1Now it came to pass, when Isaac was #Gen. 35:28old and #Gen. 48:10; 1 Sam. 3:2his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered him, “Here I am.”

2Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I #(Prov. 27:1; James 4:14)do not know the day of my death. 3#Gen. 25:27, 28Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul #Gen. 27:19, 25, 27, 31; 48:9, 15, 16; 49:28; Deut. 33:1; Heb. 11:20may bless you before I die.”

5Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8Now therefore, my son, #Gen. 27:13, 43obey my voice according to what I command you. 9Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make #Gen. 27:4savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he #Gen. 27:4; 48:16may bless you before his death.”

11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, #Gen. 25:25Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12Perhaps my father will #Gen. 27:21, 22feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring #Gen. 9:25; Deut. 27:18a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

13But his mother said to him, #Gen. 43:9; 1 Sam. 25:24; 2 Sam. 14:9; Matt. 27:25“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother #Prov. 23:3; Luke 21:34made savory food, such as his father loved. 15Then Rebekah took the #Gen. 27:27choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18So he went 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 just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, #Gen. 27:4that your soul may bless me.”

20But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”

21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I #Gen. 27:12may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he 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 #Gen. 27:16his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

24Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

25He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so #Gen. 27:4, 10, 19, 31that my soul may 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 now and kiss me, my son.” 27And he came near and #Gen. 29:13kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:

“Surely, #Song 4:11; Hos. 14:6the smell of my son

Is like the smell of a field

Which the Lord has blessed.

28Therefore may #Heb. 11:20God give you

Of #Gen. 27:39; Deut. 33:13, 28; 2 Sam. 1:21; Ps. 133:3; Prov. 3:20; Mic. 5:7; Zech. 8:12the dew of heaven,

Of #Gen. 45:18; Num. 18:12the fatness of the earth,

And #Deut. 7:13; 33:28plenty of grain and wine.

29#Gen. 9:25; 25:23; Is. 45:14; 49:7; 60:12, 14Let peoples serve you,

And nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brethren,

And #Gen. 37:7, 10; 49:8let your mother’s sons bow down to you.

#Gen. 12:2, 3; Zeph. 2:8, 9Cursed be everyone who curses you,

And blessed be those who bless you!”

Esau’s Lost Hope

30Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and #Gen. 27:4eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”

32And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

33Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—#Gen. 25:23; 28:3, 4; Num. 23:20; Rom. 11:29and indeed he shall be blessed.”

34When Esau heard the words of his father, #(Heb. 12:17)he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”

35But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”

36And Esau said, #Gen. 25:26, 32–34“Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

37Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, #2 Sam. 8:14“Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with #Gen. 27:28, 29grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”

38And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice #Heb. 12:17and wept.

39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, #Gen. 27:28; Heb. 11:20your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,

And of the dew of heaven from above.

40By your sword you shall live,

And #Gen. 25:23; 27:29; 2 Sam. 8:14; (Obad. 18–20)you shall serve your brother;

And #2 Kin. 8:20–22it shall come to pass, when you become restless,

That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

Jacob Escapes from Esau

41So Esau #Gen. 26:27; 32:3–11; 37:4, 5, 8hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, #Gen. 50:2–4, 10“The days of mourning for my father are at hand; #Obad. 10then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

42And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau #Ps. 64:5comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban #Gen. 11:31; 25:20; 28:2, 5in Haran. 44And stay with him a #Gen. 31:41few days, 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 bereaved also of you both in one day?”

46And Rebekah said to Isaac, #Gen. 26:34, 35; 28:8“I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; #Gen. 24:3if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

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Genesis 27

1 WHEN ISAAC was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son! And he answered him, Here I am.

2 He said, See here now; I am old, I do not know when I may die.

3 So now, I pray you, take your weapons, your [arrows in a] quiver and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me,

4 And prepare me appetizing meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat of it, [preparatory] to giving you my blessing [as my firstborn] before I die.

5 But Rebekah heard what Isaac said to Esau his son; and when Esau had gone to the open country to hunt for game that he might bring it,

6 Rebekah said to Jacob her younger son, See here, I heard your father say to Esau your brother,

7 Bring me game and make me appetizing meat, so that I may eat and declare my blessing upon you before the Lord before my death.

8 So now, my son, do exactly as I command you.

9 Go now to the flock, and from it bring me two good and suitable kids; and I will make them into appetizing meat for your father, such as he loves.

10 And you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat and declare his blessing upon you before his death.

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

12 Suppose my father feels me; I will seem to him to be a cheat and an imposter, and I will bring [his] curse on me and not [his] blessing.

13 But his mother said to him, On me be your curse, my son; only obey my word and go, fetch them to me.

14 So [Jacob] went, got [the kids], and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared appetizing meat with a delightful odor, such as his father loved.

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

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

17 And she gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 So he went to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I; who are you, my son?

19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me to do. Now sit up and eat of my game, so that you may proceed to bless me.

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

21 But Isaac said to Jacob, Come close to me, I beg of you, that I may feel you, my son, and know whether you really are my son Esau or not.

22 So Jacob went near to Isaac, and his father felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

23 He could not identify him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

24 But he said, Are you really my son Esau? He answered, I am.

25 Then [Isaac] said, Bring it to me and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you. He brought it to him and he ate; and he brought him wine and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said, Come near and kiss me, my son.

27 So he came near and kissed him; and [Isaac] smelled his clothing and blessed him and said, The scent of my son is as the odor of a field which the Lord has blessed.

28 And may God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth and abundance of grain and [new] wine;

29 Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you; be master over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Let everyone be cursed who curses you and favored with blessings who blesses you.

30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob was scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31 Esau had also prepared savory food and brought it to his father and said to him, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.

32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he replied, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.

33 Then Isaac trembled and shook violently, and he said, Who? Where is he who has hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of it all before you came and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.

34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father! [Heb. 12:16, 17.]

35 [Isaac] said, Your brother came with crafty cunning and treacherous deceit and has taken your blessing.

36 [Esau] replied, Is he not rightly named Jacob [the supplanter]? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing! Have you not still a blessing reserved for me?

37 And Isaac answered Esau, Behold, I have made [Jacob] your lord and master; I have given all his brethren to him for servants, and with corn and [new] wine have I sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?

38 Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father! And Esau lifted up [could not control] his voice and wept aloud.

39 Then Isaac his father answered, Your [blessing and] dwelling shall all come from the fruitfulness of the earth and from the dew of the heavens above;

40 By your sword you shall live and serve your brother. But [the time shall come] when you will grow restive and break loose, and you shall tear his yoke from off your neck.

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are very near. When [he is gone] I will kill my brother Jacob.

42 These words of Esau her elder son were repeated to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob her younger son and said to him, See here, your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you [by intending] to kill you.

43 So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran;

44 Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent.

45 When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth [these wives of Esau]! If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these Hittite girls around here, what good will my life be to me?

1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

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Genesis 27

Genesis 27