NIV 2011
Jacob's Deception and Esau's Bitter Cry
27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”
13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
18 He went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“I am,” he replied.
25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you heaven’s dew
and earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed.”
30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”
35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”
37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
39 His father Isaac answered him,
“Your dwelling will be
away from the earth’s richness,
away from the dew of heaven above.
40 You will live by the sword
and you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
you will throw his yoke
from off your neck.”
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43 Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44 Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. 45 When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
WYC 1382
Jacob's Deception and Esau's Bitter Cry
27 Forsooth Isaac waxed eld, and his eyes dimmed, and he might not see. And he called Esau, his more son, and said to him, My son!
Which answered, I am present.
2 To whom the father said, Thou seest that I have waxed eld, and I know not the day of my death. 3 Take thine arms, (an) arrow case, and a bow, and go out; and when thou hast taken anything by hunting, 4 make me a stew thereof, as thou knowest that I will, and bring it to me that I eat, (so) that (afterward) my soul (can) bless thee before that I die.
5 And when Rebecca had heard this thing, and he had gone forth into the field that he fulfill the behest of his father, 6 she said to her son Jacob, I heard thy father speaking with Esau, thy brother, and saying to him, 7 Bring thou to me of thine hunting, and make thou meats, that I eat, and that I bless thee before the Lord before that I die. 8 Now therefore, my son, assent to my counsels, 9 and go to the flock, and bring to me twain (of) the best kids, that I make meats of those to thy father, which he shall eat gladly; 10 and (so) that when thou hast brought in those meats, and he hath eaten, he (shall) bless thee before that he die.
11 To whom Jacob answered, Thou knowest that Esau my brother is an hairy man, and I am smooth; 12 (so) if my father shall touch (me), or draw me to him, and feel me, I dread lest he guess that I would scorn him, and he bring in cursing on me for blessing.
13 To whom his mother said, My son, this cursing be in me; only hear thou my voice, and go, and bring that that I said.
14 (And so) He went, and brought it, and gave it to his mother. She made ready meats, as she knew that his father would have 15 and she clothed Jacob in [the] full good clothes of Esau, which she had at home with herself. 16 And she wrapped his hands about with little skins of (goat) kids, and covered the nakedness of his neck; 17 and she gave to him the stew, and betook (to) him [the] loaves, which she had baked.
18 And when these were brought in, he said, My father!
And he answered, I (am) here; (but) who art thou, my son?
19 And Jacob said, I am Esau, thy first begotten son. I have done to thee as thou commandedest to me; rise thou up, and sit, and eat of my venison, that thy soul bless me.
20 Again Isaac said to his son, My son, how mightest thou find (this) venison so soon?
Which answered, It was God’s will, that this thing that I would, should come soon to me.
21 And Isaac said, My son, come thou hither, (so) that I (can) touch thee, and that I prove whether thou be my son Esau, or nay.
22 (And) Jacob nighed to his father; and when Isaac had feeled him, he said, Soothly the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands be the hands of Esau. 23 And Isaac knew not Jacob, for the hairy hands showed the likeness of the elder son. Therefore Isaac blessed Jacob,
24 and (so he) said (again), Art thou my son Esau?
(And) Jacob answered, I am.
25 And Isaac said, My son, bring thou to me meats of thine hunting, that my soul bless thee.
And when Isaac had eaten these meats brought (to him), Jacob brought also wine to Isaac, and when this was drunken, 26 Isaac said to him, My son, come thou hither, and give to me a kiss.
27 Jacob nighed, and kissed him; and anon as Isaac feeled the odour of his clothes, he blessed him, and said,
Lo! the odour of my son
as the odour of a plenteous field
which the Lord hath blessed.
28 God give to thee of the dew of heaven,
and of the fatness of [the] earth,
(and of the) abundance of wheat, and of wine, and of oil;
29 and (may) peoples serve thee,
and lineages worship thee;
be thou lord of thy brethren,
and the sons of thy mother be bowed (low) before thee;
be he cursed that curseth thee,
and he that blesseth thee, be he [full-]filled with blessings
30 Scarcely Isaac had filled the word, and when Jacob was gone out, Esau came, 31 and brought in meats sodden of the hunting to the father, and said, My father, rise thou, and eat of the hunting of thy son, that thy soul bless me.
32 And Isaac said, Who art thou?
Which answered, I am Esau, thy first begotten son.
33 Isaac dreaded with a great astonishing; and he wondered more than it may be believed, and said, Who therefore is he which a while ago brought to me venison taken, and I ate of all things before that thou camest; and I blessed him? and he shall be blessed.
34 When the words of the father were heard, Esau roared with a great cry, and was astonished, and said, My father, bless thou also me.
35 Which said, Thy brother came prudently, and took (away) thy blessing.
36 And Esau added, Justly his name is called Jacob, for lo! he [hath] supplanted me (yet) another time; before he took away my first begotten things, and now the second time, he [hath] ravished privily my blessing. And again he said to the father, Whether thou hast not reserved a blessing also to me?
37 Isaac answered, I have made him thy lord, and I have made subject all his brethren to his servage; I have stablished him in wheat, and wine, and oil; and (so), my son, what shall I do to thee after these things?
38 To whom Esau said, Father, whether thou hast only one blessing? I beseech thee, that also thou bless me. And when Esau wept with great yelling,
39 Isaac was stirred, and said to him,
Thy blessing shall be
(not) in the fatness of [the] earth,
and in the dew of heaven from above;
40 thou shalt live by (the) sword,
and thou shalt serve thy brother,
and (then the) time shall come
when thou shalt shake away, and unbind his yoke
from [off] thy nolls.
41 Therefore Esau hated evermore Jacob for the blessing by which the father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning of my father shall come, and (then) I shall slay Jacob, my brother.
42 These things were told to Rebecca, and she sent, and called (for) her son Jacob, and said to him, Lo! Esau, thy brother, menaceth to slay thee;
43 now therefore, my son, hear thou my voice, and rise thou up, and flee to Laban, my brother, into Haran; 44 and thou shalt dwell with him (for) a few days, till the strong vengeance of thy brother rest, and his indignation cease,
45 and till he forget those things which thou hast done against him. Afterward I shall send, and I shall bring thee from thence hither. Why shall I be made sonless of ever either son in one day?
46 And Rebecca said to Isaac, It annoyeth me of my life for the daughters of Heth; if Jacob take a wife of the kindred of this land, I will not live.
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