And it happened, when Isaac was old and his eyes had grown too dim to see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
And he said, “Look now, I have grown old; I do not know the day of my death.
Now, please, take up your weapons — your quiver and your bow — and go out to the field and hunt game for me.
And make me a savory dish, the kind I love, and bring it to me, and let me eat — so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and bring it back.
And Rebekah said to Jacob her son: “Look, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother:
‘Bring me game and make me a savory dish, and let me eat, and I will bless you before the LORD before my death.’
And now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you.
Go, please, to the flock and take for me from there two good young goats, and I will make them into a savory dish for your father, the kind he loves.
And you shall bring it to your father, and he shall eat — so that he may bless you before his death.”
And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will be in his eyes like a mocker — and I will bring on myself a curse and not a blessing.”
And his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Only listen to my voice, and go take them for me.”
And he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made a savory dish, the kind his father loved.
And Rebekah took the garments of Esau her older son — the finest, which were with her in the house — and put them on Jacob her younger son.
And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
And she gave the savory dish and the bread she had made into the hand of Jacob her son.
And he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you spoke to me. Rise, please — sit and eat of my game, so that your soul may bless me.”
And Isaac said to his son, “How is it you found it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God made it happen before me.”
And Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, please, and let me feel you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”
And 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.”
And he did not recognize him, because his hands were like the hands of Esau his brother — hairy. And he blessed him.
And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
And he said, “Bring it near to me, and let me eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” And he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
And Isaac his father said to him, “Come near, please, and kiss me, my son.”
And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his garments, and he blessed him and said: “See — the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
May God give you of the dew of the heavens and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of grain and new wine.
May 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 those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”
Esau’s Lost Hope
And it happened, when Isaac had finished blessing Jacob — Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father — that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
And he also made a savory dish and brought it to his father, and he said to his father, “Let my father rise and eat of his son’s game, so that your soul may bless me.”
And Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn — Esau.”
And Isaac trembled with a very great trembling, and said, “Who then was it that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him — and blessed he shall be.”
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and very bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me — me too, my father!”
And he said, “Your brother came with deceit, and he has taken your blessing.”
And he said, “Is that why his name is called Jacob? For he has heeled me these two times: my birthright he took — and look, now he has taken my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
And Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Look, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given him as servants, and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. And for you, then — what can I do, my son?”
And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me — me too, my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
And Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Look — away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of the heavens above.
And by your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve. But it shall be, when you grow restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
And Esau hated 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 Jacob my brother.”
And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Look, Esau your brother is consoling himself about you — by planning to kill you.
And now, my son, listen to my voice: rise, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran.
And stay with him some days, until your brother’s fury turns away —
until your brother’s anger turns from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and take you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from the daughters of the land — why should I go on living?”
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