²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,^(A) a man of the open country,^(B) while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game,^(C) loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.^(D)

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew,^(E) Esau came in from the open country,^(F) famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!^(G) I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.^[a])^(H)

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.^(I)”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear^(J) to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright^(K) to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.^(L) He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

The Right of the Firstborn

¹⁵ If a man has two wives,^(A) and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,^{(B) 16} when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.^{(C) 17} He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double^(D) share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.^(E) The right of the firstborn belongs to him.^(F)