Genesis 27:5-10

27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. ¹  When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, ²  27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, 27:7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat ³  it and bless you ⁴  in the presence of the Lord ⁵  before I die.’ 27:8 Now then, my son, do ⁶  exactly what I tell you! ⁷  27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare ⁸  them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 27:10 Then you will take ⁹  it to your father. Thus he will eat it ¹⁰  and ¹¹  bless you before he dies.”

[27:5]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by a conjunction with the subject, followed by the predicate) here introduces a new scene in the story.

[27:5]  ² tc The LXX adds here “to his father,” which may have been accidentally omitted in the MT.

[27:7]  ³ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:7]  ⁴ tn The cohortative, with the prefixed conjunction, also expresses logical sequence. See vv. 4, 19, 27.

[27:7]  ⁵ tn In her report to Jacob, Rebekah plays down Isaac’s strong desire to bless Esau by leaving out נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”), but by adding the phrase “in the presence of the Lord,” she stresses how serious this matter is.

[27:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “listen to my voice.” The Hebrew idiom means “to comply; to obey.”

[27:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “to that which I am commanding you.”

[27:9]  ⁷ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:10]  ⁹ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive. It carries forward the tone of instruction initiated by the command to “go…and get” in the preceding verse.

[27:10]  ¹⁰ tn The form is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the future nuance of the preceding verbs of instruction, but by switching the subject to Jacob, indicates the expected result of the subterfuge.

[27:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so that.” The conjunction indicates purpose or result.