²Isaac said, “I am old and don’t know when I might die. ³So take your bow and arrows and go hunting in the field for an animal for me to eat. ⁴When you prepare the tasty food that I love, bring it to me, and I will eat. Then I will bless you before I die.” ⁵So Esau went out in the field to hunt.

Rebekah was listening as Isaac said this to his son Esau. ⁶She said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father saying to your brother Esau, ⁷‘Kill an animal and prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I will bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ ⁸So obey me, my son, and do what I tell you. ⁹Go out to our goats and bring me two of the best young ones. I will prepare them just the way your father likes them. ¹⁰Then you will take the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”

¹¹But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth! ¹²If my father touches me, he will know I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me but will place a curse on me because I tried to trick him.”

¹³So Rebekah said to him, “If your father puts a curse on you, I will accept the blame. Just do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”

¹⁴So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother, and she cooked them in the special way Isaac enjoyed. ¹⁵She took the best clothes of her older son Esau that were in the house and put them on the younger son Jacob. ¹⁶She also took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and neck. ¹⁷Then she gave Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

¹⁸Jacob went in to his father and said, “Father.”

And his father said, “Yes, my son. Who are you?”

¹⁹Jacob said to him, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat some meat of the animal I hunted for you. Then bless me.”

²⁰But Isaac asked his son, “How did you find and kill the animal so quickly?”

Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God helped me to find it.”

²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son. Then I will know if you are really my son Esau.”

²²So Jacob came near to Isaac his father. Isaac touched him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your hands are hairy like the hands of Esau.” ²³Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his hands were hairy like Esau’s hands, so Isaac blessed him. ²⁴Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”

²⁵Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food, and I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate. Jacob gave him wine, and he drank. ²⁶Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come near and kiss me.” ²⁷So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said,

“The smell of my son

is like the smell of the field

that the Lord has blessed.

²⁸May God give you plenty of rain

and good soil

so that you will have plenty of grain and new wine.

²⁹May nations serve you

and peoples bow down to you.

May you be master over your brothers,

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

May everyone who curses you be cursed,

and may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”

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