Jacob Steals Esau’s Blessing

¹ And it happened that when Isaac was old and ⌞his eyesight was weak⌟,¹ he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he² said to him, “Here I am.”

1. Literally “his eyes were weak from seeing”
2. That is, Esau

² And he said, “Look, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.

³ So now, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt food for me.

⁴ Then make for me tasty food like I love, and bring it to me. And I will eat it so that I¹ can bless you before I die.

1. Or “my soul”

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to Esau his son, and when Esau went to the field to hunt wild game to bring back,

⁶ Rebekah said to Jacob her son, “Look, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother saying,

⁷ ‘Bring wild game to me and prepare tasty food so I can eat it and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’

⁸ So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you.

⁹ Go to the flock and take two good young goats from it for me, and I will prepare them as tasty food for your father, just as he likes.

¹⁰ Then you must take it to your father and he will eat it so that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹ Then Jacob said to his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man.

¹² Perhaps my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes as a mocker, and he will bring upon me a curse and not a blessing.”

¹³ Then his mother said to him, “Your curse be upon me, my son, only listen to my voice—go and get them for me.”

¹⁴ So he went and took them, and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared tasty food as his father liked.

¹⁵ Then Rebekah took some of her older son Esau’s best garments that were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son.

¹⁶ And she put the skins of the young goats over his hands and over the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷ And she put the tasty food and the bread that she had made into the hand of Jacob, her son.

¹⁸ And he went to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please get up, sit up and eat from my wild game so that you¹ may bless me.”

1. Or “your soul”

²⁰ Then Isaac said to his son, “⌞How⌟¹ did you find it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Yahweh your God ⌞caused me to find it⌟.”²

1. Literally “what is this?”
2. Literally “made it to happen before me”

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please, come near and let me feel you, my son. ⌞Are you really⌟¹ my son Esau or not?”

1. Literally “are you this one?”

²² And Jacob drew near to Isaac his father. And he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

²³ And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother. And he blessed him.

²⁴ And he said, “⌞Are you really⌟¹ my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”

1. Literally “are you this one?”

²⁵ Then he said, “Bring it near to me that I may eat from the game of my son, so that I¹ may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate. And he brought wine to him, and he drank.

1. Or “my soul”

²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷ And he drew near and kissed him. And he¹ smelled the smell of his garments, and he blessed him and said, “Look, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Yahweh has blessed!

1. That is, Isaac

²⁸ May God give you of the dew of heaven 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 lord of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. Cursed be those cursing you, and blessed be those blessing you.”

³⁰ And as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, ⌞immediately after⌟¹ Jacob had gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came back from his hunting.

1. Literally “it was only”

³¹ He too prepared tasty food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat from the wild game of his son, that you¹ may bless me.”

1. Or “your soul”

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

³³ Then Isaac ⌞trembled violently⌟.¹ Then he said, “Who then was he that hunted wild game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him? Moreover, he will be blessed!”

1. Literally “trembled a great trembling unto exceeding”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry of distress. And he said to his father, “Bless me as well, my father!”

³⁵ And he said, “Your brother came in deceit and took your blessing.”

³⁶ Then he said, “⌞Isn’t that why he is named Jacob⌟?¹ He has deceived me these two times. He took my birthright and, look, now he has taken my blessing!” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

1. Literally “that his name is called Jacob?”

³⁷ Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you and I have given him all his brothers as servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. Now what can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸ And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me also, my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Your home shall be from¹ the fatness of the land, and from the dew of heaven above.

1. Or “away from”

⁴⁰ But by your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But it shall be that when free yourself you shall tear off his yoke from your neck.

⁴¹ Then Esau held a grudge against Jacob on account of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart,¹ “The days of mourning for my father are coming, then I will kill Jacob my brother.”

1. That is, “to himself”

⁴² But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called for her younger son Jacob. And she said to him, “Look, Esau your brother is consoling himself concerning you, intending to kill you.

⁴³ Now then, my son, listen to my voice; arise and flee to Haran to Laban my brother.

⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days until the wrath of your brother has turned—