Genesis 27–28

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27When Isaac was old and ^zhis eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” ²He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. ^3aNow then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, ⁴and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul ^bmay bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ⁷‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ ⁸Now therefore, my son, ^cobey my voice as I command you. ⁹Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰And you shall bring it to your father to eat, ^dso that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, ^emy brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²Perhaps my father ^fwill feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring ^ga curse upon myself and not a blessing.” ¹³His mother said to him, ^h“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

¹⁴So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Then Rebekah took the ⁱbest garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸So he went in 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; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” ²⁰But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” ²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I ^jmay feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²²So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³And he did not recognize him, because ^khis hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. ^lSo he blessed him. ²⁴He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” ²⁵Then he said, “Bring it near to me, ^mthat I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments ^land blessed him and said,

“See, ⁿthe smell of my son

is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!

²⁸May God give you of ^othe dew of heaven

and of the fatness of the earth

and ^pplenty of grain and wine.

²⁹Let peoples serve you,

and nations ^qbow down to you.

^rBe lord over your brothers,

and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

^sCursed be everyone who curses you,

and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹He also prepared delicious food 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?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, ^the cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶Esau said, ^u“Is he not rightly named Jacob?¹ For he has cheated me these two times. ^vHe took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, ^wI have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and ^xwith grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And ^tEsau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, ^yaway from² the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be,

and away from³ the dew of heaven on high.

⁴⁰By your sword you shall live,

and you ^zshall serve your brother;

but when you grow restless

^ayou shall break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹Now Esau ^bhated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, ^c“The days of mourning for my father are approaching; ^dthen I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴²But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran ⁴⁴and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— ⁴⁵until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, ^e“I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.^{4 f}If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Jacob Sent to Laban

28Then Isaac called Jacob ^gand blessed him and directed him, ^f“You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. ^2hArise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of ⁱBethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. ^3jGod Almighty¹ bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴May he give ^kthe blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of ^lthe land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” ⁵Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Esau Marries an Ishmaelite

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” ⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸So when Esau saw ^mthat the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, ⁹Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, ⁿMahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of ^oNebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream

¹⁰Jacob left ^pBeersheba and went toward ^qHaran. ¹¹And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²And he ^rdreamed, and behold, there was a ladder² set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, ^sthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ¹³And behold, ^tthe Lord stood above it³ and said, ^u“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^vThe land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴Your offspring shall be like ^wthe dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and ^xyour offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵Behold, ^yI am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and ^zwill bring you back to this land. For I will ^anot leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is ^bin this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up ^cfor a pillar ^dand poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹He called the name of that place ^eBethel,⁴ but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰Then Jacob ^fmade a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ^21gso that I come again to my father’s house in peace, ^hthen the Lord shall be my God, ²²and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, ⁱshall be God’s house. And ^jof all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”