During the seventh year of this week [2114] Isaac summoned his older son Esau and said to him: ‘My son, I have grown old and now have difficulty seeing, but I do not know when I will die.

Now take your hunting gear — your quiver and your bow — and go to the field. Hunt on my behalf and catch (something) for me, my son. Then prepare (some) food for me just as I like (it) and bring (it) to me so that I may eat (it) and bless you before I die’.

Now Rebecca was listening as Isaac was talking to Esau.

When Esau went out early to the open territory to trap (something), catch (it), and bring (it) to his father,

Rebecca summoned her son Jacob and said to him: ‘I have just heard your father Isaac saying to your brother Esau: «Trap (something) for me, prepare me (some) food, bring (it) to me, and let me eat (it). Then I will bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die».

Now, therefore, listen, my son, to what I am ordering you. Go to your flock and take for me two excellent kids. Let me prepare them as food for your father just as he likes (it). You are to take (it) to your father, and he is to eat it so that he may bless you in the Lord’s presence before he dies and you may be blessed’.

But Jacob said to his mother Rebecca: ‘Mother, I will not be sparing about anything that my father eats and that pleases him, but I am afraid, mother, that he will recognize my voice and wish to touch me.

You know that I am smooth while my brother Esau is hairy. I will look to him like someone who does what is wrong. I would be doing something that he did not order me (to do), and he would get angry at me. Then I would bring a curse on myself, not a blessing’.

But his mother Rebecca said to him: ‘Let your curse be on me, my son; just obey me’.

So Jacob obeyed his mother Rebecca. He went and took two excellent, fat kids and brought them to his mother. His mother prepared them as he liked (them).

Rebecca then took her older son Esau’s favorite clothes that were present with her in the house. She dressed her younger son Jacob (in them) and placed the goatskins on his forearms and on the exposed parts of his neck.

She then put the food and bread which she had prepared in her son Jacob’s hand.

He went in to his father and said: ‘I am your son. I have done as you told me. Get up, have a seat, and eat some of what I have caught, father, so that you may bless me’.

Isaac said to his son: ‘How have you managed to find (it) so quickly, my son’?

Jacob said: ‘It was your God who made me find (it) in front of me’.

Then Isaac said to him: ‘Come close and let me touch you, my son, (so that I can tell) whether you are my son Esau or not’.

Jacob came close to his father Isaac. When he touched him he said:

‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the forearms are Esau’s forearms’. He did not recognize him because there was a turn of affairs from heaven to distract his mind. Isaac did not recognize (him) because his forearms were hairy like Esau’s forearms so that he should bless him.

He said: ‘Are you my son Esau’? He said: ‘I am your son’. Then he said: ‘Bring (it) to me and let me eat some of what you have caught, my son, so that I may bless you’.

He then brought him (food) and he ate; he brought him wine and he drank.

His father Isaac said to him: ‘Come close and kiss me, my son’. He came close and kissed him.

When he smelled the fragrant aroma of his clothes, he blessed him and said: ‘Indeed the aroma of my son is like the aroma of a field which the Lord has blessed.

May the Lord grant to you and and multiply for you(your share) of the dew of heaven and the dew of the earth;may he multiply grain and oil for you.May the nations serve you,and the peoples bow to you.

Become lord of your brothers;may the sons of your mother bow to you.May all the blessings with which the Lord has blessed me and blessed my father Abrahambelong to you and your descendants forever.May the one who curses you be cursed,and the one who blesses you be blessed’.

After Isaac had finished blessing his son Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, he hid and his brother Esau arrived from his hunting.

He, too, prepared food and brought (it) to his father. He said to his father: ‘Let my father rise and eat some of what I have caught and so that you may bless me’.

His father Isaac said to him: ‘Who are you’? He said to him: ‘I am your first-born, your son Esau. I have done as you ordered me’.

Then Isaac was absolutely dumbfounded and said: ‘Who was the one who hunted, caught (something) for me, and brought (it)? I ate some of everything before you came and blessed him. He and all his descendants are to be blessed forever’.

When Esau heard what his father Isaac said, he cried out very loudly and bitterly and said to his father: ‘Bless me too, father’.

He said to him: ‘Your brother came deceptively and took your blessings’. He said: ‘Now I know the reason why he was named Jacob. This is now the second time that he has cheated me. The first time he took my birthright and now he has taken my blessing’.

He said: ‘Have you not saved a blessing for me, father’? Isaac said in reply to Esau: ‘I have just now designated him as your lord. I have given him all his brothers to be his servants. I have strengthened him with an abundance of grain, wine, and oil. So, what shall I now do for you, my son’?

Esau said to his father Isaac: ‘Do you have just one blessing, father? Bless me too, father’. Then Esau cried loudly.

Isaac said in reply to him: ‘The place where you live is indeed to be (away) from the dew of the earth and from the dew of heaven above.

You will live by your sword and will serve your brother. May it be that, if you become great and remove his yoke from your neck, then you will commit an offence fully worthy of death and your descendants will be eradicated from beneath the sky’.

Esau kept threatening Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. He said to himself: ‘The time of mourning for my father is now approaching. Then I will kill my brother Jacob’.