Isaac Blesses Jacob

1When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.”  2He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.  3Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me,  4and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,  6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,  7‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’  8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.  9Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.  10And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”  11But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.  12Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”  13His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

14So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.  15Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.  16And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.  17And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”  19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”  20But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”  21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”  22So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”  23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.  24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”  25Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”  27So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son

is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!

28May God give you of the dew of heaven

and of the fatness of the earth

and plenty of grain and wine.

29Let 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 everyone who curses you,

and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.  31He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.”  32His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”  33Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”  34As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”  35But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.”  36Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”  37Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”  38Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be,

and away from the dew of heaven on high.

40By your sword you shall live,

and you shall serve your brother;

but when you grow restless

you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

41Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”  42But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.  43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran  44and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away—  45until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”