Genesis 25:34

25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. ¹  So Esau despised his birthright. ² 

Numbers 13:32

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ³  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ⁴  to investigate is a land that devours ⁵  its inhabitants. ⁶  All the people we saw there ⁷  are of great stature.

Numbers 14:31

14:31 But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, ⁸  and they will enjoy ⁹  the land that you have despised.

Matthew 22:5

22:5 But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.

Hebrews 12:16

12:16 And see to it that no one becomes ¹⁰  an immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ¹¹ 

¹ sn The style here is typical of Hebrew narrative; after the tension is resolved with the dialogue, the working out of it is recorded in a rapid sequence of verbs (“gave”; “ate”; “drank”; “got up”; “went out”). See also Gen 3:1-7 for another example.

² sn So Esau despised his birthright. This clause, which concludes the episode, is a summary statement which reveals the underlying significance of Esau’s actions. “To despise” means to treat something as worthless or with contempt. Esau’s willingness to sell his birthright was evidence that he considered it to be unimportant.

³ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

⁴ tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

⁵ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

⁶ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

⁷ tn Heb “in its midst.”

⁸ tn Or “plunder.”

⁹ tn Heb “know.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “that there not be any,” continuing from v. 15.

¹¹ sn An allusion to Gen 27:34-41.