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Jacob and Esau
This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac,
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The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
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After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
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The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.
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Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
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Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.
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“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
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Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.
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Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
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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.
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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,
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Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau,
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Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin.
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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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
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He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him.
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“Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied.
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After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.
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His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”
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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!”
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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?”
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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?”
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Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
