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And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.
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Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
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So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
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And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
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Esau Sells His Birthright
Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.
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And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
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And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
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And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
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When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
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Isaac Blesses Jacob
Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and 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.”
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Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
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So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
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And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.
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Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
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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, that your soul may bless me.”
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Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
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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.”
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And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
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Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
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Esau’s Lost Hope
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.
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And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
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When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”
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And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named 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?”
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Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”
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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 and wept.
