Isaac Blesses Jacob (Hebrews 11:20)
1 UDB When Isaac was old, he became almost blind. One day he summoned Esau, his firstborn son, and said to him, "My son?" He replied, "Here I am!" BSB BSB: When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
2 UDB Isaac said, "Listen to me. I am very old, and I do not know when I will die. BSB BSB: “Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death.
3 UDB So take now your bow and quiver full of arrows and go out into the countryside, and hunt for a wild animal for me. BSB BSB: Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me.
4 UDB Kill one and prepare the kind of tasty meat that I like. Then bring it to me so that, after I eat it, I can give you a blessing before I die." BSB BSB: Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
5 UDB Rebekah was listening as Isaac said that to his son Esau. So when Esau left the tent to go hunting, BSB BSB: Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,
6 UDB Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen to me. I heard your father talking to your brother Esau, saying, BSB BSB: Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,
7 UDB 'Go and kill some wild animal and bring it here, and prepare the meat in a tasty way, so that I may eat it. Then before I die I will give you my blessing while Yahweh is listening.' BSB BSB: ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’
8 UDB So now, my son, do what I am telling you. BSB BSB: Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you.
9 UDB Go out to the flock and kill two nice young goats and bring the meat to me. Then I will prepare some tasty food for your father, the way he likes it. BSB BSB: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.
10 UDB Then you can take it to your father, in order that he can eat it, and then he will give you his blessing before he dies." BSB BSB: Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
11 UDB But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "My brother Esau's skin has hair all over it, and my skin is not like that! My skin is smooth! BSB BSB: Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.
12 UDB What will happen if my father touches me? He will realize that I am tricking him, and I will bring a curse on myself, not a blessing!" BSB BSB: What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”
13 UDB His mother said to him, "If that happens, my son, let the curse be on me. You do what I am telling you. Go and get the goats for me!" BSB BSB: His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”
14 UDB So Jacob went and killed two goats and brought them to his mother. Then his mother prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked. BSB BSB: So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.
15 UDB Then Rebekah took her older son Esau's best clothes that were with her in the tent, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. BSB BSB: And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.
16 UDB She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. BSB BSB: She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 UDB Then she put into his hands some bread and the tasty food that she had prepared. BSB BSB: Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.
18 UDB Jacob took it and went to his father and said, "My father!" Isaac replied, "I am here; which of my sons are you?" BSB BSB: So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”
19 UDB Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn son. I did what you told me to do. Sit up and eat some of the meat so that you can bless me." BSB BSB: 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 bless me.”
20 UDB But Isaac asked his son, "My son, how is it that you were able to find and kill an animal so quickly?" Jacob replied, "Because Yahweh, whom you worship, enabled me to be successful." BSB BSB: But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied.
21 UDB Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near to me, my son, so that I can touch you and find out whether you are really my son Esau." BSB BSB: Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”
22 UDB So Jacob went close to his father, Isaac. Isaac touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands feel hairy, like the hands of his older brother, Esau." BSB BSB: So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 UDB Isaac did not recognize him because he was blind and because Jacob's hands were hairy, like those of his older brother Esau. So Isaac got ready to bless him. BSB BSB: Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
24 UDB But first Isaac asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" Jacob replied, "Yes, I am." BSB BSB: Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.”
25 UDB Isaac said, "My son, bring me some of the meat that you have cooked, so that I may eat it and then give you my blessing." So Jacob brought him some, and he ate it. Jacob also brought him some wine, and he drank it. BSB BSB: “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 UDB Then his father Isaac said to him, "My son, come here and kiss me." BSB BSB: Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”
27 UDB So Jacob went to him, and his father kissed him on the cheek. Isaac smelled the smell of the clothes Jacob was wearing. They smelled like Esau's clothes. So he said, "Truly, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Yahweh has blessed. BSB BSB: So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 UDB I ask that God will send down to you dew from heaven to water your fields, and cause you to have abundant crops from the soil, and good harvests of grain, and grapes for wine. BSB BSB: May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 UDB I ask that people of many peoples serve you and bow down to you. I ask that you rule over your brothers, and that your mother's descendants also bow down to you. I ask that God curse those who curse you, and bless those who bless you." BSB BSB: May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of 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.”
Esau’s Lost Hope 30 UDB After Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just left the room where his father was, his older brother Esau returned from hunting. BSB BSB: As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt.
31 UDB Esau cooked some tasty meat and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "My father, please sit up and eat some of the meat that I have cooked, so that you can then give me your blessing!" BSB BSB: He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
32 UDB His father, Isaac, said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am Esau, your firstborn son!" BSB BSB: But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?” “I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
33 UDB Then Isaac began to tremble very violently. He said, "Then who is it that brought me some meat from an animal that he had hunted and killed, and I ate it all? He was here just before you came. I blessed him, and I cannot take back that blessing." BSB BSB: Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”
34 UDB When Esau heard those words of his father, he cried loudly. He was very disappointed. He said to his father, "My father, bless me, too!" BSB BSB: When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”
35 UDB But his father said, "Your brother came, tricked me, and took your blessing!" BSB BSB: But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 UDB Esau said, "It is right that his name is Jacob because he tricked me two times. The first time he took my rights as firstborn, and this time he took my blessing!" Then he asked, "Do you not have any blessing left for me?" BSB BSB: So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37 UDB Isaac answered and said to Esau, "I have declared that your younger brother will rule over you, and I have declared that all his relatives will serve him. And I have said that God will give him plenty of grain and grapes for wine. So, my son, what can I do for you?" BSB BSB: But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
38 UDB Esau said to his father, "My father, do you have only one blessing? My father, bless me, too!" Then Esau cried very loudly. BSB BSB: Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
39 UDB His father Isaac answered and said to him, "The place where you will live will be far from the fertile soil and from the dew that God sends from heaven to water the fields. BSB BSB: His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above.
40 UDB You will rob and kill people in order to get what you need to live, and you will be as though you are your brother's slave. But when you decide to rebel against him, you will free yourself from his control." BSB BSB: You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.”
41 UDB Because of the blessing that his father had given to Jacob, Esau hated his brother. Esau said to himself, "After my father dies and we finish mourning for him, I will kill Jacob!" BSB BSB: Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 UDB But Rebekah found out what her older son Esau was thinking. So she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Listen to me. Your older brother Esau is comforting himself by planning to kill you, to get revenge for you tricking your father. BSB BSB: When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.
43 UDB So now, my son, listen carefully to what I am telling you. Escape quickly and go and stay with my brother Laban, in Haran. BSB BSB: So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
44 UDB Stay with him a while, until your older brother is no longer angry. BSB BSB: Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides—
45 UDB When he forgets what you did to him, I will send a message to you to tell you to return from there. If Esau killed you, then others would kill him, and then both my sons would die at the same time!" BSB BSB: until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 UDB Rebekah then said to Isaac, "These foreign women whom Esau has married, who are descendants of Heth, are making my life miserable. If Jacob also marries a woman from the descendants of Heth in this area, my life will be worthless!" BSB BSB: Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”