[1] When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he
called Esau his older son, and said to him, "My son"; and he answered,
"Here I am." [2] He said, "Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my
death. [3] Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go
out to the field, and hunt game for me, [4] and prepare for me savory food,
such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you
before I die." [5] Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son
Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, [6]
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother
Esau, [7] `Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat
it, and bless you before the LORD before I die.' [8] Now therefore, my son,
obey my word as I command you. [9] Go to the flock, and fetch me two good
kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he
loves; [10] and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may
bless you before he dies." [11] But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother,
"Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. [12]
Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and
bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing." [13] His mother said to him,
"Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to
me." [14] So he went and took them and brought them to his mother; and his
mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. [15] Then Rebekah
took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the
house, and put them on Jacob her younger son; [16] and the skins of the
kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck; [17] and
she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the
hand of her son Jacob. [18] So he went in to his father, and said, "My
father"; and he said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?" [19] Jacob said to
his father, "I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you told me; now sit
up and eat of my game, that you may bless me." [20] But Isaac said to his
son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He answered,
"Because the LORD your God granted me success." [21] Then Isaac said to
Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are
really my son Esau or not." [22] So Jacob went near to Isaac his father,
who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the
hands of Esau." [23] And he did not recognize him, because his hands were
hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. [24] He said, "Are
you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am." [25] Then he said, "Bring it
to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it to
him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. [26] Then his
father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son." [27] So he came
near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed
him, and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which
the LORD has blessed! [28] May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of
the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. [29] Let peoples
serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may
your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and
blessed be every one who blesses you!" [30] As soon as Isaac had finished
blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac
his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. [31] He also
prepared savory food, and brought it to his father. And he said to his
father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's game, that you may bless
me." [32] His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am
your son, your first-born, Esau." [33] Then Isaac trembled violently, and
said, "Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it
all before you came, and I have blessed him?--yes, and he shall be
blessed." [34] When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with
an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me,
even me also, O my father!" [35] But he said, "Your brother came with
guile, and he has taken away your blessing." [36] Esau said, "Is he not
rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away
my birthright; and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he
said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" [37] Isaac answered Esau,
"Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to
him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then
can I do for you, my son?" [38] Esau said to his father, "Have you but one
blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted
up his voice and wept. [39] Then Isaac his father answered him: "Behold,
away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from
the dew of heaven on high. [40] By your sword you shall live, and you shall
serve your brother; but when you break loose you shall break his yoke from
your neck." [41] Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which
his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning
for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob." [42] But
the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah; so she sent and
called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau
comforts himself by planning to kill you. [43] Now therefore, my son, obey
my voice; arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran, [44] and stay with him
a while, until your brother's fury turns away; [45] until your brother's
anger turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will
send, and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one
day?" [46] Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of
the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these,
one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"
