Chapter 27

¹It happened, that 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?”

He said to him, “Here I am.”

²He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death. ³Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison. ⁴Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. ⁶Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ⁷‘Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’ ⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. ⁹Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good kids of the goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²What 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.”

¹³His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”

¹⁴He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. ¹⁶She put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. ¹⁷She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸He came to his father, and said, “My father?”

He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”

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

He said, “Because Yahweh your God gave me success.”

²¹Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²²Jacob 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.” ²³He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. ²⁴He 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 venison, that my soul may bless you.”

He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said,

“Behold, the smell of my son

Is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed.

²⁸God give you of the dew of the sky,

of the fatness of the earth,

and plenty of grain and new wine.

²⁹Let 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.”

³⁰It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.”

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

He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”

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

³⁶He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau 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.

³⁹Isaac his father answered him,

“Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling,

and of the dew of the sky from above.

⁴⁰By 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.”

⁴¹Esau 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.”

⁴²The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ⁴⁴Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away; ⁴⁵until your brother’s anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”