Genesis

The first book of Moses, called Genesis, chapter 27, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 27 New English Translation

Jacob Cheats Esau out of the Blessing

   1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son!" "Here I am!" Esau replied. 2 Isaac said, "Since I am so old, I could die at any time. 3 Therefore, take your weapons - your quiver and your bow - and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me. 4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then I will eat it so that I may bless you before I die."
   5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, 7 'Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.' 8 Now then, my son, do exactly what I tell you! 9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I'll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 10 Then you will take it to your father. Thus he will eat it and bless you before he dies."
   11 "But Esau my brother is a hairy man," Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, "and I have smooth skin! 12 My father may touch me! Then he'll think I'm mocking him and I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing." 13 So his mother told him, "Any curse against you will fall on me, my son! Just obey me! Go and get them for me!"
   14 So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. 15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau's best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she handed the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
   18 He went to his father and said, "My father!" Isaac replied, "Here I am. Which are you, my son?" 19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me." 20 But Isaac asked his son, "How in the world did you find it so quickly, my son?" "Because the LORD your God brought it to me," he replied. 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau." 22 So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's." 23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. 24 Then he asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" "I am," Jacob replied. 25 Isaac said, "Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. Then I will bless you." So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here and kiss me, my son." 27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying, "Yes, my son smells like the scent of an open field which the LORD has blessed.
   28 May God give you the dew of the sky and the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
   29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be LORD over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed."
   30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. 31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau said to him, "My father, get up and eat some of your son's wild game. Then you can bless me." 32 His father Isaac asked, "Who are you?" "I am your firstborn son," he replied, "Esau!" 33 Isaac began to shake violently and asked, "Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. He will indeed be blessed!"
   34 When Esau heard his father's words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, "Bless me too, my father!" 35 But Isaac replied, "Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing." 36 Esau exclaimed, "'Jacob' is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!" Then he asked, "Have you not kept back a blessing for me?"
   37 Isaac replied to Esau, "Look! I have made him LORD over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?" 38 Esau said to his father, "Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!" Then Esau wept loudly.
   39 So his father Isaac said to him, "Indeed, your home will be away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the sky above.
   40 You will live by your sword but you will serve your brother. When you grow restless, you will tear off his yoke from your neck."
   41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, "The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!"
   42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, "Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 Live with him for a little while until your brother's rage subsides. 45 Stay there until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I'll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
   46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am deeply depressed because of these daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!"

King James Version

   1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
   2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
   3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
   4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
   5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
   6 ¶ And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
   7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
   8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
   9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
   10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
   11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:
   12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
   13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
   14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.
   15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:
   16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
   17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
   18 ¶ And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
   19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
   20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.
   21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
   22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
   23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.
   24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
   25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
   26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
   27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
   28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
   29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
   30 ¶ And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
   31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.
   32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
   33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
   34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
   35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.
   36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
   37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
   38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
   39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
   40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.
   41 ¶ And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
   42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
   43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;
   44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;
   45 Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?
   46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?