Prophecies about Noah’s Family

¹⁸ Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.^(A)

²⁰ Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting^[a] a vineyard. ²¹ He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.^{(B) 23} Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked.

²⁴ When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said:

²⁶ He also said:

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

³⁵ But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

³⁶ So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob?^[a](B) For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ But Isaac answered Esau, “Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.^[b]

³⁹ His father Isaac answered him,

Esau’s Anger

⁴¹ Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”