When Isaac was very old and blind, he called for his oldest son, Esau, and asked him, “My son?”
“I am here, father,” Esau answered.
“As you can see, I am now an old man,” Isaac said. “And I may die any day now. So please take your hunting gear—your bow and arrows—and go out into the field and hunt some wild game for me. Then prepare me a savory meal, the food I love, and bring it to me. After I eat it, I will bless you from my innermost being before I die.”
Now, Rebekah was eavesdropping on their conversation. So, when Esau left for the field to hunt for game to cook for Isaac, she found Jacob and said to him, “I just overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare a savory meal for me. Afterward I will bless you in the presence of YAHWEH before I die.’ Listen carefully, my son, and do everything I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring me two of the best young goats. I’ll cook them for your father and prepare a delicious meal, the way he loves it. Then, you take it to him to eat and your father will bless you before he dies.”
Jacob objected, “But my brother Esau is covered with hair, and I’m smooth skinned. If my father feels my hairless skin, he’ll know I’m not Esau. He’ll think I’m a trickster, and I’ll end up bringing a curse upon myself rather than a blessing!”
“My son,” his mother said, “let any curse against you fall on me alone! Just do what I say and go and get the goats for me.”
So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared a delicious meal, just the way his father loved it. Then Rebekah picked out the best clothes of her older son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob. She covered Jacob’s hands and the soft part of his neck with goatskins. Then she handed Jacob the tasty dish and the bread that she had prepared and he took them to Isaac.
“Father?” Jacob said.
Isaac replied, “Which one of my sons are you?”
Jacob answered, “It’s I—Esau—your firstborn. I have done as you asked. Please, sit up. Eat some of this delicious game you love so that you may give me your innermost blessing.”
Isaac asked his son, “How in the world did you find game so quickly, my son?”
“YAHWEH, your God, caused it to come right to me,” he replied.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please, please, come closer that I may touch you, my son. I need to really know for certain that you are Esau.” So Jacob inched closer to his father Isaac, who felt his skin and said, “You sound like Jacob, but your hands are Esau’s.” Because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s, Isaac was tricked and did not recognize that it was really Jacob. As he was about to give him his blessing, Isaac asked him again, “Are you really my son Esau?”
Jacob answered, “I am.”
“Then bring the food to me,” Isaac said, “and let me eat my son’s game. Then I will give you my blessing.” So, Jacob gave his father the food and he ate it. He brought him wine and he drank it. Then Isaac said to him, “My son, come near and kiss me.” So he came near and kissed him. Isaac recognized the smell of his son’s clothes and blessed him, saying,
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a lush field that YAHWEH has blessed!
May God give you heaven’s dew,
the fatness of earth,
and an abundance of grain and new wine!
Let peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you!
May you be master over your brothers
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you!
Those who curse you will be cursed
and those who bless you will be blessed!”
No sooner had Jacob left from receiving the blessing of his father Isaac, than his brother Esau arrived home from hunting.
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