Barashyt(Genesis) — 27

1 Now Yachaq was old and turning blind, he called for Asau, his older son, and said, “My son. “Yes, Father?” Asau replied.

2 “I am an old man now,” Yachaq said, “and I don’t know when I may die. 

3 Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 

4 Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the Barakah that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.”

5 But Rabakah overheard what Yachaq had said to his son Asau. So when Asau left to hunt for the wild game, 

6 Rabakah said to her son Ya'aqub, “Listen. I overheard your father say to Asau, 

7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will barak you in 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH’s presence before I die.’ 

8 Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. 

9 Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish. 

10 Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and barak you before he dies.”

11 “But look,” Ya'aqub replied to Rabakah, “my brother, Asau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. 

12 What if my father touches me? He will see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he will curse me instead of Barakah.”

13 But his mother replied, “Then let the curse fall on me, my son! Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me!”

14 So Ya'aqub went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rabakah took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Yachaq liked it. 

15 Then she took Asau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Ya'aqub. 

16 She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats. 

17 Then she gave Ya'aqub the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread.

18 So Ya'aqub took the food to his father. “My father?” he said. “Yes, my son,” Yachaq answered. “Who are you, Asau or Ya'aqub?”

19 Ya'aqub replied, “It’s Asau, your firstborn son. I have done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your Barakah.”

20 Yachaq asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?” 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH put it in my path!” Ya'aqub replied.

21 Then Yachaq said to Ya'aqub, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Asau.” 

22 So Ya'aqub went closer to his father, and Yachaq touched him. “The voice is Ya'aqub’s, but the hands are Asau’s,” Yachaq said. 

23 But he did not recognize Ya'aqub, because Ya'aqub’s hands felt hairy just like Asau’s. So Yachaq prepared to barak Ya'aqub. 

24 “But are you really my son Asau?” he asked. “Yes, I am,” Ya'aqub replied.

25 Then Yachaq said, “Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my Barakah.” So Ya'aqub took the food to his father, and Yachaq ate it. He also drank the wine that Ya'aqub served him. 

26 Then Yachaq said to Ya'aqub, “Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.”

27 So Ya'aqub went over and kissed him. And when Yachaq caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he barak his son. He said, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH has Barak!

28 “From the dew of Shamaym  and the richness of the Arath (earth), may 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine.

29 May many nations become your servants,    and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who barak you will be Barak.”

30 As soon as Yachaq had finished the Barakah to Ya'aqub, and almost before Ya'aqub had left his father, Asau returned from his hunt. 

31 Asau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, “Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your Baraka.”

32 But Yachaq asked him, “Who are you?” Asau replied, “It’s your son, your firstborn son, Asau.”

33 Yachaq began to tremble uncontrollably and said, “Then who just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I barak him just before you came. And yes, that Barakah must stand!”

34 When Asau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry. “Oh my father, what about me? Barak me, too!” he begged.

35 But Yachaq said, “Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your Barakah.”

36 Asau exclaimed, “No wonder his name is Ya'aqub, for now he has cheated me twice. First he took my rights as the firstborn, and now he has stolen my Barakah. Oh, haven’t you saved even one Barakah for me?”

37 Yachaq said to Asau, “I have made Ya'aqub your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine—what is left for me to give you, my son?”

38 Asau pleaded, “But do you have only one Barakah? Oh my father, barak me, too!” Then Asau broke down and wept.

39 Finally, his father, Yachaq, said to him, “You will live away from the richness of the Arath (earth), and away from the dew of the Shamaym above.

40 You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.”

41 From that time on, Asau hated Ya'aqub because their father had given Ya'aqub the Barakah. And Asau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Ya'aqub.”

42 But Rabakah heard about Asau’s plans. So she sent for Ya'aqub and told him, “Listen, Asau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. 

43 So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran. 

44 Stay there with him until your brother cools off. 

45 When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

46 Then Rabakah said to Yachaq, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Ya'aqub marry one of them.”