Genesis 27:9-14

27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare ¹  them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 27:10 Then you will take ²  it to your father. Thus he will eat it ³  and ⁴  bless you before he dies.”

27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! ⁵  27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him ⁶  and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, ⁷  my son! Just obey me! ⁸  Go and get them for me!”

27:14 So he went and got the goats ⁹  and brought them to his mother. She ¹⁰  prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it.

[27:9]  ¹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:10]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “so that.” The conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:11]  ³ tn Heb “And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth [skinned] man.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Perhaps my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes like a mocker.” The Hebrew expression “I will be in his eyes like” means “I would appear to him as.”

[27:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “upon me your curse.”

[27:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “only listen to my voice.”

[27:14]  ⁶ tn The words “the goats” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “his mother.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “she” in the translation for stylistic reasons.