Isaac Calls to Bless Esau

1Now it happened that when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 2[†]And Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death. 3So now, please take up your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; 4and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. Then Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring to Isaac. 6But Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, 7‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat and bless you in the presence of Yahweh before my death.’ 8So now, my son, listen to my voice [†]as I command you. 9Go now to the flock and [†]get for me two choice [†]young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 10Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” 11Then Jacob [†]answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a mocker in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a savory dish such as his father loved. 15Then Rebekah took the [†]best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and she put them on Jacob her younger son. 16And she put the skins of the [†]young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17She also gave the savory dish and the bread, which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

Isaac Blesses Jacob and Esau

18Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 19And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Rise up, please, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” 20Then Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because Yahweh your God caused it to happen to me.” 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22So Jacob came 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.” 23And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. 24And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” 25So he said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that my soul may bless you.” And he brought it near to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine, and he drank. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” 27So he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and then he blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son

Is like the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed;

28Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,

And of the fatness of the earth,

And an abundance of grain and new wine;

29May peoples serve you,

And nations bow down to you;

Be master of your brothers,

And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

Cursed be those who curse you,

And blessed be those who bless you.”

30Now it happened that as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31Then he also made a savory dish and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.” 32And Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33Then Isaac [†]trembled exceedingly violently and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came and blessed him? Indeed, he shall be blessed.” 34As Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, O my father!” 35And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 36Then he 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.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his fellow brothers I have given to him [†]as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” 38And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,

“Behold, [†]away from the fatness of the earth shall be your habitation,

And [†]away from the dew of heaven from above.

40By your sword you shall live,

And your brother you shall serve;

But it shall be when you become restless,

That you will [†]break his yoke from your neck.”

41So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42Then the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. 43So now, my son, listen to my voice, and arise, [†]flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! 44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s wrath [†]subsides, 45until your brother’s anger [†]against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of [†]living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”