¹⁷ Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears,^(A) he could not change what he had done.

¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’^(A)

²⁶ If we deliberately keep on sinning^(A) after we have received the knowledge of the truth,^(B) no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire^(C) that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.^{(D) 29} How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God^(E) underfoot,^(F) who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant^(G) that sanctified them,^(H) and who has insulted the Spirit^(I) of grace?^(J)

⁸ But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed.^(A) In the end it will be burned.

²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,^(A) because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵ Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’^(B)

²⁶ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’^(C)

²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’^(A)

³⁰ After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. ³¹ He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”^(A)

³² His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”^(B)

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.^(C)”

³³ Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me?^(D) I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!^(E)”

³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry^(F) and said to his father, “Bless^(G) me—me too, my father!”

³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully^(H) and took your blessing.”^(I)

³⁶ Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob^[a]?^(J) This is the second time he has taken advantage of^(K) me: He took my birthright,^(L) and now he’s taken my blessing!”^(M) Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

³⁷ 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.^(N) So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.^(O)

³⁹ His father Isaac answered him,^(P)

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge^(V) against Jacob^(W) because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning^(X) for my father are near; then I will kill^(Y) my brother Jacob.”^(Z)