Jacob Tricks Isaac
27When Isaac was old, his eyesight was poor, so he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, “Son.”
Esau answered, “Here I am.”
2Isaac said, “I am old and don’t know when I might die. 3So take your bow and arrows and go hunting in the field for an animal for me to eat. 4When you prepare the tasty food that I love, bring it to me, and I will eat. Then I will bless you before I die.” 5So Esau went out in the field to hunt.
Rebekah was listening as Isaac said this to his son Esau. 6She said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father saying to your brother Esau, 7‘Kill an animal and prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I will bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8So obey me, my son, and do what I tell you. 9Go out to our goats and bring me two of the best young ones. I will prepare them just the way your father likes them. 10Then you will take the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”
11But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth! 12If my father touches me, he will know I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me but will place a curse on me because I tried to trick him.”
13So Rebekah said to him, “If your father puts a curse on you, I will accept the blame. Just do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”
14So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother, and she cooked them in the special way Isaac enjoyed. 15She took the best clothes of her older son Esau that were in the house and put them on the younger son Jacob. 16She also took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and neck. 17Then she gave Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18Jacob went in to his father and said, “Father.”
And his father said, “Yes, my son. Who are you?”
19Jacob said to him, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat some meat of the animal I hunted for you. Then bless me.”
20But Isaac asked his son, “How did you find and kill the animal so quickly?”
Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God helped me to find it.”
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son. Then I will know if you are really my son Esau.”
22So Jacob came near to Isaac his father. Isaac touched him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your hands are hairy like the hands of Esau.” 23Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his hands were hairy like Esau’s hands, so Isaac blessed him. 24Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”
25Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food, and I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate. Jacob gave him wine, and he drank. 26Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come near and kiss me.” 27So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said,
“The smell of my son
is like the smell of the field
that the Lord has blessed.
28May God give you plenty of rain
and good soil
so that you will have plenty of grain and new wine.
29May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
May you be master over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
May everyone who curses you be cursed,
and may everyone who blesses you be blessed.”
30Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. 31He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. He said, “Father, rise and eat the food that your son killed for you and then bless me.”
32Isaac asked, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your son—your firstborn son—Esau.”
33Then Isaac trembled greatly and said, “Then who was it that hunted the animals and brought me food before you came? I ate it, and I blessed him, and it is too late now to take back my blessing.”
34When Esau heard the words of his father, he let out a loud and bitter cry. He said to his father, “Bless me—me, too, my father!”
35But Isaac said, “Your brother came and tricked me. He has taken your blessing.”
36Esau said, “Jacob[a] is the right name for him. He has tricked me these two times. He took away my share of everything you own, and now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37Isaac answered, “I gave Jacob the power to be master over you, and all his brothers will be his servants. And I kept him strong with grain and new wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”
38But Esau continued, “Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me, too, Father!” Then Esau began to cry out loud.
39Isaac said to him,
“You will live far away from the best land,
far from the rain.
40You will live by using your sword,
and you will be a slave to your brother.
But when you struggle,
you will break free from him.”
41After that Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing from Isaac. He thought to himself, “My father will soon die, and I will be sad for him. Then I will kill Jacob.”
42Rebekah heard about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob. So she sent for Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is comforting himself by planning to kill you. 43So, my son, do what I say. My brother Laban is living in Haran. Go to him at once! 44Stay with him for a while, until your brother is not so angry. 45In time, your brother will not be angry, and he will forget what you did to him. Then I will send a servant to bring you back. I don’t want to lose both of my sons on the same day.”
46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these Hittite women here in this land, I want to die.”
Footnotes
- 27:36 Jacob This name sounds like the Hebrew word for “heel.” “Grabbing someone’s heel” is a Hebrew saying for tricking someone.
