Side by side
Genesis 27
Our retelling next to the Bible text it comes from. Each row lines up one scene with the verses it retells.
Scene 5: Isaac Is OldVerses 1 to 4
Many years passed. Isaac grew old. His eyes were so weak that he could not see.
Isaac called for Esau, his older son.
Isaac said, "I am old. I don't know when I will die." He told Esau to take his bow and hunt some game. Then Esau should cook the tasty food Isaac loved, "so that I may bless you before I die" (27:4).
A father's blessing was a prayer and a promise for a son's whole future. Isaac meant it for his favorite, Esau.
But God had said something different. Remember, before the twins were born, God said the older would serve the younger.
1When 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“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death. 3Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me. 4Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
Scene 6: Rebekah's PlanVerses 5 to 17
Rebekah was listening. When Esau went out to hunt, she went to Jacob. She told him what she had heard.
"Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly what I tell you." She told Jacob to bring two young goats from the flock. She would cook them the way Isaac liked. Then Jacob would take the food to Isaac and get the blessing.
Jacob was worried. "My brother Esau is a hairy man, but my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me?" Then Isaac would know that Jacob was a deceiver. A deceiver is someone who tricks people on purpose. Jacob might get a curse instead of a blessing.
Jacob did not say the plan was wrong. He was afraid of getting caught.
Rebekah said, "Let the curse fall on me, my son. Do what I say."
So Jacob brought the goats, and Rebekah cooked them. She dressed Jacob in Esau's best clothes. She put the goat skins on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed him the food and the bread.
The Bible doesn't say why Rebekah made this plan. But remember: God had already promised that the older would serve the younger. God did not need a lie to keep that promise.
5Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau, 7‘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.’ 8Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you. 9Go 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. 10Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned. 12What 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.” 13His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.” 14So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved. 15And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob. 16She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.
Scene 7: "I Am Esau"Verses 18 to 29
Jacob went in to his father. "My father," he said. Isaac answered, "Which one are you, my son?"
Jacob lied. "I am Esau, your firstborn" (27:19).
Isaac asked, "How did you find it so fast?" Jacob said the LORD had brought it to him. That was a lie too. Jacob used God's name to make his lie sound true.
Isaac touched him and felt the hairy hands. He said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau" (27:22).
Isaac asked again, "Are you really my son Esau?" Jacob said, "I am."
Isaac ate and drank. Jacob kissed him. Isaac smelled Esau's clothes, and he blessed Jacob.
Isaac prayed that God would give Jacob dew from the sky and rich land, with plenty of grain and wine. "May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers" (27:29).
18So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?” 19Jacob 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.” 20But 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. 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?” 22So 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.” 23Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.” 25“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. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” 27So 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. 28May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth— an abundance of grain and new wine. 29May 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.”
Scene 8: A Loud and Bitter CryVerses 30 to 40
Jacob had barely left when Esau came back from hunting. Esau cooked his food and brought it in. "My father, sit up and eat, so that you may bless me."
Isaac said, "Who are you?" Esau answered, "I am Esau, your firstborn son."
Isaac began to shake all over. He was in shock. Someone else had brought him food. Isaac had already blessed that person. "And indeed, he will be blessed" (27:33).
Esau heard his father's words. "He let out a loud and bitter cry" (27:34). He begged, "Bless me too, O my father!" (27:34).
Esau's pain was real. His own brother had tricked him. His father's blessing was gone. This was grief. The story does not laugh at Esau.
Isaac said, "Your brother came and tricked you. He took your blessing."
Esau said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? He has cheated me twice." Esau meant that Jacob's name fit him. First Jacob took the birthright. Now he had taken the blessing.
Esau asked, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?" Isaac said he had already made Jacob Esau's master. "What is left that I can do for you, my son?"
Esau asked, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too." Then Esau wept out loud.
Isaac's words for Esau were hard to hear. Esau would live away from the rich land. He would live by the sword and serve his brother. But when Esau rebelled, he would break free from his brother's rule.
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt. 31He 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.” 32But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?” “I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered. 33Isaac 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!” 34When 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!” 35But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” 36So 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?” 37But 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?” 38Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. 39His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above. 40You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.”
Scene 9: Jacob RunsVerses 41 to 45
Esau held a grudge. A grudge is anger you keep holding on to. Esau said to himself that his father would die soon. Then he would kill his brother Jacob.
Rebekah heard about Esau's plan. She sent for Jacob and warned him.
"Run to my brother Laban in Haran," she said. "Stay with him until your brother is no longer angry and forgets what you did. Then I will send for you."
Then Rebekah said, "Why should I lose both of you in one day?" (27:45). Rebekah was afraid of losing both her sons on the same day.
The lie had worked. Jacob had the blessing. But now Jacob had to leave home alone, because his brother wanted to kill him. Years later, Jacob's uncle Laban would trick him too.
But God still had plans for Jacob. On the road, Jacob stopped for the night. He dreamed of a ladder reaching up to heaven. The LORD stood above it and said, "Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go" (28:15).
Twenty years later, the brothers met again. Jacob was afraid. "Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him" (33:4). They both wept.
God kept his promise to a family that did not deserve it.
41Esau 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.” 42When 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. 43So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. 44Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides— 45until 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?”
Between scenesVerse 46
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
46Then 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?”
Your pair of translations is remembered on this device for other chapters.