Genesis 27:4

27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then ¹  I will eat it so that I may bless you ²  before I die.”

Genesis 27:28-29

27:28 May God give you

the dew of the sky ³ 

and the richness ⁴  of the earth,

and plenty of grain and new wine.

27:29 May peoples serve you

and nations bow down to you.

You will be ⁵  lord ⁶  over your brothers,

and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. ⁷ 

May those who curse you be cursed,

and those who bless you be blessed.”

Genesis 27:34-40

27:34 When Esau heard ⁸  his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. ⁹  He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 27:35 But Isaac ¹⁰  replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away ¹¹  your blessing.” 27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! ¹²  He has tripped me up ¹³  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!” ¹⁴  Then Esau wept loudly. ¹⁵ 

27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,

“Indeed, ¹⁶  your home will be

away from the richness ¹⁷  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.” ¹⁸ 

Genesis 28:3-4

28:3 May the sovereign God ¹⁹  bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! ²⁰  Then you will become ²¹  a large nation. ²²  28:4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham ²³  so that you may possess the land ²⁴  God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.” ²⁵ 

Genesis 49:28

49:28 These ²⁶  are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. ²⁷ 

Deuteronomy 33:1

Introduction to the Blessing of Moses

33:1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.

Hebrews 11:21

11:21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped as he leaned on his staff. ²⁸ 

[27:4]  ¹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:4]  ² tn Heb “so that my soul may bless you.” The use of נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) as the subject emphasizes that the blessing will be made with all Isaac’s desire and vitality. The conjunction “so that” closely relates the meal to the blessing, suggesting that this will be a ritual meal in conjunction with the giving of a formal blessing.

[27:28]  ³ tn Heb “and from the dew of the sky.”

[27:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “and from the fatness.”

[27:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “and be.” The verb is an imperative, which is used rhetorically in this oracle of blessing. It is an invitation to exercise authority his brothers and indicates that he is granted such authority by the patriarch of the family. Furthermore, the blessing enables the recipient to accomplish this.

[27:29]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew word is גְבִיר (gevir, “lord, mighty one”). The one being blessed will be stronger and therefore more powerful than his brother. See Gen 25:23. The feminine form of this rare noun means “mistress” or “queen-mother.”

[27:29]  ⁷ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (which is either an imperfect or a jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:34]  ⁸ tn The temporal clause is introduced with the temporal indicator and has the infinitive as its verb.

[27:34]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he yelled [with] a great and bitter yell to excess.”

[27:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:35]  ¹¹ tn Or “took”; “received.”

[27:36]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Bless me, me also, my father.” The words “my father” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:38]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and Esau lifted his voice and wept.”

[27:39]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “look.”

[27:39]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “from the fatness.”

[27:40]  ¹⁸ 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.

[28:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[28:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and make you fruitful and multiply you.” See Gen 17:6, 20 for similar terminology.

[28:3]  ²¹ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here indicates consequence. The collocation הָיָה + preposition לְ (hayah + lÿ) means “become.”

[28:3]  ²² tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”

[28:4]  ²³ tn Heb “and may he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you.” The name “Abraham” is an objective genitive here; this refers to the blessing that God gave to Abraham.

[28:4]  ²⁴ tn The words “the land” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the land of your sojournings,” that is, the land where Jacob had been living as a resident alien, as his future descendants would after him.

[49:28]  ²⁶ tn Heb “All these.”

[49:28]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he blessed them, each of whom according to his blessing, he blessed them.”

[11:21]  ²⁸ tn Grk “worshiped on the top of his staff,” a quotation from Gen 47:31 (LXX).