CHAPTER 27
When
Isaac
was
old
and his eyes
were so weak
he could no longer see,
he called
his older
son
Esau
and said
to him,
“My son.”
“Here I am,”
Esau replied.
Then prepare
a tasty dish
that
I love
and bring
it to me
to eat,
so that
I
may bless
you before
I die.”
Now Rebekah
was listening
to what Isaac
told
his son
Esau.
So when Esau
went
into the field
to hunt
game
and bring it back,
‘Bring
me some game
and prepare
me
a tasty dish
to eat,
so that I may bless you
in the presence
of the LORD
before
I die.’
Go out
to
the flock
and bring
me two
choice
young goats,
so that I can make
them
into a tasty dish
for your father—
the kind
he loves.
Jacob
answered
his mother
Rebekah,
“Look,
my brother
Esau
is a hairy
man,
but I am
smooth-skinned.
What if
my father
touches me?
Then I would be revealed
to him
as a deceiver,
and I would bring
upon myself
a curse
rather than
a blessing.”
So Jacob went
and got two goats
and brought
them to his mother,
who
made
the tasty food
his father
loved.
And Rebekah
took
the finest
clothes
in the house
that
belonged
to her older
son
Esau,
and she put them on
her younger
son
Jacob.
So Jacob went
to
his father
and said,
“My father.”
“Here I am!”
he answered.
“Which one
are you,
my son?”
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
you
may bless me.”
But Isaac
asked
his son,
“How
did you ever find
it so
quickly,
my son?”
“Because
the LORD
your God
brought it
to me,”
he replied.
Then Isaac
said
to
Jacob,
“Please
come closer
so I can touch you,
my son.
Are you
really
my son
Esau
or
not?”
So Jacob
came close
to
his father
Isaac,
who touched him
and said,
“The voice
is the voice
of Jacob,
but the hands
are the hands
of Esau.”
Isaac did not
recognize him,
because
his hands
were
hairy
like those
of his brother
Esau;
so he blessed him.
“Serve me,”
said Isaac,
“and let me eat
some of my son’s
game,
so that
I
may bless you.”
Jacob brought it to him,
and he ate;
then he brought
him
wine,
and he drank.
So he came near
and kissed him.
When Isaac smelled
his clothing,
he blessed
him and said:
“Ah,
the smell
of my son
is like the smell
of a field
that
the LORD
has blessed.
May God
give
to you
the dew
of heaven
and the richness
of the earth—
an abundance
of grain
and new wine.
May peoples
serve you
and nations
bow down to you.
May you be
the master
of your brothers,
and may the sons
of your mother
bow down to you.
May those who curse you
be cursed,
and those who bless you
be blessed.”
As soon as
Isaac
had finished
blessing
him
and Jacob
had left
his father’s
presence,
his brother
Esau
returned
from the hunt.
He
too
made
some tasty food,
brought
it to his father,
and said
to him,
“My father,
sit up
and eat
of your son’s
game,
so that
you
may bless me.”
Isaac
began to tremble violently
and said,
“Who
was it,
then,
who hunted
the game
and brought it
to me?
Before
you came in,
I ate
it all
and blessed him—
and indeed,
he will be
blessed!”
When Esau
heard
his father’s
words,
he let out
a loud
and bitter
cry
and said
to his father,
“Bless
me too,
O my father!”
So Esau declared,
“Is he not rightly
named
Jacob?
For he has cheated
me twice.
He took
my birthright,
and
now
he has taken
my blessing.”
Then he asked,
“Haven’t
you saved
a blessing for me?”
But Isaac
answered
Esau:
“Look,
I have made him
your master
and
given
him
all
his relatives
as servants;
I have sustained
him with grain
and new wine.
What
is left
that I can do for you,
my son?”
Esau
said
to
his father,
“Do you have only one
blessing,
my father?
Bless
me too,
O my father!”
Then Esau
wept
aloud.
His father
Isaac
answered him:
“Behold,
your dwelling place
shall be
away from the richness
of the land,
away from the dew
of heaven
above.
You shall live
by
the sword,
and serve
your brother.
But when
you rebel,
you will tear
his yoke
from
your neck.”
Esau
held a grudge
against Jacob
because of
the blessing
his father
had given him.
And Esau
said
in his heart:
“The days
of mourning
for my father
are at hand;
then I will kill
my brother
Jacob.”
When the words
of her older
son
Esau
were relayed
to Rebekah,
she sent for
her younger
son
Jacob
and told
him,
“Look,
your brother
Esau
is consoling
himself by
plotting to kill you.
until
your brother’s
rage
against you
wanes
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
both
of you
in one
day?”
Then Rebekah
said
to
Isaac,
“I am weary
of my life
because of
these Hittite
women.
If
Jacob
takes
a Hittite
wife
from
among them,
what good
is my
life?”