Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!”

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

SO ESAU DESPISED HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “Go out to hunt some wild game for me, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son and put them on her younger son Jacob. He went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing.”

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him.

After Isaac finished blessing him, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. “My father, sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”

Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”

Esau said, “Jacob has deceived me these two times: HE TOOK MY BIRTHRIGHT, AND NOW HE’S TAKEN MY BLESSING!” Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He 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 had said, she said to Jacob, “Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.”

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added