Genesis 27 - Simple English

1When Isaac was old, his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. He called Esau his oldest son and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am."

2He said, "Look, I am old. I do not know the day of my death."

3So now take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt some venison for me.

4"Make me tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me, so that I may eat. Then my soul will bless you before I die."

5Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and bring it back.

6Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son and said, "Look, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother. He said,"

7'Bring me venison and make me tasty food, so that I may eat, and bless you before the LORD before my death.'

8So now, my son, listen to my voice and do what I tell you.

9Go now to the flock, and bring me from there two good young goats. I will make them into tasty food for your father, the kind he loves.

10"You will bring it to your father, so that he may eat, and so that he may bless you before his death."

11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man."

12"Perhaps my father will touch me, and I will seem to him like a cheat. Then I will bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."

13His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only listen to my voice, and go and bring them to me."

14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother. His mother made tasty food, the kind his father loved.

15Rebekah took the fine clothes of Esau her oldest son, which she had with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

17Then she gave the tasty food and the bread she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

18He came to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"

19Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please get up, sit and eat some of my venison, so that your soul may bless me."

20Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God brought it to me."

21Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, so that I may touch you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."

22Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He touched him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

23He did not know him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.

24He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am."

25He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat some of my son's venison, so that my soul may bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank.

26Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near now and kiss me, my son."

27He came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his clothes, and blessed him, and said, "See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed."

28So may God give you the dew of heaven, and the richness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.

29"Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you."

30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31He also had made tasty food, and he brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat some of his son's venison, so that your soul may bless me."

32Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."

33Isaac shook very greatly, and said, "Who then was it that hunted venison and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came, and I blessed him. Yes, and he will be blessed."

34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and very bitter cry. He said to his father, "Bless me, me also, my father."

35He said, "Your brother came with trickery, and has taken away your blessing."

36And Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has tripped me up these two times. He took away my birthright, and look, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not kept back a blessing for me?"

37Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Look, I have made him your lord, and I have given him all his brothers as servants. With corn and wine I have kept him strong. So what can I do now for you, my son?"

38Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

39Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Look, your home will be away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of heaven above."

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

41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had blessed him with. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are near. Then I will kill my brother Jacob."

42These words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, "Look, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you."

43So now, my son, listen to my voice. Get up and run away to Laban my brother in Haran.

44Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away,

45"until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

46And Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these women of the land, what good will my life be to me?"