Genesis 27

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "Son!" "Yes, father!" he replied.	1 Now Isaac was old, and his eyes were cloudy, and so he was not able to see. And he called his elder son Esau, and he said to him, “My son?” And he responded, “Here I am.”
2 Isaac then said, "As you can see, I am so old that I may now die at any time.	2 His father said to him: “You see that I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.
3 Take your gear, therefore--your quiver and bow--and go out into the country to hunt some game for me.	3 Take your weapons, the quiver and the bow, and go out. And when you have taken something by hunting,
4 With your catch prepare an appetizing dish for me, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my special blessing before I die."	4 make from it a small meal for me, just as you know I like, and bring it, so that I may eat and my soul may bless you before I die.”
5 Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So when Esau went out into the country to hunt some game for his father,	5 And when Rebekah had heard this, and he had gone out into the field to fulfill his father’s order,
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen! I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,	6 she said to her son Jacob: “I heard your father speaking with your brother Esau, and saying to him,
7 'Bring me some game and with it prepare an appetizing dish for me to eat, that I may give you my blessing with the LORD'S approval before I die.'	7 ‘Bring to me from your hunting, and make me foods, so that I may eat and bless you in the sight of the Lord before I die.’
8 Now, son, listen carefully to what I tell you.	8 Therefore, now my son, agree to my counsel,
9 Go to the flock and get me two choice kids. With these I will prepare an appetizing dish for your father, such as he likes.	9 and go straight to the flock, and bring me two of the best young goats, so that from them I may make meat for your father, such as he willingly eats.
10 Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies."	10 Then, when you have brought these in and he has eaten, he may bless you before he dies.”
11 "But my brother Esau is a hairy man," said Jacob to his mother Rebekah, "and I am smooth-skinned!	11 He answered her: “You know that my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am smooth.
12 Suppose my father feels me? He will think I am making sport of him, and I shall bring on myself a curse instead of a blessing."	12 If my father should lay hands on me and perceive it, I am afraid lest he think me willing to mock him, and I will bring a curse upon myself, instead of a blessing.”
13 His mother, however, replied: "Let any curse against you, son, fall on me! Just do as I say. Go and get me the kids."	13 And his mother said to him: “Let this curse be upon me, my son. Yet listen to my voice, and go directly to bring what I said.”
14 So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother; and with them she prepared an appetizing dish, such as his father liked.	14 He went out, and he brought, and he gave to his mother. She prepared the meats, just as she knew his father liked.
15 Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear;	15 And she clothed him with the very fine garments of Esau, which she had at home with her.
16 and with the skins of the kids she covered up his hands and the hairless parts of his neck.	16 And she encircled his hands with little pelts from the young goats, and she covered his bare neck.
17 Then she handed her son Jacob the appetizing dish and the bread she had prepared.	17 And she gave him the small meal, and she handed him the bread that she had baked.
18 Bringing them to his father, Jacob said, "Father!" "Yes?" replied Isaac. "Which of my sons are you?"	18 When he had carried these in, he said, “My father?” And he answered, “I’m listening. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob answered his father: "I am Esau, your first-born. I did as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your special blessing."	19 And Jacob said: “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you instructed me. Arise; sit and eat from my hunting, so that your soul may bless me.”
20 But Isaac asked, "How did you succeed so quickly, son?" He answered, "The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me."	20 And again Isaac said to his son, “How were you able to find it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “It was the will of God, so that what I sought met with me quickly.”
21 Isaac then said to Jacob, "Come closer, son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not."	21 And Isaac said, “Come here, so that I may touch you, my son, and may prove whether you are my son Esau, or not.”
22 So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When Isaac felt him, he said, "Although the voice is Jacob's, the hands are Esau's."	22 He approached his father, and when he had felt him, Isaac said: “The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob. But the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 (He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so in the end he gave him his blessing.)	23 And he did not recognize him, because his hairy hands made him seem similar to the elder one. Therefore, blessing him,
24 Again he asked him, "Are you really my son Esau?" "Certainly," he replied.	24 he said, “Are you my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”
25 Then Isaac said, "Serve me your game, son, that I may eat of it and then give you my blessing." Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.	25 Then he said, “Bring me the foods from your hunting, my son, so that my soul may bless you.” And when he had eaten what was offered, he also brought forth wine for him. And after he finished it,
26 Finally his father Isaac said to him, "Come closer, son, and kiss me."	26 he said to him, “Come to me and give me a kiss, my son.”
27 As Jacob went up and kissed him, Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he blessed him, saying, "Ah, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has blessed!	27 He approached and kissed him. And immediately he perceived the fragrance of his garments. And so, blessing him, he said: “Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord has blessed.
28 "May God give to you of the dew of the heavens And of the fertility of the earth abundance of grain and wine.	28 May God give to you, from the dew of heaven and from the fatness of the earth, an abundance of grain and wine.
29 "Let peoples serve you, and nations pay you homage; Be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you."	29 And may the peoples serve you, and may the tribes reverence you. May you be the lord of your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down before you. Whoever curses you, may he be cursed, and whoever blesses you, may he be filled with blessings.”
30 Jacob had scarcely left his father, just after Isaac had finished blessing him, when his brother Esau came back from his hunt.	30 Scarcely had Isaac completed his words, and Jacob departed, when Esau arrived.
31 Then he too prepared an appetizing dish with his game, and bringing it to his father, he said, "Please, father, eat some of your son's game, that you may then give me your special blessing."	31 And he brought his father foods cooked from his hunting, saying, “Arise, my father, and eat from your son’s hunting, so that your soul may bless me.”
32 "Who are you?" his father Isaac asked him. "I am Esau," he replied, "your first-born son."	32 And Isaac said to him, “But who are you?” And he answered, “I am your firstborn son, Esau.”
33 With that, Isaac was seized with a fit of uncontrollable trembling. "Who was it, then," he asked, "that hunted game and brought it to me? I finished eating it just before you came, and I blessed him. Now he must remain blessed!"	33 Isaac became frightened and very astonished. And wondering beyond what can be believed, he said: “Then who is he that a while ago brought me the prey from his hunting, from which I ate, before you arrived? And I blessed him, and he will be blessed.”
34 On hearing his father's words, Esau burst into loud, bitter sobbing. "Father, bless me too!" he begged.	34 Esau, having heard his father’s words, roared out with a great outcry. And, being confounded, he said, “But bless me also, my father.”
35 When Isaac explained, "Your brother came here by a ruse and carried off your blessing,"	35 And he said, “Your twin came deceitfully, and he received your blessing.”
36 Esau exclaimed, "He has been well named Jacob! He has now supplanted me twice! First he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing." Then he pleaded, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"	36 But he responded: “Justly is his name called Jacob. For he has supplanted me yet another time. My birthright he took away before, and now, this second time, he has stolen my blessing.” And again, he said to his father, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me also?”
37 Isaac replied: "I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kinsmen as his slaves; besides, I have enriched him with grain and wine. What then can I do for you, son?"	37 Isaac answered: “I have appointed him as your lord, and I have subjugated all his brothers as his servants. I have reinforced him with grain and wine, and after this, my son, what more shall I do for you?”
38 But Esau urged his father, "Have you only that one blessing, father? Bless me too!" Isaac, however, made no reply; and Esau wept aloud.	38 And Esau said to him: “Have you only one blessing, father? I beg you, bless me also.” And when he wept with a loud wail,
39 Finally Isaac spoke again and said to him: "Ah, far from the fertile earth shall be your dwelling; far from the dew of the heavens above!	39 Isaac was moved, and he said to him: “In the fatness of the earth, and in the dew of heaven from above,
40 "By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve; But when you become restive, you shall throw off his yoke from your neck."	40 will your blessing be. You will live by the sword, and you will serve your brother. But the time will arrive when you will shake off and release his yoke from your neck.”
41 Esau bore Jacob a grudge because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "When the time of mourning for my father comes, I will kill my brother Jacob."	41 Therefore, Esau always hated Jacob, for the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And he said in his heart, “The days will arrive for the mourning of my father, and I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When Rebekah got news of what her older son Esau had in mind, she called her younger son Jacob and said to him: "Listen! Your brother Esau intends to settle accounts with you by killing you.	42 These things were reported to Rebekah. And sending and calling for her son Jacob, she said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau is threatening to kill you.
43 Therefore, son, do what I tell you: flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,	43 Therefore, now my son, listen to my voice. Rise up and flee to my brother Laban, in Haran.
44 and stay with him a while until your brother's fury subsides	44 And you will dwell with him for a few days, until the fury of your brother subsides,
45 (until your brother's anger against you subsides) and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. Must I lose both of you in a single day?"	45 and his indignation ceases, and he forgets the things that you have done to him. After this, I will send for you and bring you from there to here. Why should I be bereaved of both my sons in one day?”
46 Rebekah said to Isaac: "I am disgusted with life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman, a native of the land, like these women, what good would life be to me?"	46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob accepts a wife from the stock of this land, I would not be willing to live.”