Genesis 27
27
Jacob Tricks Isaac
1When Isaac was old, his eyes were not good. He could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him. Isaac said, “Son.”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2Isaac said, “I am old. I don’t know when I might die. 3So take your bow and arrows, and go hunting in the field. Kill an animal for me to eat. 4Prepare 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. 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 7Your father said, ‘Kill an animal. Prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I will bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8So obey me, my son. Do what I tell you. 9Go out to our goats and bring me two 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. I am smooth! 12If my father touches me, he will know I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me. He 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 and get the goats for me.”
14So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. Then she cooked them in the special way Isaac enjoyed. 15She took the best clothes of her older son Esau that were in the house. She put them on the younger son Jacob. 16She took the skins of the goats. And she 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 led me to find it.”
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son. If I can touch you, 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 Jacob. 24Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
25Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and Isaac 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. Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes and blessed him. Isaac 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.
Then you will have plenty of grain and wine.
29May nations serve you.
May peoples bow down to you.
May you be master over your brothers.
May your mother’s sons bow down to you.
May everyone who curses you be cursed.
And may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”
30Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. 31Esau also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. He said, “Father, rise and eat the food that your son killed for you. Then bless me.”
32Isaac asked, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your son—your firstborn son—Esau.”
33Then Isaac trembled greatly. He said, “Then who was it that hunted the animals and brought me food before you came? I ate it, and I blessed him. And it is too late now to take back my blessing.”
34When Esau heard the words of his father, he let out a loud and bitter cry. He said to his father, “Bless me—me, too, my father!”
35But Isaac said, “Your brother came and tricked me. He has taken your blessing.”
36Esau said, “Jacob# This name sounds like the Hebrew word for “heel.” “Grabbing someone’s heel” is a Hebrew saying for tricking someone. is the right name for him. He has tricked me these two times. He took away my share of everything you own. And now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37Isaac answered, “I gave Jacob the power to be master over you. And all his brothers will be his servants. And I kept him strong with grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”
38But Esau continued, “Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me, too, Father!” Then Esau began to cry out loud.
39Isaac said to him,
“You will live far away from the best land,
far from the rain.
40You will live by using your sword
and be a slave to your brother.
But when you struggle,
you will break free from him.”
41After that Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing from Isaac. Esau thought to himself, “My father will soon die, and I will be sad for him. After that I will kill Jacob.”
42Rebekah heard about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob. So she sent for Jacob. She said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is comforting himself by planning to kill you. 43So, son, do what I say. My brother Laban is living in Haran. Go to him at once! 44Stay with him for a while, until your brother is not so angry. 45In time, your brother will not be angry. He will forget what you did to him. Then I will send a servant to bring you back. I don’t want to lose both of my sons on the same day.”
46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these Hittite women here in this land, I want to die.”
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Genesis 27: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Genesis 27
27
1 Now Isaac was old, and his eyes were cloudy, and so he was not able to see. And he called his elder son Esau, and he said to him, "My son?" And he responded, "Here I am."
2 His father said to him: "You see that I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.
3 Take your weapons, the quiver and the bow, and go out. And when you have taken something by hunting,
4 make from it a small meal for me, just as you know I like, and bring it, so that I may eat and my soul may bless you before I die."
5 And when Rebekah had heard this, and he had gone out into the field to fulfill his father's order,
6 she said to her son Jacob: "I heard your father speaking with your brother Esau, and saying to him,
7 'Bring to me from your hunting, and make me foods, so that I may eat and bless you in the sight of the Lord before I die.'
8 Therefore, now my son, agree to my counsel,
9 and go straight to the flock, and bring me two of the best young goats, so that from them I may make meat for your father, such as he willingly eats.
10 Then, when you have brought these in and he has eaten, he may bless you before he dies."
11 He answered her: "You know that my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth.
12 If my father should lay hands on me and perceive it, I am afraid lest he think me willing to mock him, and I will bring a curse upon myself, instead of a blessing."
13 And his mother said to him: "Let this curse be upon me, my son. Yet listen to my voice, and go directly to bring what I said."
14 He went out, and he brought, and he gave to his mother. She prepared the meats, just as she knew his father liked.
15 And she clothed him with the very fine garments of Esau, which she had at home with her.
16 And she encircled his hands with little pelts from the young goats, and she covered his bare neck.
17 And she gave him the small meal, and she handed him the bread that she had baked.
18 When he had carried these in, he said, "My father?" And he answered, "I'm listening. Who are you, my son?"
19 And Jacob said: "I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you instructed me. Arise; sit and eat from my hunting, so that your soul may bless me."
20 And again Isaac said to his son, "How were you able to find it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "It was the will of God, so that what I sought met with me quickly."
21 And Isaac said, "Come here, so that I may touch you, my son, and may prove whether you are my son Esau, or not."
22 He approached his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: "The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob. But the hands are the hands of Esau."
23 And he did not recognize him, because his hairy hands made him seem similar to the elder one. Therefore, blessing him,
24 he said, "Are you my son Esau?" He answered, "I am."
25 Then he said, "Bring me the foods from your hunting, my son, so that my soul may bless you." And when he had eaten what was offered, he also brought forth wine for him. And after he finished it,
26 he said to him, "Come to me and give me a kiss, my son."
27 He approached and kissed him. And immediately he perceived the fragrance of his garments. And so, blessing him, he said: "Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give to you, from the dew of heaven and from the fatness of the earth, an abundance of grain and wine.
29 And may the peoples serve you, and may the tribes reverence you. May you be the lord of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down before you. Whoever curses you, may he be cursed, and whoever blesses you, may he be filled with blessings."
30 Scarcely had Isaac completed his words, and Jacob departed, when Esau arrived.
31 And he brought his father foods cooked from his hunting, saying, "Arise, my father, and eat from your son's hunting, so that your soul may bless me."
32 And Isaac said to him, "But who are you?" And he answered, "I am your firstborn son, Esau."
33 Isaac became frightened and very astonished. And wondering beyond what can be believed, he said: "Then who is he that a while ago brought me the prey from his hunting, from which I ate, before you arrived? And I blessed him, and he will be blessed."
34 Esau, having heard his father's words, roared out with a great outcry. And, being confounded, he said, "But bless me also, my father."
35 And he said, "Your twin came deceitfully, and he received your blessing."
36 But he responded: "Justly is his name called Jacob. For he has supplanted me yet another time. My birthright he took away before, and now, this second time, he has stolen my blessing." And again, he said to his father, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me also?"
37 Isaac answered: "I have appointed him as your lord, and I have subjugated all his brothers as his servants. I have reinforced him with grain and wine, and after this, my son, what more shall I do for you?"
38 And Esau said to him: "Have you only one blessing, father? I beg you, bless me also." And when he wept with a loud wail,
39 Isaac was moved, and he said to him: "In the fatness of the earth, and in the dew of heaven from above,
40 will your blessing be. You will live by the sword, and you will serve your brother. But the time will arrive when you will shake off and release his yoke from your neck."
41 Therefore, Esau always hated Jacob, for the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And he said in his heart, "The days will arrive for the mourning of my father, and I will kill my brother Jacob."
42 These things were reported to Rebekah. And sending and calling for her son Jacob, she said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau is threatening to kill you.
43 Therefore, now my son, listen to my voice. Rise up and flee to my brother Laban, in Haran.
44 And you will dwell with him for a few days, until the fury of your brother subsides,
45 and his indignation ceases, and he forgets the things that you have done to him. After this, I will send for you and bring you from there to here. Why should I be bereaved of both my sons in one day?"
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob accepts a wife from the stock of this land, I would not be willing to live."
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