Genesis 27

Chapter 27

Jacob’s Deception

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

^21aIsaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

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

⁴and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that ^amy soul may bless you before I die.”

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

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

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

⁸“Now therefore, my son, ^alisten to ¹me ²as I command you.

⁹“Go now to the flock and ¹bring me two choice ²young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.

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

¹¹Jacob ¹answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a ^ahairy man and I am a smooth man.

¹²“^aPerhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a ¹deceiver 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 ^aobey my voice, and go, get them for me.”

¹⁴So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.

¹⁵Then Rebekah took the ¹best ^agarments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

¹⁶And she put the skins of the ¹young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, ¹to 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. ^aGet up, please, sit and eat of my game, that ^1byou may bless me.”

²⁰Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “^aBecause the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.”

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

²²So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and 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 ^ahairy 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 ^1aI 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 ^ablessed him and said,

“See, ^bthe smell of my son

Is like the smell of a field ^cwhich the Lord has blessed;

²⁸Now may ^aGod give you of the dew of heaven,

And of the ^bfatness of the earth,

And an abundance of grain and new wine;

^29aMay peoples serve you,

And nations bow down to you;

^bBe master of your brothers,

^cAnd may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

^dCursed be those who curse you,

And blessed be those who bless you.”

The Stolen Blessing

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

³¹Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “^aLet my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that ^1byou may bless me.”

³²Isaac his father said to him, “^aWho are you?” And he said, “I am your son, ^byour firstborn, Esau.”

³³Then Isaac ¹trembled violently, and said, “^aWho was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? ^bYes, and he shall be blessed.”

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, ^ahe cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

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

³⁶Then he said, “¹Is he not rightly named ^aJacob, for he has supplanted 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 ^ayour master, and all his ¹relatives I have given to him ²as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and ^awept.

³⁹Then ^aIsaac his father answered and said to him,

“Behold, ^1baway from the ²fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,

And away from the dew of heaven from above.

⁴⁰“By your sword you shall live,

And your brother ^ayou shall serve;

But it shall come about ^bwhen you become restless,

That you will ¹break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹So Esau ^abore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said ¹to himself, “^bThe 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 and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.

⁴³“Now therefore, my son, ^aobey my voice, and arise, ¹flee to ^bHaran, to my brother ^cLaban!

⁴⁴“Stay with him ^aa few days, until your brother’s fury ¹subsides,

⁴⁵until your brother’s anger ¹against you subsides and he forgets ^awhat you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of ¹living because of ^athe daughters of Heth; ^bif 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?”