Genesis 27:30-45

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ¹  his father’s ²  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ³  27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau ⁴  said to him, “My father, get up ⁵  and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” ⁶  27:32 His father Isaac asked, ⁷  “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” ⁸  he replied, “Esau!” 27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ⁹  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. ¹⁰  He will indeed be blessed!”

27:34 When Esau heard ¹¹  his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. ¹²  He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 27:35 But Isaac ¹³  replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away ¹⁴  your blessing.” 27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! ¹⁵  He has tripped me up ¹⁶  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?”

27:37 Isaac 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?” 27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” ¹⁷  Then Esau wept loudly. ¹⁸ 

27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,

“Indeed, ¹⁹  your home will be

away from the richness ²⁰  of the earth,

and away from the dew of the sky above.

27:40 You will live by your sword

but you will serve your brother.

When you grow restless,

you will tear off his yoke

from your neck.” ²¹ 

27:41 So Esau hated ²²  Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. ²³  Esau said privately, ²⁴  “The time ²⁵  of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill ²⁶  my brother Jacob!”

27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, ²⁷  she quickly summoned ²⁸  her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. ²⁹  27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. ³⁰  Run away immediately ³¹  to my brother Laban in Haran. 27:44 Live with him for a little while ³²  until your brother’s rage subsides. 27:45 Stay there ³³  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. ³⁴  Why should I lose both of you in one day?” ³⁵ 

[27:30]  ¹ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.

[27:30]  ² tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was

[27:30]  ³ tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”

[27:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he said to his father”; the referent of “he” (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity, while the words “his father” have been replaced by the pronoun “him” for stylistic reasons.

[27:31]  ⁵ tn Or “arise” (i.e., sit up).

[27:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.”

[27:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[27:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I [am] your son, your firstborn.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[27:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[27:34]  ¹¹ tn The temporal clause is introduced with the temporal indicator and has the infinitive as its verb.

[27:34]  ¹² tn Heb “and he yelled [with] a great and bitter yell to excess.”

[27:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:35]  ¹⁴ tn Or “took”; “received.”

[27:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.

[27:36]  ¹⁶ sn He has tripped me up. When originally given, the name Jacob was a play on the word “heel” (see Gen 25:26). The name (since it is a verb) probably means something like “may he protect,” that is, as a rearguard, dogging the heels. This name was probably chosen because of the immediate association with the incident of grabbing the heel. Esau gives the name “Jacob” a negative connotation here, the meaning “to trip up; to supplant.”

[27:38]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Bless me, me also, my father.” The words “my father” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:38]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and Esau lifted his voice and wept.”

[27:39]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “look.”

[27:39]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from the fatness.”

[27:40]  ²¹ sn You will tear off his yoke from your neck. It may be that this prophetic blessing found its fulfillment when Jerusalem fell and Edom got its revenge. The oracle makes Edom subservient to Israel and suggests the Edomites would live away from the best land and be forced to sustain themselves by violent measures.

[27:41]  ²² tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.

[27:41]  ²³ tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”

[27:41]  ²⁴ tn Heb “said in his heart.” The expression may mean “said to himself.” Even if this is the case, v. 42 makes it clear that he must have shared his intentions with someone, because the news reached Rebekah.

[27:41]  ²⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[27:41]  ²⁶ tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.

[27:42]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”

[27:42]  ²⁸ tn Heb “she sent and called for.”

[27:42]  ²⁹ tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.

[27:43]  ³⁰ tn Heb “listen to my voice.”

[27:43]  ³¹ tn Heb “arise, flee.”

[27:44]  ³² tn Heb “a few days.” Rebekah probably downplays the length of time Jacob will be gone, perhaps to encourage him and assure him that things will settle down soon. She probably expects Esau’s anger to die down quickly. However, Jacob ends up being gone twenty years and he never sees Rebekah again.

[27:45]  ³³ tn The words “stay there” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:45]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and I will send and I will take you from there.” The verb “send” has no object in the Hebrew text; one must be supplied in the translation. Either “someone” or “a message” could be supplied, but since in those times a message would require a messenger, “someone” has been used.

[27:45]  ³⁵ tn If Jacob stayed, he would be killed and Esau would be forced to run away.