Genesis 27:30-28:9

New American Standard Bible 1995

The Stolen Blessing

³⁰ Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “^(A)Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that ^[a](B)you may bless me.” ³² Isaac his father said to him, “^(C)Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, ^(D)your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac ^[b]trembled violently, and said, “^(E)Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? ^(F)Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, ^(G)he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵ And he said, “^(H)Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Then he said, “^[c]Is he not rightly named ^(I)Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him ^(J)your master, and all his ^[d]relatives I have given to him ^[e]as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and ^(K)wept.

³⁹ Then ^(L)Isaac his father answered and said to him,

⁴¹ So Esau ^(P)bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said ^[j]to himself, “^(Q)The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, ^(R)obey my voice, and arise, ^[k]flee to ^(S)Haran, to my brother ^(T)Laban! ⁴⁴ Stay with him ^(U)a few days, until your brother’s fury ^[l]subsides, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger ^[m]against you subsides and he forgets ^(V)what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of ^[n]living because of ^(W)the daughters of Heth; ^(X)if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Jacob Is Sent Away

28 So Isaac called Jacob and ^(Y)blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “^(Z)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ² Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of ^(AA)Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. ³ May ^[o](AB)God Almighty ^(AC)bless you and ^(AD)make you fruitful and ^(AE)multiply you, that you may become a ^(AF)company of peoples. ⁴ May He also give you the ^(AG)blessing of Abraham, to you and to your ^[p]descendants with you, that you may ^(AH)possess the land of your ^(AI)sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Then ^(AJ)Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “^(AK)You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So Esau saw that ^(AL)the daughters of Canaan displeased ^[q]his father Isaac; ⁹ and Esau went to Ishmael, and ^[r]married, ^(AM)besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.