Genesis 27

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak he couldn't see, he called for Esau, his older son. “Son,” he said. “Here I am,” he said.

And he said, “Look, I'm old, and I don't know how long I've got.

Take your gear now — your quiver and your bow — and go out into the country and hunt me some game.

Make me the tasty food I like, and bring it to me to eat, so I can give you my blessing before I die.”

Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out into the country to hunt game to bring back,

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I've just heard your father say to your brother Esau,

‘Bring me some game and make me tasty food to eat, so I can bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’

Now listen to me, son, and do what I tell you.

Go out to the flock and bring me two good young goats, and I'll make the tasty food your father likes.

Then take it to your father to eat, so he'll bless you before he dies.”

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau's a hairy man, and I'm smooth.

What if my father feels me? I'll look like a fraud to him, and I'll bring a curse down on myself instead of a blessing.”

And his mother said to him, “Let the curse fall on me, son. 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 made the tasty food his father liked.

Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, the ones she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.

And she put the goatskins on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she'd made.

He went to his father and said, “Father.” “Yes,” he said. “Which one are you, son?”

And Jacob said to his father, “I'm Esau, your firstborn. I've done what you told me. Sit up now and eat some of my game, so you can give me your blessing.”

And Isaac said to his son, “How did you find it so quickly, son?” “The Lord your God brought it to me,” he said.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come here, son, so I can feel you and know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

So Jacob went up to his father Isaac, and Isaac felt him. “The voice is Jacob's voice,” he said, “but the hands are Esau's hands.”

He didn't recognise him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's. So he blessed him.

“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he said.

And he said, “Bring me some of your game to eat, son, so I can give you my blessing.” So he brought it to him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank.

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

So he went to him and kissed him. And Isaac smelled his clothes, and he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field the Lord has blessed.

May God give you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth — plenty of grain and new wine.

May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you.”

And just as Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had barely left his father's presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.

He too made tasty food and brought it to his father. And he said to him, “Sit up, father, and eat some of my game, so you can give me your blessing.”

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

And Isaac shook violently, all over. “Then who was it,” he said, “who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came in, and I blessed him. And he will be blessed.”

When Esau heard his father's words, he let out a loud and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me — me too, father!”

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

And Esau said, “Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He's cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look — now he's taken my blessing.” And he said, “Haven't you saved a blessing for me?”

And Isaac answered Esau, “I've made him master over you, and I've given him all his relatives as servants, and I've kept him going with grain and new wine. So what's left that I can do for you, son?”

And Esau said to his father, “Have you only got the one blessing, father? Bless me — me too, father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

And his father Isaac answered him, “Your home will be away from the richness of the earth, away from the dew of heaven above.

You'll live by the sword and you'll serve your brother. But when you get restless, you'll throw his yoke off your neck.”

And Esau held a grudge against Jacob over the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are close. Then I'll kill my brother Jacob.”

When what Esau had said was reported to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Look — your brother Esau is comforting himself with the thought of killing you.

Now listen to me, son. Get up and run to my brother Laban in Harran.

Stay with him a while, until your brother's fury dies down.

When your brother's anger against you dies down and he forgets what you did to him, I'll send word and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you in the one day?”

And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I'm sick of living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from the local women, from Hittite women like these, what's my life worth?”