Genesis 27:35

Easy-to-Read Version

Isaac said, "Your brother tricked me! He came and took your blessing!"

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing."

Update Bible Version
And he said, Your brother came with guile, and has taken away your blessing.

New Century Version
But Isaac said, "Your brother came and tricked me. He has taken your blessing."

New English Translation
But Isaac replied, "Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing."

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

World English Bible
He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing."

Amplified Bible
Isaac said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has [fraudulently] taken away your blessing [for himself]."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Which seide, Thy brother cam prudentli, and took thi blessyng.

Young's Literal Translation
and he saith, `Thy brother hath come with subtilty, and taketh thy blessing.'

Berean Standard Bible
But Isaac replied, "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing."

Contemporary English Version
Isaac answered, "Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing."

Complete Jewish Bible
He replied, "Your brother came deceitfully and took away your blessing."

American Standard Version
And he said, Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing.

Bible in Basic English
And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Who aunswered. Thy brother came with subtiltie, and hath taken awaye thy blessyng.

Darby Translation
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and has taken away thy blessing.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he said: 'Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing.'

King James Version (1611)
And hee said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

King James Version
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

New Life Bible
But Isaac said, "Your brother came in and fooled me. He has taken away the good that was to come to you."

New Revised Standard
But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then he said, Thy brother came in with deceit, - and took away thy blessing.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Who answered, Thy brother came with subtiltie, and hath taken away thy blessing.

George Lamsa Translation
But his father said, Your brother came with deceit, and has already received your blessing.

Good News Translation
Isaac answered, "Your brother came and deceived me. He has taken away your blessing."

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said: Thy brother came deceitfully and got thy blessing.

Revised Standard Version
But he said, "Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing."

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he said to him, Thy brother has come with subtlety, and taken thy blessing.

English Revised Version
And he said, Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing.

Christian Standard Bible®
But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Hebrew Names Version
He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing."

Lexham English Bible
And he said, "Your brother came in deceit and took your blessing."

Literal Translation
And he said, Your brother came with deceit and took your blessing.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But he sayde: Thy brother came with sotyltie, and hath taken thy blessinge awaye.

THE MESSAGE
"Your brother," he said, "came here falsely and took your blessing."

New American Standard Bible
And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."

New King James Version
But he said, "Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing."

New Living Translation
But Isaac said, "Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has taken away your blessing."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."

Legacy Standard Bible
And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."

Contextual Overview

³⁰ Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. ³¹ Esau prepared the food in the special way his father loved. He brought it to his father and said, "Father, I am your son. Get up and eat the meat from the animals that I killed for you. Then you can bless me." ³² But Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am your son—your first son—Esau." ³³ Then Isaac became so upset that he began to shake. He said, "Then who was it that cooked and brought me food before you came? I ate it all, and I blessed him. Now it is too late to take back my blessing." ³⁴ When Esau heard his father's words, he became very angry and bitter. He cried out and said to his father, "Then bless me also, father!" ³⁵ Isaac said, "Your brother tricked me! He came and took your blessing!" ³⁶ Esau said, "His name is Jacob. That is the right name for him. He has tricked me twice. He took away my rights as the firstborn son. And now he has taken away my blessing." Then Esau said, "Have you saved any blessing for me?" ³⁷ Isaac answered, "I have already given Jacob the power to rule over you. And I said all his brothers would be his servants. I have given him the blessing for much grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son." ³⁸ But Esau continued to beg his father. "Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me also, father!" Esau began to cry. ³⁹ Then Isaac said to him, "You will not live on good land. You will not have much rain.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Genesis 27:19-23, 2 Kings 10:19, Job 13:7, Malachi 2:10, Romans 3:7, Romans 3:8, 2 Corinthians 4:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 29:25 - wherefore Genesis 36:1 - General Joshua 9:22 - Wherefore Jeremiah 9:4 - every brother Luke 8:52 - all

Cross-References

Genesis 27:7
Your father said, ‘Kill an animal for me to eat. Prepare the food for me, and I will eat it. Then, with the Lord as witness, I will bless you before I die.'

Genesis 27:8
So listen, son, and do what I tell you.

Genesis 27:19
Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat the meat from the animals that I hunted for you. Then you can bless me."

Genesis 27:23
Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau's. So Isaac blessed Jacob.

2 Kings 10:19
Now call together all the priests and prophets of Baal. And call together everyone who worships Baal. Don't let anyone miss this meeting. I have a great sacrifice to give to Baal. I will kill anyone who does not come to this meeting." But Jehu was tricking them. He wanted to destroy the worshipers of Baal.

Job 13:7
Will you speak lies for God? Do you really believe your lies are what God wants you to say?

Malachi 2:10
We all have the same father. The same God made every one of us. So why do people cheat one another? They show that they don't respect the agreement. They don't respect the agreement that our ancestors made with God.

2 Corinthians 4:7
We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us.

1 Thessalonians 4:6
Never wrong any of your fellow believers or cheat them in this way. The Lord will punish those who do that. We have already told you this and warned you about it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said, thy brother came with subtilty,.... The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and so Jarchi, interpret it, "with wisdom", taking it in a good sense, and as excusing the fact; or rather commending it, as if it was wisely and prudently managed; but the word signifies fraud and deceit, and so it must be understood; though it may be Isaac says this, not so much to blame Jacob for what he had done, as to excuse himself to Esau, that he did not intend to give the blessing from him, but that he was imposed upon through the craft and subtilty of his brother, who feigned himself to be Esau; pretending he had been hunting, and had had wonderful success, and had got venison, and had prepared it; and came with goat, skins upon his hands and neck, that he might seem to be hairy as Esau was, and by these artful tricks he had deceived him, and therefore Esau could not blame him for what he had done:

and hath taken away thy blessing; which belonged to him as the firstborn, and he expected to have, and Isaac intended to have given it to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Isaac Blessing His Sons

The life of Isaac falls into three periods. During the first seventy-five years he is contemporary with his father. For sixty-one years more his son Jacob remains under the paternal roof. The remaining forty-four years are passed in the retirement of old age. The chapter before us narrates the last solemn acts of the middle period of his life.

Genesis 27:1-4

Isaac was old. - Joseph was in his thirtieth year when he stood before Pharaoh, and therefore thirty-nine when Jacob came down to Egypt at the age of one hundred and thirty. When Joseph was born, therefore, Jacob was ninety-one, and he had sojourned fourteen years in Padan-aram. Hence, Jacob’s flight to Laban took place when he was seventy-seven, and therefore in the one hundred and thirty-sixth year of Isaac. “His eyes were dim.” Weakness and even loss of sight is more frequent in Palestine than with us. “His older son.” Isaac had not yet come to the conclusion that Jacob was heir of the promise. The communication from the Lord to Rebekah concerning her yet unborn sons in the form in which it is handed down to us merely determines that the older shall serve the younger. This fact Isaac seems to have thought might not imply the transferrence of the birthright; and if he was aware of the transaction between Esau and Jacob, he may not have regarded it as valid. Hence, he makes arrangements for bestowing the paternal benediction on Esau, his older son, whom he also loves. “I am old.” At the age of one hundred and thirty-six, and with failing sight, he felt that life was uncertain. In the calmness of determination he directs Esau to prepare savory meat, such as he loved, that he may have his vigor renewed and his spirits revived for the solemn business of bestowing that blessing, which he held to be fraught with more than ordinary benefits.

Genesis 27:5-13

Rebekah forms a plan for diverting the blessing from Esau to Jacob. She was within hearing when the infirm Isaac gave his orders, and communicates the news to Jacob. Rebekah has no scruples about primogeniture. Her feelings prompt her to take measures, without waiting to consider whether they are justifiable or not, for securing to Jacob that blessing which she has settled in her own mind to be destined for him. She thinks it necessary to interfere that this end may not fail of being accomplished. Jacob views the matter more coolly, and starts a difficulty. He may be found out to be a deceiver, and bring his father’s curse upon him. Rebekah, anticipating no such issue; undertakes to bear the curse that she conceived would never come. Only let him obey.

Verse 14-29

The plan is successful. Jacob now, without further objection, obeys his mother. She clothes him in Esau’s raiment, and puts the skins of the kids on his hands and his neck. The camel-goat affords a hair which bears a great resemblance to that of natural growth, and is used as a substitute for it. Now begins the strange interview between the father and the son. “Who art thou, my son?” The voice of Jacob was somewhat constrained. He goes, however, deliberately through the process of deceiving his father. “Arise, now, sit and eat.” Isaac was reclining on his couch, in the feebleness of advancing years. Sitting was the posture convenient for eating. “The Lord thy God prospered me.” This is the bold reply to Isaac’s expression of surprise at the haste with which the dainty fare had been prepared. The bewildered father now puts Jacob to a severer test. He feels him, but discerns him not. The ear notes a difference, but the hand feels the hairy skin resembling Esau’s; the eyes give no testimony. After this the result is summarily stated in a single sentence, though the particulars are yet to be given. “Art thou my very son Esau?” A lurking doubt puts the definite question, and receives a decisive answer. Isaac then calls for the repast and partakes.

Genesis 27:26-29

He gives the kiss of paternal affection, and pronounces the benediction. It contains, first, a fertile soil. “Of the dew of heaven.” An abundant measure of this was especially precious in a country where the rain is confined to two seasons of the year. “Of the fatness of the earth;” a proportion of this to match and render available the dew of heaven. “Corn and wine,” the substantial products, implying all the rest. Second, a numerous and powerful offspring. “Let peoples serve thee” - pre-eminence among the nations. “Be lord of thy brethren” - pre-eminence among his kindred. Isaac does not seem to have grasped the full meaning of the prediction, “The older shall serve the younger.” Third, Prosperity, temporal and spiritual. He that curseth thee be cursed, and he that blesseth thee be blessed. This is the only part of the blessing that directly comprises spiritual things; and even this of a special form. It is to be recollected that it was Isaac’s intention to bless Esau, and he may have felt that Esau, after all, was not to be the progenitor of the holy seed. Hence, the form of expression is vague enough to apply to temporal things, and yet sufficiently comprehensive to embrace the infliction of the ban of sin, and the diffusion of the blessing of salvation by means of the holy seed.

Genesis 27:30-41

Esau’s blessing. Esau comes in, but it is too late. “Who then?” The whole illusion is dispelled from the mind of Isaac. “Yea, blessed he shall be.” Jacob had no doubt perpetrated a fraud, at the instigation of his mother; and if Esau had been worthy in other respects, and above all if the blessing had been designed for him, its bestowment on another would have been either prevented or regarded as null and void. But Isaac now felt that, whatever was the misconduct of Jacob in interfering, and especially in employing unworthy means to accomplish his end, he himself was culpable in allowing carnal considerations to draw his preference to Esau, who was otherwise unworthy. He knew too that the paternal benediction flowed not from the bias of the parent, but from the Spirit of God guiding his will, and therefore when so pronounced could not be revoked. Hence, he was now convinced that it was the design of Providence that the spiritual blessing should fall on the line of Jacob. The grief of Esau is distressing to witness, especially as he had been comparatively blameless in this particular instance. But still it is to be remembered that his heart had not been open to the paramount importance of spiritual things. Isaac now perceives that Jacob has gained the blessing by deceit. Esau marks the propriety of his name, the wrestler who trips up the heel, and pleads pathetically for at least some blessing. His father enumerates what he has done for Jacob, and asks what more he can do for Esau; who then exclaims, “Hast thou but one blessing?”

Genesis 27:39-41

At length, in reply to the weeping suppliant, he bestows upon him a characteristic blessing. “Away from the fatness.” The preposition (מי mı̂y) is the same as in the blessing of Jacob. But there, after a verb of giving, it had a partitive sense; here, after a noun of place, it denotes distance or separation; for example, Proverbs 20:3 The pastoral life has been distasteful to Esau, and so it shall be with his race. The land of Edom was accordingly a comparative wilderness (Malachi 1:3). “On thy sword.” By preying upon others. “And thy brother shalt thou serve.” Edom was long independent; but at length Saul was victorious over them 1 Samuel 14:47, and David conquered them 2 Samuel 8:14. Then followed a long struggle, until John Hyrcanus, 129 b.c., compelled them to be circumcised and incorporated into Judaism. “Break his yoke.” The history of Edom was a perpetual struggle against the supremacy of Israel. Conquered by Saul, subdued by David, repressed by Solomon, restrained after a revolt by Amaziah, they recovered their independence in the time of Ahab. They were incorporated into the Jewish state, and furnished it with the dynasty of princes beginning with Antipater. Esau was now exasperated against his brother, and could only compose his mind by resolving to slay him during the days of mourning after his father’s death.

Genesis 27:42-46

Rebekah hearing this, advises Jacob to flee to Laban her brother, and await the abatement of his brother’s anger. “That which thou hast done to him.” Rebekah seems not to have been aware that she herself was the cause of much of the evil and of the misery that flowed from it. All the parties to this transaction are pursued by a retributive chastisement. Rebekah, especially, parts with her favorite son to meet him only after an absence of twenty years, if ever in this life. She is moreover grievously vexed with the connection which Esau formed with the daughters of Heth. She dreads a similar matrimonial alliance on the part of Jacob.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Genesis 27:35. Hath taken away thy blessing. — This blessing, which was a different thing from the birthright, seems to consist of two parts:

1. The dominion, generally and finally, over the other part of the family; and,

2. Being the progenitor of the Messiah.

But the former is more explicitly declared than the latter. Genesis 25:31.