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" He replied, "Because your Sovereign Father granted me success."

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come closer so I can feel you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

²² Jacob went closer to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of his brother Esau, so he blessed him. ²⁴ He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am."

²⁵ Then Isaac said, "Bring it to me, and let me eat some of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you." So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come closer, my son, and kiss me." ²⁷ So Jacob came closer and kissed him. Isaac smelled the scent of his clothes, blessed him, and said, "See — the scent of my son is like the scent of a field that the Sovereign Father has blessed." ²⁸ May our Father give you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and new wine. ²⁹ May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you.

³⁰ As soon as Isaac finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had barely left his father Isaac's presence, his brother Esau came back from his hunt. ³¹ He also prepared a tasty meal and brought it to his father. Esau said to his father, "Let my father sit up and eat some of his son's game, so that your soul may bless me."

³² His father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."

³³ Then Isaac began to tremble violently and said, "Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him — and indeed, he will be blessed!"

³⁴ When Esau heard his father's words, he let out an exceedingly loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me — me also, my father!"

³⁵ But Isaac said, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

³⁶ Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice: he took my birthright, and now — look — he has taken my blessing." Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"

³⁷ Isaac replied to Esau, "Look — I have made him lord over you, and I have given all his brothers to him as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I do for you, my son?"

³⁸ Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father!" And Esau wept aloud.

³⁹ Then his father Isaac replied to him, "Look — your dwelling will be away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of heaven above." ⁴⁰ By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will break his yoke from your neck.

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

⁴² When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Look — your brother Esau is consoling himself about you by planning to kill you." ⁴³ Now then, my son, listen to my voice. Get up and flee to my brother Laban in Haran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him a while — until your brother's fury subsides, ⁴⁵ until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth — from the women of this land — what good will my life be to me?"