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Genesis 27:21-40

Genesis 27:21-40 NCV

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son. Then I will know if you are really my son Esau.” So Jacob came near to Isaac his father. Isaac touched him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your hands are hairy like the hands of Esau.” Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his hands were hairy like Esau’s hands, so Isaac blessed him. Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.” Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food, and I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate. Jacob gave him wine, and he drank. Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come near and kiss me.” So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said, “The smell of my son is like the smell of the field that the LORD has blessed. May God give you plenty of rain and good soil so that you will have plenty of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. May you be master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. May everyone who curses you be cursed, and may everyone who blesses you be blessed.” Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. He said, “Father, rise and eat the food that your son killed for you and then bless me.” Isaac asked, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son—your firstborn son—Esau.” Then Isaac trembled greatly and said, “Then who was it that hunted the animals and brought me food before you came? I ate it, and I blessed him, and it is too late now to take back my blessing.” When Esau heard the words of his father, he let out a loud and bitter cry. He said to his father, “Bless me—me, too, my father!” But Isaac said, “Your brother came and tricked me. He has taken your blessing.” Esau said, “Jacob is the right name for him. He has tricked me these two times. He took away my share of everything you own, and now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?” Isaac answered, “I gave Jacob the power to be master over you, and all his brothers will be his servants. And I kept him strong with grain and new wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.” But Esau continued, “Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me, too, Father!” Then Esau began to cry out loud. Isaac said to him, “You will live far away from the best land, far from the rain. You will live by using your sword, and you will be a slave to your brother. But when you struggle, you will break free from him.”