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Now the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
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Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
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When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a civilized man, living in tents.
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Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
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When Jacob had cooked a stew one day, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted;
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and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a mouthful of that red stuff there, for I am exhausted.” Therefore he was called Edom by name.
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Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”
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Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
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When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
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Jacob’s Deception
Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
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Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,
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Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
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But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
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Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
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Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.”
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Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
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So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, 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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And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
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The Stolen Blessing
Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, that his brother Esau came in from his hunting.
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His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
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When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me as well, my father!”
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Then Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has betrayed 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?”
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But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and I have given to him all his relatives as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”
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Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.” So Esau raised his voice and wept.
