Genesis 27 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

When Isaac was old and his eyes had grown too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said, "My son." Esau answered, "I'm here."

Isaac said, "Look, I'm old now. I don't know when I might die."

"So take your gear — your quiver and bow — and go out to the open country and hunt some wild game for me."

"Then make me the kind of rich-tasting food I love and bring it to me so I can eat it and give you my innermost blessing before I die."

Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back,

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I just overheard your father telling your brother Esau,"

"'Bring me some wild game and make me rich-tasting food so I can eat it and then give you my blessing in Yahweh's presence before I die.'"

"Now, my son, listen carefully and do exactly what I tell you."

"Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats so I can prepare them into the kind of rich-tasting food your father loves."

"Then you'll take it in to your father, and he'll eat it so that he gives you his blessing before he dies."

But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, "Look, my brother Esau is covered in hair, and my skin is smooth."

"What if my father touches me? I'll look like I'm making a fool of him, and I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing."

His mother said, "Let the curse fall on me, my son. Just do what I say — go get the goats for me."

So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared the rich-tasting food just the way his father loved it.

Then Rebekah took the finest clothes belonging to her older son Esau — the ones she kept in the house — and put them on her younger son Jacob.

She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins.

Then she handed her son Jacob the rich-tasting food and the bread she had prepared.

He went to his father and said, "My father." Isaac answered, "I'm here. Which son are you?"

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done what you told me. Please, sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can give me your innermost blessing."

Isaac said to his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because Yahweh your God put it right in my path."

Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer so I can touch you, my son — to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

Jacob moved close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are Esau's hands."

He didn't recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he prepared to give the blessing.

He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" And Jacob said, "I am."

Isaac said, "Bring it close to me and let me eat some of my son's game, so that I can give you my innermost blessing." Jacob brought it close, and Isaac ate. He also brought him wine, and he drank.

Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come close now and kiss me, my son."

So he came close and kissed him. And Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and spoke this blessing over him: "Yes — the smell of my son is like the smell of an open field that Yahweh has favored."

"May God give you heaven's dew and the richness of the earth — an abundance of grain and new wine."

"May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Anyone who curses you will be cursed, and anyone who speaks well of you will be favored."

Isaac had barely finished giving his blessing to Jacob — Jacob had just walked out from his father's presence — when his brother Esau came in from his hunt.

He too prepared rich-tasting food and brought it to his father. He said, "Father, sit up and eat some of your son's game, so that you can give me your innermost blessing."

His father Isaac said, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son — your firstborn — Esau."

Isaac began to tremble violently and said, "Then who was it that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I gave him the blessing — and yes, he will stay in the place of favor."

When Esau heard his father's words, he let out a loud and deeply bitter cry and said, "Give me a blessing too, Father!"

But Isaac answered, "Your brother came with deception and took away your blessing."

Esau said, "Isn't his name fitting — Jacob — the one who grabs your heel? He has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and now look — he's taken my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you saved even one blessing for me?"

Isaac answered Esau, "Look, I've already made him master over you and given all his brothers to him as servants. I've provided him with grain and new wine. So what could I possibly do for you, my son?"

Esau said to his father, "Do you only have one blessing, Father? Give me a blessing too, Father!" And Esau broke down and wept.

Then his father Isaac answered him: "Look — your dwelling will be away from the richness of the earth, away from heaven's dew above."

"You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will tear his yoke from your neck."

Esau held a bitter grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near. Then I will kill my brother Jacob."

When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau was saying, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Listen — your brother Esau is planning to get his revenge by killing you."

"So now, my son, listen to me. Get up and run to my brother Laban in Haran."

"Stay with him for a while until your brother's rage dies down — "

"until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you did to him. Then I'll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in a single day?"

Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm sick of living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these local Hittite women, what's the point of living?"