Genesis
27
- When Isaac was old and his eyes were so
weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said
to him, "My son." "Here I am," he answered.
- Isaac said, "I am now an old man and
don't know the day of my death.
- Now then, get your weapons -- your quiver
and bow -- and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
- Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like
and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."
- Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke
to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring
it back,
- Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look,
I overheard your father say to your brother Esau,
- 'Bring me some game and prepare me some
tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the
LORD before I die.'
- Now, my son, listen carefully and do what
I tell you:
- Go out to the flock and bring me two choice
young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way
he likes it.
- Then take it to your father to eat, so that
he may give you his blessing before he dies."
- Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But
my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin.
- What if my father touches me? I would appear
to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."
- His mother said to him, "My son, let
the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."
- So he went and got them and brought them
to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked
it.
- Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau
her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son
Jacob.
- She also covered his hands and the smooth
part of his neck with the goatskins.
- Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty
food and the bread she had made.
- He went to his father and said, "My
father." "Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it ?"
- Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau
your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of
my game so that you may give me your blessing."
- Isaac asked his son, "How did you find
it so quickly, my son?" "The LORD your God gave me success,"
he replied.
- Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near
so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or
not."
- Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who
touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands
are the hands of Esau."
- He did not recognize him, for his hands
were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
- "Are you really my son Esau?"
he asked. "I am," he replied.
- Then he said, "My son, bring me some
of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought
it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank.
- Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come
here, my son, and kiss me."
- So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac
caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell
of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
- May God give you of heaven's dew and of
earth's richness -- an abundance of grain and new wine.
- May nations serve you and peoples bow down
to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down
to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
- After Isaac finished blessing him and Jacob
had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.
- He too prepared some tasty food and brought
it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, sit up and eat some
of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."
- His father Isaac asked him, "Who are
you?" "I am your son," he answered, "your firstborn, Esau."
- Isaac trembled violently and said, "Who
was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before
you came and I blessed him -- and indeed he will be blessed !"
- When Esau heard his father's words, he burst
out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me -- me
too, my father !"
- But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully
and took your blessing."
- Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named
Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now
he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you reserved any
blessing for me ?"
- Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him
lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained
him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son ?"
- Esau said to his father, "Do you have
only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!" Then Esau wept
aloud.
- His father Isaac answered him, "Your
dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven
above.
- You will live by the sword and you will
serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from
off your neck."
- Esau held a grudge against Jacob because
of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days
of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
- When Rebekah was told what her older son
Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your
brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you.
- Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at
once to my brother Laban in Haran.
- Stay with him for a while until your brother's
fury subsides.
- When your brother is no longer angry with
you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from
there. Why should I lose both of you in one day ?"
- Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm disgusted
with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among
the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be
worth living."
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