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Genesis 27

Isaac’s blessing passes to Jacob through deception, leaving Esau in bitter grief and the household under threat of violence.

Isaac, old and unable to see, sends Esau to hunt and prepare a meal before receiving his blessing. Rebekah overhears and arranges for Jacob to take his brother’s place, using Esau’s clothes and goat skins to disguise him. Isaac blesses Jacob despite doubts about his voice. When Esau returns, the deception comes to light. His grief turns into a plan to kill Jacob, and Rebekah urges Jacob to flee to her brother Laban.

family conflictenvy and comparisoninjustice and anger
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1When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
2He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death.
3Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison.
4Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”
7‘Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before the LORD before my death.’
8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
9Go now to the flock and get me two good young goats from there. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.
12What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.”
13His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”
14He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
15Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
18He came to his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”
20Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because the LORD your God gave me success.”
21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
23He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.
24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
25He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless you.” He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.
26His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.”
27He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed.
28God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
29Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”
31He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.”
33Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”
34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”
35He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”
36He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
37Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?”
38Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, your dwelling will be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of the sky from above.
40You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you will shake his yoke from off your neck.”
41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
45until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Genesis 27:28Isaac asks God to grant fertile land and abundant food, placing the source of Jacob’s provision in God’s hands.
Genesis 27:29The blessing extends beyond harvests to rule over peoples and brothers, establishing the disputed authority at the heart of the conflict.
Genesis 27:41Esau’s plan to kill Jacob shows how the struggle over blessing has brought the family to the brink of bloodshed.
Where this chapter reaches

Hebrews recalls Isaac’s blessing of Jacob and Esau as concerning their future, and returns to Esau’s tears when seeking the blessing. Deuteronomy shares the blessing language of heavenly dew, grain, and wine, with the land’s abundance depending on God’s provision.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Jacob’s use of God’s name while deceiving Isaac?

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How does Esau’s grief becoming a threat of violence shape your reading of the family’s conflict?

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Questions people ask about Genesis 27

How did Jacob trick Isaac into blessing him?

Rebekah prepared food Isaac liked, dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothes, and covered his hands and neck with goat skins. Isaac could not see. Though he recognized Jacob’s voice, the feel of the skins and smell of the clothes persuaded him. Jacob also claimed to be Esau.

Why couldn’t Isaac take back Jacob’s blessing?

Isaac treats the blessing as settled once spoken, even after discovering the deception. He confirms that Jacob will remain blessed and tells Esau he has already given Jacob authority over his brothers. The chapter does not explain a formal rule about revoking blessings; it records Isaac’s insistence that this one stands.

Did Esau receive a blessing in Genesis 27?

Isaac does speak over Esau after his repeated pleas, describing his dwelling, a life by the sword, and service to his brother. He also foretells Esau breaking free from that rule. These words leave Jacob’s position intact while naming both hardship and eventual release from his yoke for Esau.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).