hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
24 Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
And he replied, “I am.”
25 “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.”
Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, 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 to you the dew of heaven
and the richness of the earth—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
May you be the master of 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.”
Esau’s Lost Hope
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt. 31 He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
32 But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?”
“I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
33 Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”
35 But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?[1] For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
39 His father Isaac answered him:
“Behold, your dwelling place shall be
away from the richness of the land,
away from the dew of heaven above.
40 You shall live by the sword
and serve your brother.
But when you rebel,
you will tear his yoke from your neck.”
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill
- ↑ 36 Jacob means he grasps the heel or he deceives.
