< Genesis 27 >
1 It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyesight was failing so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am."
2 He said, "Look, I am old now. I do not know the day of my death.
3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt down a wild animal for me.
4 Make me the tasty food that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die."
5 Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went out to the field to hunt for a wild animal and bring it back to his father.
6 And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Look, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
7 'Bring me a wild animal and prepare for me some tasty food, that I may eat it and bless you in my presence before my death.'
8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
9 Go now to the flock, and get me from there two choice young goats. I will prepare them in a tasty way for your father, the way he likes it.
10 You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."
11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12 What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."
13 His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me."
14 He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.
15 Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.
17 She handed the tasty food and the bread which she had prepared to her son Jacob.
18 He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please sit up and eat what I hunted so that you can bless me."
20 Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because your God gave me success."
21 Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
22 Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau. So he blessed him.
24 He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am."
25 He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of what my son caught so that I can bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.
26 His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son."
27 He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the scent of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, "Look, the scent of my son is as the scent of a field which God has blessed.
28 God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
30 It happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just left the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 He also made some tasty food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat of what his son caught, so that you may bless me."
32 Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
33 Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who was it then that hunted an animal and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out loudly and bitterly, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
35 He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing."
36 He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has taken what should have been mine these two times. He took away my birthright. Look, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"
37 Isaac answered Esau, "Look, I have made him your lord, and I have made all of his brothers his servants. And I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?"
38 Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39 Isaac his father answered him, "Look, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above.
40 By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck."
41 Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob."
42 The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, "Look, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
44 Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away;
45 until your brother's anger against you subsides, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and get you from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
46 Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good is my life?"
