Genesis 27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 27
Jacob’s Deception.[a] 1 When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” he replied. 2 Isaac then said, “Now I have grown old. I do not know when I might die. 3 So now take your hunting gear—your quiver and bow—and go out into the open country to hunt some game for me. 4 Then prepare for me a dish in the way I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you[b] before I die.”
5 Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So when Esau went out into the open country to hunt some game for his father,(A) 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father tell your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you with the Lord’s approval before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, obey me in what I am about to order you. 9 Go to the flock and get me two choice young goats so that with these I might prepare a dish for your father in the way he likes. 10 Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned!(B) 12 Suppose my father feels me? He will think I am making fun of him, and I will bring on myself a curse instead of a blessing.” 13 His mother, however, replied: “Let any curse against you, my son, fall on me! Just obey me. Go and get me the young goats.”
14 So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared a dish in the way his father liked. 15 Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear; 16 and with the goatskins she covered up his hands and the hairless part of his neck. 17 Then she gave her son Jacob the dish and the bread she had prepared.
18 Going to his father, Jacob said, “Father!” “Yes?” replied Isaac. “Which of my sons are you?” 19 Jacob answered his father: “I am Esau, your firstborn. I did as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How did you get it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “The Lord, your God, directed me.” 21 Isaac then said to Jacob, “Come closer, my son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When Isaac felt him, he said, “Although the voice is Jacob’s, the hands are Esau’s.” 23 (He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.) 24 Again Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And Jacob said, “I am.” 25 Then Isaac said, “Serve me, my son, and let me eat of the game so that I may bless you.” Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate; he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Finally his father Isaac said to him, “Come closer, my son, and kiss me.” 27 As Jacob went up to kiss him, Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he blessed him, saying,
“Ah, the fragrance of my son
is like the fragrance of a field
that the Lord has blessed!(C)
28 May God give to you
of the dew of the heavens
And of the fertility of the earth
abundance of grain and wine.
29 (D)May peoples serve you,
and nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
and blessed be those who bless you.”
30 Jacob had scarcely left his father after Isaac had finished blessing him, when his brother Esau came back from his hunt. 31 Then he too prepared a dish, and bringing it to his father, he said, “Let my father sit up and eat some of his son’s game, that you may then give me your blessing.” 32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn son, Esau.” 33 Isaac trembled greatly. “Who was it, then,” he asked, “that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all just before you came, and I blessed him. Now he is blessed!” 34 As he heard his father’s words, Esau burst into loud, bitter sobbing and said, “Father, bless me too!” 35 When Isaac said, “Your brother came here by a ruse and carried off your blessing,” 36 Esau exclaimed, “He is well named Jacob, is he not! He has supplanted me[c] twice! First he took away my right as firstborn, and now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not saved a blessing for me?”(E) 37 Isaac replied to Esau: “I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kindred as his servants; besides, I have sustained him with grain and wine. What then can I do for you, my son?” 38 But Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” and Esau wept aloud.(F) 39 His father Isaac said in response:
“See, far from the fertile earth
will be your dwelling;
far from the dew of the heavens above!(G)
40 By your sword you will live,
and your brother you will serve;
But when you become restless,
you will throw off his yoke from your neck.”(H)
41 Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. Esau said to himself, “Let the time of mourning for my father come, so that I may kill my brother Jacob.”(I) 42 When Rebekah got news of what her older son Esau had in mind, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him: “Listen! Your brother Esau intends to get his revenge by killing you. 43 So now, my son, obey me: flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay with him a while until your brother’s fury subsides— 45 until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you in a single day?”
Jacob Sent to Laban. 46 Rebekah said to Isaac: “I am disgusted with life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman, a native of the land, like these women, why should I live?”(J)
Footnotes
- 27:1–45 The chapter, a literary masterpiece, is the third and climactic wresting away of the blessing of Esau. Rebekah manages the entire affair, using perhaps her privileged information about Jacob’s status (25:23); Jacob’s only qualm is that if his father discovers the ruse, he will receive a curse instead of a blessing (vv. 11–12). Isaac is passive as he was in chaps. 22 and 24. The deception is effected through clothing (Jacob wears Esau’s clothing), which points ahead to a similar deception of a patriarch by means of clothing in the Joseph story (37:21–33). Such recurrent acts and scenes let the reader know a divine purpose is moving the story forward even though the human characters are unaware of it.
- 27:4 I may bless you: Isaac’s blessing confers fertility (vv. 27–28) and dominion (v. 29). The “dew of heaven” is rain that produces grain and wine, two of the principal foodstuffs of the ancient Near East. The “fertility of the earth” may allude to oil, the third basic foodstuff. The full agricultural year may be implied here: the fall rains are followed by the grain harvests of the spring and the grape harvest of late summer, and then the olive harvest of the fall (cf. Dt 11:14; Ps 104:13–15).
- 27:36 He has supplanted me: in Hebrew, wayyaqebeni, a wordplay on the name Jacob, ya‘aqob; see Jer 9:3 and Gn 25:26. There is also a play between the Hebrew words bekorah (“right of the firstborn”) and berakah (“blessing”).
Genesis 27
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 27
Jacob Supplants His Brother.[a] 1 Isaac had grown old, and his eyes had failed so much that he could no longer see. He called his older son, Esau, and said to him, “My son.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
2 He continued, “See, I am old and do not know when I will die. 3 Take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out into the countryside and hunt for some wild game for me. 4 Then prepare me a plate of delicious meat and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
5 Rebekah overheard Isaac speaking to his son Esau. When Esau went out into the countryside to hunt game and to bring it home, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I have heard your father speaking to your brother Esau. 7 He said, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a plate to eat it so that I may give you the Lord’s blessing before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, obey my instructions: 9 Go immediately to the flock and take two choice kids. I will prepare them to make a plate for your father just the way he likes it. 10 Then you can carry it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
11 Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “You know that my brother Esau is hairy, while my skin is smooth. 12 My father might touch me and realize that I am playing a trick on him and place a curse on me instead of a blessing.”
13 But his mother said, “Let that curse fall on me, my son! Only obey me and go and bring the kid goats.”
14 He went to get them and brought them back to his mother, and his mother prepared them to make a meal the way his father liked it. 15 Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son, Esau, which were in the house with her. She put them on her younger son, Jacob. 16 She put the skins of the kid goats on the smooth parts of his arms and neck. 17 Then she gave the meal that she had prepared to her son Jacob.
18 He went to his father and said, “My father.” He answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done everything you ordered. Please get up, sit down, and eat the game so that you may bless me.”
20 Isaac said to his son, “How did you prepare it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “The Lord placed the game right in front of me.”
21 Then Isaac said, “Draw near and let me touch you, my son, so that I may know if you are really my son Esau or not.”
22 Jacob drew near, and Isaac, his father, touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the arms are the arms of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, because his arms were hairy like the arms of his brother Esau, and he blessed him. 24 Then he said to him one more time, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”
25 He said, “Bring me the game to eat, my son, so that I can bless you.”
Jacob served him the meal and Isaac ate; and he brought him wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac told him, “Draw near and kiss me, my son.”
27 He drew near and kissed him. Isaac smelled the scent of his clothes and he blessed him, saying,
“This is the scent of my son
like the scent of the fields
that the Lord has blessed.
28 God grant you dew from the heavens
and the riches of the earth
and an abundance of grain and wine.
29 May the peoples serve you,
and may the nations bow down before you.
May you be lord over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
May the one who curses you be cursed
and the one who blesses you be blessed.”
30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just left his father, when Esau, his brother, arrived from the hunt. 31 He also prepared a meal and brought it to his father and said to him, “Rise, my father, and eat the wild game of your son, so that you may bless me.”
32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am your firstborn son, Esau.”
33 Isaac was seized by a violent trembling and said, “Then who was it who prepared the wild game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you arrived, and I blessed him; and the blessing will remain with him.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he shrieked and let out a bitter cry. He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father.” 35 He answered, “Your brother came here with trickery and received your blessing.”
36 He then said, “He has been well named Jacob,[b] for he has supplanted me twice. He already took away my birthright and now he has taken my blessing.” He added, “Do you not have a blessing left for me?”
37 Isaac answered Esau and said, “Behold, I have made him your lord and I have given him his brothers as his servants. He is to be maintained with grain and wine. What can I do for you, my son?”
38 Esau told his father, “Do you only have one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” But Isaac was silent, and Esau cried out aloud.
39 Finally Isaac spoke and said,
“Behold, far from the riches of the earth
shall your dwelling be
and far from the dew of the heavens.
40 You shall live by the sword
and serve your brother.
But then, when you have dominion,
you shall break the yoke from your neck.”
41 Jacob Flees to Mesopotamia.[c] Esau hated Jacob on account of the blessing that his father had given him. Esau thought, “The time to mourn my father is drawing near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah was told what Esau, her older son, had said, she called Jacob, her younger son, and said, “Esau your brother wants to get even with you by killing you. 43 So obey me, my son. Rise, and flee to Haran, to my brother Laban. 44 Remain with him for some time, till your brother’s anger has calmed. 45 When the fury of your brother is soothed and he has forgotten what you did to him, I will send for you to bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of the two of you in a single day?”
46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I despise my life because of those Hittite women. If Jacob were to take a wife from among the Hittites, from among the daughters of the land, what good would life be to me?”
Footnotes
- Genesis 27:1 It had to be made clear that God chose Israel in a free and unmerited act and not because of human merits: all are sinners and salvation is a gift of his love (Rom 3:23-24).
As for the substitution of one person for another, this should not be judged by modern standards. The ancients thought that sacred acts like blessings had an immediate and irrevocable effect; when Isaac is told of the deception, he ratifies what has been done (vv. 33, 37). - Genesis 27:36 Jacob: i.e., “He grasps the heel” (figuratively, “He deceives”).
- Genesis 27:41 Wrongdoing is followed by atonement.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
