Isaac Sends Esau Hunting

1 And it was, when Isaac was old, and his eyes had grown too dim to see, that he called Esau, his eldest son, and said to him, My son. And he said to him, Here I am. 2 And he said, Look, I am old, I do not know the day that I shall die: 3 and now take your weapons, your knife and your bow, and go out into the field, and hunt me game, 4 and make me food such as I like, and bring it to me, and I will eat, and my soul shall bless you before I die.

Rebekah's Plan

5 And Rebekah listened as Isaac was speaking with his son Esau. And Esau went into the field to hunt game to bring it. 6 And Rebekah spoke to Jacob, her son, saying, Look, I have heard your father speaking with Esau your brother, saying, 7 Bring me now game, and make me food, and I will eat and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die. 8 And now, my son, obey me in what I command you. 9 Go now to the flock, and take from there two good young goats, and make them into food for your father such as he loves, 10 and carry in to your father, that he may eat, and bless you before he dies. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 It may be that my father will feel me, and I shall be a deceiver in his eyes, and shall bring on myself curses, and not blessings. 13 And his mother said to him, It has been said to me in prophecy, that there shall be no curses on you, my son;⁠a only obey me, and go, and take for me. 14 And he went, and took, and brought to his mother, and his mother made food such as his father loved. 15 And Rebekah took the clothes of Esau her older son, which were clean and which she kept in the house, and clothed Jacob her younger son. 16 And with the skins of the young goats she covered his hands, and the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she gave the food and the bread that she had made into the hand of Jacob her son.

Jacob Receives the Blessing

18 And he went in to his father, and said, Father! And he said, Here I am. Who are you, my son? 19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn: I have done as you have told me. Get up now and sit up, and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me. 20 And Isaac said to his son, How did you find this so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God prepared it before me. 21 And Isaac said to Jacob, Come close now, and I will feel you, my son, to see whether you are my son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him, and said, The voice is the voice of Jacob; but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23 And he was not recognized, because his hands were hairy, like the hands of Esau his brother; and he blessed him. 24 And he said, But are you my son Esau? And he said, I am! 25 And he said, Bring before me, and I will eat of my son's game, that my soul may bless you. And he offered to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 And Isaac his father said to him, Approach now, and kiss me, my son. 27 And he approached, and kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his clothes, and blessed him, and said, Look, the smell of my son is as the fragrance of a field which the Lord has blessed. 28 And the Lord shall give you of the dew of heaven, and of the goodness of the earth, and abundance of grain and of wine. 29 Let the peoples serve you, and kingdoms be subservient to you: be chief over your brothers, and let the sons of your mother bow down to you: those who curse you shall be cursed, and those who bless you shall be blessed!

Esau Returns

30 And it was when Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 And he had also made food, and he brought it to his father, and said to his father, Arise, my father, and eat of your son's game, that your soul may bless me. 32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. 33 And Isaac was overcome with great astonishment, and said, Who was he who prepared game, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and I have blessed him? and he shall be blessed. 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he gave a very loud and bitter cry. And he said to his father, Bless me, also, me, father! 35 And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and has received your blessing. 36 And he said, He is rightly named Jacob, he has deceived me twice now; he took my birthright, and, look, now he has received my blessing. And he said, Have you not left me a blessing? 37 And Isaac answered, and said to Esau, Look, I have set him a chief over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and I have sustained him with grain and wine: and for you now what can I do, my son? 38 And Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Look, your dwelling shall be of the best of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. 40 And you shall live by your sword and obey your brother; and it will be that when his sons shall have transgressed the words of the law, you will cast his yoke off your neck.

Jacob Prepares to Flee

41 And Esau held hostility toward Jacob for the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself, The days of mourning for father draw near, and I will kill Jacob my brother. 42 And the words of Esau her eldest son were shown to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Look, Esau your brother is plotting to kill you. 43 And now, my son, listen to me, and arise and go to Laban my brother at Haran, 44 and stay with him a few days, until your brother's anger subsides, 45 until the anger of your brother turns away from you, and what you have done to him be forgotten; and I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved of both of you in one day? 46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am grieved in my life at the sight of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these of the daughters of the land, what is life to me?