創世記 27
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
以撒為兒子祝福
27 以撒年老的時候，眼睛昏花，幾乎看不見。他把大兒子以掃叫來，說：「我兒啊！」以掃說：「我在這裡。」 2 以撒說：「我年老了，不知道還能活多久。 3 現在，帶著你的弓箭去田野為我打些野味來， 4 照我喜歡的口味，做成美食給我吃，以便我在死前給你祝福。」
5 利百加聽見了以撒跟兒子以掃說的話。以掃出去打獵後， 6 利百加就對她兒子雅各說：「我聽見你父親對你哥哥以掃說， 7 『你去打些野味回來，做成美食給我吃，以便我死之前在耶和華面前給你祝福。』 8 現在，孩子，你要聽我的話，照我的吩咐去做。 9 你到羊群裡選兩頭上好的山羊羔，我好照你父親喜愛的口味做成美食， 10 由你拿去給他吃，讓他死前為你祝福。」
11 雅各對母親利百加說：「哥哥以掃渾身是毛，我的皮膚光滑。 12 如果父親用手摸我，一定會發覺我騙他，那時候我不但得不到祝福，反會招來咒詛。」 13 他母親利百加對他說：「孩子啊，有咒詛，我來承擔。你只管聽我的話，把羊羔牽來。」
14 於是，雅各把羊牽來交給母親，他母親就照他父親喜愛的口味做成美食。 15 利百加又拿了大兒子以掃留在家裡最好的衣服，給小兒子雅各穿上， 16 再用山羊皮把雅各光滑的手和脖子都包起來， 17 然後把做好的美味和餅交給雅各。
18 雅各來到父親跟前，叫了一聲：「父親。」以撒回答說：「我在這裡，孩子，你是誰？」 19 雅各對父親說：「我是你的大兒子以掃，你吩咐我的事，我已經辦好了。請你坐起來，吃我打的野味，然後給我祝福。」 20 以撒對他說：「孩子，你怎麼這麼快就打到野味了？」雅各回答說：「因為你的上帝耶和華讓我碰見好機會。」 21 以撒說：「孩子，過來，讓我摸摸看你是不是我兒以掃。」 22 雅各挨到父親跟前，以撒摸著他說：「聲音是雅各的聲音，手卻是以掃的手。」 23 因為雅各手上有毛，與他哥哥以掃的手一樣，以撒分辨不出來，就給他祝福。 24 以撒又問：「你真是我的兒子以掃嗎？」雅各回答說：「是。」 25 以撒便說：「把野味拿給我，我吃了你打的野味就為你祝福。」雅各遞上野味，以撒吃了；雅各又拿酒給他喝，他也喝了。 26 以撒對他說：「孩子，你過來親吻我。」 27 雅各就挨上前去親了父親。以撒聞到他衣服上的氣味，就祝福他說：
「我兒子的香氣就像蒙耶和華賜福之田地的香氣。
28 願上帝賜你天上的甘霖、肥沃的土地並豐富的五穀和新酒。
29 願萬民都臣服於你，
萬國都向你下拜。
願你成為你弟兄的主人，
願你母親的兒子向你下拜。
咒詛你的，願他受咒詛；
祝福你的，願他蒙祝福。」
以掃求父親祝福
30 雅各接受了以撒的祝福才剛離開，他的哥哥以掃就打獵回來了。 31 以掃把野味煮好，拿到父親跟前，說：「父親，請起來吃你兒子煮的野味，然後給我祝福。」 32 他父親以撒問道：「你是誰？」以掃回答說：「我是你的長子以掃。」 33 以撒大為震驚，說：「你沒有來之前，拿野味來給我吃的是誰呢？我已經吃了，也給那人祝福了，他將來必蒙祝福。」
34 以掃聽了放聲痛哭，說：「父親啊，求你也為我祝福！」 35 以撒說：「你弟弟已經用詭計把你的福分奪去了。」 36 以掃說：「怪不得他叫雅各，他已經騙了我兩次，先前把我長子的名分奪去，現在又奪去我的福分！」接著他對父親說：「難道你沒有留下別的祝福可以給我嗎？」
37 以撒對以掃說：「我已經立他做你的主人，使他的眾弟兄做他的僕人，並給他五穀和新酒。孩子啊，我還能為你做什麼呢？」 38 以掃對父親說：「父親啊，你只有一個祝福嗎？父親啊，求你也為我祝福！」以掃又放聲大哭。 39 以撒對他說：
「你住的地方必遠離肥沃的土地，
也不會有天上的甘霖。
40 你必倚靠刀劍生活，
又必服侍你的弟弟。
到你無法忍受的時候，
你必掙脫頸上的重軛。」
雅各逃往舅父家
41 以掃因為父親把祝福給了雅各，就對雅各懷恨在心，暗自思量說：「父親已經不久人世，他死後，我要把雅各殺掉！」 42 以掃的計謀傳到利百加耳中。她就派人把雅各叫來，對他說：「你哥哥以掃想要殺你洩憤！ 43 孩子，聽我的話，現在就逃到哈蘭你舅舅拉班那裡， 44 與他住些日子，一直住到你哥哥的氣消了。 45 等他氣消了，忘了你對他所做的事，我會派人接你回來。我何必在一天之內失去你們兩個呢？」 46 利百加對以撒說：「我被這些赫人女子煩死了。如果雅各也像以掃一樣娶那些赫人女子為妻，我活著還有什麼意思呢？」
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 King James Version
Isaac Blesses Jacob
27 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was (A)old and (B)his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”
And he answered him, “Here I am.”
2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I (C)do not know the day of my death. 3 (D)Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. 4 And make me [a]savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul (E)may bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, 7 ‘Bring me game and make [b]savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, (F)obey my voice according to what I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make (G)savory food from them for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he (H)may bless you before his death.”
11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, (I)Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. 12 Perhaps my father will (J)feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring (K)a curse on myself and not a blessing.”
13 But his mother said to him, (L)“Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” 14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother (M)made [c]savory food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took (N)the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 So he went to his father and said, “My father.”
And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, (O)that your soul may bless me.”
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”
And he said, “Because the Lord your God brought it to me.”
21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I (P)may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because (Q)his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
He said, “I am.”
25 He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so (R)that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” 27 And he came near and (S)kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
“Surely, (T)the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field
Which the Lord has blessed.
28 Therefore may (U)God give you
Of (V)the dew of heaven,
Of (W)the fatness of the earth,
And (X)plenty of grain and wine.
29 (Y)Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And (Z)let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
(AA)Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!”
Esau’s Lost Hope(AB)
30 Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made [d]savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and (AC)eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”
32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him—(AD)and indeed he shall be blessed.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, (AE)he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”
35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing.”
36 And Esau said, (AF)“Is he not rightly named [e]Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, (AG)“Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with (AH)grain and wine I have [f]sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”
38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice (AI)and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
“Behold, (AJ)your dwelling shall be of the [g]fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And (AK)you shall serve your brother;
And (AL)it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
Jacob Escapes from Esau
41 So Esau (AM)hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, (AN)“The days of mourning for my father [h]are at hand; (AO)then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau (AP)comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban (AQ)in Haran. 44 And stay with him a (AR)few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, 45 until 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 bereaved also of you both in one day?”
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, (AS)“I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; (AT)if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
Footnotes
- Genesis 27:4 tasty
- Genesis 27:7 tasty
- Genesis 27:14 tasty
- Genesis 27:31 tasty
- Genesis 27:36 Supplanter or Deceitful, lit. One Who Takes the Heel
- Genesis 27:37 provided support for
- Genesis 27:39 fertility
- Genesis 27:41 are soon here
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
