| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1One day when Isaac was old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, “My son.” “Yes, Father?” Esau replied. | 1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son!" "Here I am!" Esau replied. |
| 2“I am an old man now,” Isaac said, “and I don’t know when I may die. | 2Isaac said, "Since I am so old, I could die at any time. |
| 3Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. | 3Therefore, take your weapons--your quiver and your bow--and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me. |
| 4Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.” | 4Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then I will eat it so that I may bless you before I die." |
| 5But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game, | 5Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, |
| 6she said to her son Jacob, “Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau, | 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, |
| 7‘Bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will bless you in the LORD’s presence before I die.’ | 7Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.' |
| 8Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. | 8Now then, my son, do exactly what I tell you! |
| 9Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish. | 9Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I'll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. |
| 10Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.” | 10Then you will take it to your father. Thus he will eat it and bless you before he dies." |
| 11“But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. | 11"But Esau my brother is a hairy man," Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, "and I have smooth skin! |
| 12What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.” | 12My father may touch me! Then he'll think I'm mocking him and I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing." |
| 13But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!” | 13So his mother told him, "Any curse against you will fall on me, my son! Just obey me! Go and get them for me!" |
| 14So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebekah took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Isaac liked it. | 14So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. |
| 15Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Jacob. | 15Then Rebekah took her older son Esau's best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. |
| 16She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats. | 16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. |
| 17Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread. | 17Then she handed the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob. |
| 18So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?” he said. “Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—Esau or Jacob?” | 18He went to his father and said, "My father!" Isaac replied, "Here I am. Which are you, my son?" |
| 19Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.” | 19Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me." |
| 20Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” “The LORD your God put it in my path!” Jacob replied. | 20But Isaac asked his son, "How in the world did you find it so quickly, my son?" "Because the LORD your God brought it to me," he replied. |
| 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.” | 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau." |
| 22So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” Isaac said. | 22So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's." |
| 23But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. | 23He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. |
| 24“But are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “Yes, I am,” Jacob replied. | 24Then he asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" "I am," Jacob replied. |
| 25Then Isaac said, “Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.” So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. | 25Isaac said, "Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. Then I will bless you." So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac drank. |
| 26Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.” | 26Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here and kiss me, my son." |
| 27So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the LORD has blessed! | 27So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying, "Yes, my son smells like the scent of an open field which the LORD has blessed. |
| 28“From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. | 28May God give you the dew of the sky and the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. |
| 29May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.” | 29May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be lord over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed." |
| 30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunt. | 30Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left his father's presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. |
| 31Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, “Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing.” | 31He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau said to him, "My father, get up and eat some of your son's wild game. Then you can bless me." |
| 32But Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” Esau replied, “It’s your son, your firstborn son, Esau.” | 32His father Isaac asked, "Who are you?" "I am your firstborn son," he replied, "Esau!" |
| 33Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, “Then who just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I blessed him just before you came. And yes, that blessing must stand!” | 33Isaac began to shake violently and asked, "Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. He will indeed be blessed!" |
| 34When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me? Bless me, too!” he begged. | 34When Esau heard his father's words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, "Bless me too, my father!" |
| 35But Isaac said, “Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing.” | 35But Isaac replied, "Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing." |
| 36Esau exclaimed, “No wonder his name is Jacob, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, haven’t you saved even one blessing for me?” | 36Esau exclaimed, "'Jacob' is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!" Then he asked, "Have you not kept back a blessing for me?" |
| 37Isaac said to Esau, “I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine—what is left for me to give you, my son?” | 37Isaac replied to Esau, "Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?" |
| 38Esau pleaded, “But do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!” Then Esau broke down and wept. | 38Esau said to his father, "Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!" Then Esau wept loudly. |
| 39Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, “You will live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above. | 39So his father Isaac said to him, "Indeed, your home will be away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the sky above. |
| 40You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.” Jacob Flees to Paddan-Aram | 40You will live by your sword but you will serve your brother. When you grow restless, you will tear off his yoke from your neck." |
| 41From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.” | 41So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, "The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!" |
| 42But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told him, “Listen, Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. | 42When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, "Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. |
| 43So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran. | 43Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran. |
| 44Stay there with him until your brother cools off. | 44Live with him for a little while until your brother's rage subsides. |
| 45When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” | 45Stay there until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I'll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?" |
| 46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.” | 46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am deeply depressed because of these daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!" |
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