NIV Our Family Story Bible | Page 31

Genesis 27:36  T  29 ­ hile I have s ­ mooth skin. 12 What if my fa­ther touch­es me? I ­would ap­pear w to be trick­ing him and ­would ­bring down a ­curse on my­self rath­er than a bless­ing.” 13 His moth­er said to him, “My son, let the c ­ urse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them and ­brought them to his moth­er, and she pre­ pared some ­tasty food, just the way his fa­ther ­liked it. 15  Then Re­bek­ah took the best ­clothes of Esau her old­er son, ­which she had in the ­house, and put them on her youn­ger son Ja­cob. 16 She also cov­ered his h ­ ands and the ­smooth part of his neck with the goat­skins. 17 Then she hand­ed to her son Ja­cob the tasty food and the ­bread she had made. 18 He went to his fa­ther and said, “My fa­ther.” “Yes, my son,” he an­swered. “Who is it?” 19 Ja­cob said to his fa­ther, “I am Esau your first­born. I have done as you told me. ­Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your bless­ing.” 20 Isaac ­asked his son, “How did you find it so quick­ly, my son?” “The Lord your God gave me suc­cess,” he re­plied. 21 Then ­Isaac said to Ja­cob, “Come near so I can ­touch you, my son, to know wheth­er you real­ly are my son Esau or not.” 22 Ja­cob went ­close to his fa­ther I ­ saac, who ­touched him and said, “The voice is the ­voice of Ja­cob, but the ­hands are the ­hands of Esau.” 23 He did not rec­og­nize him, for his ­hands were ­hairy like ­those of his broth­er Esau; so he pro­ceed­ed to ­bless him. 24 “Are you real­ly my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he re­plied. 25 Then he said, “My son, b ­ ring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my bless­ing.” Ja­cob ­brought it to him and he ate; and he ­brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his fa­ther ­Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” 27 So he went to him and k ­ issed him. When I ­ saac c ­ aught the s ­ mell of his clothes, he ­blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. 28 May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness — ​ an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” 30 Af­ter ­Isaac fin­ished bless­ing him, and Ja­cob had scarce­ly left his fa­ther’s pres­ence, his broth­er Esau came in from hunt­ing. 31 He too pre­pared some tasty food and b ­ rought it to his fa­ther. Then he said to him, “My fa­ther, ­please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your bless­ing.” 32 His fa­ther ­Isaac ­asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he an­swered, “your first­born, Esau.” 33 Isaac trem­bled vi­o­lent­ly and said, “Who was it, then, that hunt­ed game and ­brought it to me? I ate it just be­fore you came and I ­blessed him — ​and in­deed he will be blessed!” 34 When Esau h ­ eard his fa­ther’s ­words, he b ­ urst out with a loud and bit­ter cry and said to his fa­ther, “Bless me — ​me too, my fa­ther!” 35 But he said, “Your broth­er came de­ceit­ful­ly and took your bless­ing.” 36 Esau said, “Isn’t he right­ly ­named Ja­cob  a  ? This is the sec­ond time he has tak­en ad­van­tage of me: He took my birth­right, and now he’s tak­en my bless­ ing!” Then he a ­ sked, “Haven’t you re­served any bless­ing for me?” a  36  Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.