Isaac Blesses Jacob
(Hebrews 11:20)

1And it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim for seeing, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son,”

and he answered him, “Behold, it is I.”

2And he said, “Behold, please, I have grown old; I do not know the day of my death. 3And now take, please, your weapons—your quiver and your bow—and go out to the field, and hunt for me game. 4And make for me savory foods, as I have loved, and bring them to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5And Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I have heard your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying, 7‘Bring me game and make for me savory foods, and I will eat and bless you before YHWH before my death.’

8And now, my son, listen to my voice, according to what I am commanding you. 9Go now to the flock and take for me from there two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory foods for your father, as he loves. 10And you shall bring it to your father that he may eat it, so that he may bless you before his death.”

11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will be in his eyes as a deceiver, and I shall bring on myself a curse and not a blessing.”

13And his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only listen to my voice and go get them for me.”

14And he went and he got them and he brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory foods, as his father loved. 15And Rebekah took the finest clothes of Esau her elder son that were with her in the house, and she clothed Jacob her younger son. 16And the skins of the kids of the goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17And she gave the savory foods and the bread that she had made into the hand of Jacob her son.

18And he went to his father and said, “My father.”

And he said, “Behold, it is I. Who are you, my son?”

19And Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told to me. Arise, please, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

20And Isaac said to his son, “What is this—you have so quickly found it, my son?”

And he said, “Because YHWH your God caused it to happen before me.”

21And Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, please, and I will feel you, my son—are you he, my son Esau, or not?”

22And Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, and the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother. And he blessed him, 24and he said, “Are you he, my son Esau?”

And he said, “I am.”

25And He said, “Bring it near to me and I will eat of the game, my son, so that my soul may bless you.”

And he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought to him wine, and he drank.

26And Isaac his father said to him, “Come near, please, and kiss me, my son.”

27And he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and he blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son

is like the smell of a field

that YHWH has blessed.

28And may God give to you from the dew of the heavens,

and from the fatness of the earth,

and abundance of grain and new wine.

29May peoples serve you

and may nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brothers,

and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.

Those who curse you be cursed,

and those who bless you be blessed.”

Esau’s Lost Hope

30And it came to pass, as Isaac finished blessing Jacob, then it came to pass—Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father—that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31And he also made savory foods and he brought them to his father, and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of the game of his son, 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.”

33And Isaac trembled with an exceedingly great trembling, and said, “Who then is the one who hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of it all before you came, and I have blessed him? And indeed, he shall be blessed.”

34And Esau heard the words of his father, and he cried out an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and he said to his father, “Bless me also, my father!”

35And he said, “Your brother came with deceit and took your blessing.”

36And Esau said, “Is it because his name is called Jacob?† And he has supplanted me these two times. He has taken my birthright, and behold, now he has taken my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved for me a blessing?”

37And Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him master over you, and all his brothers I have given to him as servants, and grain and new wine I have sustained him with; and for you now, what shall I do, my son?”

38And Esau said to his father, “Is it one blessing, that you have my father? Bless me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

39And Isaac his father answered and said to him,

“Behold, from the fatness of the earth

shall be your dwelling,

and from the dew of the heavens above.

40And by your sword you shall live,

and your brother you shall serve.

And it shall come to pass when you become restless,

that you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

41And 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 draw near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

42And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called for Jacob her younger son, and she said to him, “Behold, Esau your brother is comforting himself concerning you, to kill you. 43And now, my son, listen to my voice, and arise—flee for yourself to Laban my brother in Haran. 44And you shall stay with him a few days, until the fury of your brother turns back— 45until the anger of your brother turns away from you. And he forgets that which you did to him. Then I will send and I will take you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you⁺ both in one day?”

46And 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 to me is life?”