Genesis27

¹Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”

²Then Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

³Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

⁴and prepare a delicious meal for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,

⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,

⁷‘Bring me some game and prepare a delicious meal for me, so that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’

⁸So now, my son, listen to me as I command you.

⁹Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, so that I may prepare them as a delicious meal for your father, such as he loves.

¹⁰Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.

¹²Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”

¹³But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me.”

¹⁴So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a delicious meal such as his father loved.

¹⁵Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.

¹⁶And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷She also gave the delicious meal and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob.

¹⁸Then he came 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. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.”

²⁰Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God made it come to me.”

²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²²So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

²³And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

²⁴And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”

²⁵So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed;

²⁸Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine;

²⁹May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”

³⁰Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, that his brother Esau came in from his hunting.

³¹Then he also made a delicious meal, 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?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate from all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me as well, my father!”

³⁵And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶Then Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has betrayed me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and I have given to him all his relatives as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.” So Esau raised his voice and wept.

³⁹Then his father Isaac answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above.

⁴⁰And by your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴²Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent word and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

⁴³Now then, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!

⁴⁴Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides,

⁴⁵until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send word and get you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”

⁴⁶And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”