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Thursday, November 7th, 2024
the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Easy-to-Read Version

Genesis 27:38

But Esau continued to beg his father. "Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me also, father!" Esau began to cry.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;   Edomites;   Family;   Isaac;   Parents;   Weeping;   Thompson Chain Reference - Esau;   Weeping;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Birthright;   Esau;   Repentance;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Blessing;   Esau;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Arabah;   Father;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Blessing and Cursing;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Edom, Edomites;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Rebekah;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Esau ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Esau;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Canaan (2);   Jacob;   Nahor;   Rebekah;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Father;   Ju'das Iscar'iot;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Jacob;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Esau and Jacob;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Blessing of Children;   Esau;  

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Update Bible Version
And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
New Century Version
But Esau continued, "Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me, too, Father!" Then Esau began to cry out loud.
New English Translation
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!" Then Esau wept loudly.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Esau said to his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, [even] me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
World English Bible
Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Amplified Bible
Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." Then Esau [no longer able to restrain himself] raised his voice and wept [loudly].
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
To whom Esau saide, Fadir, wher thou hast oneli o blessyng? Y biseche that also thou blesse me. And whanne Esau wepte with greet yellyng,
Young's Literal Translation
And Esau saith unto his father, `One blessing hast thou my father? bless me, me also, O my father;' and Esau lifteth up his voice, and weepeth.
Berean Standard Bible
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!" Then Esau wept aloud.
Contemporary English Version
"Father," Esau asked, "don't you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!" Then Esau started crying again.
Complete Jewish Bible
‘Esav said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Father, bless me too!" ‘Esav wept aloud,
American Standard Version
And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Bible in Basic English
And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Esau sayde vnto his father: hast thou but that one blessyng my father? blesse me, I am also [thy sonne] O my father. So lyfted vp Esau his voyce, and wept.
Darby Translation
And Esau said to his father, Hast thou then but one blessing, my father? bless me—me also, my father! And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Esau said unto his father: 'Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father.' And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
King James Version (1611)
And Esau said vnto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Blesse mee, euen mee also, O my father. And Esau lift vp his voyce, and wept.
King James Version
And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
New Life Bible
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one prayer for good to come, my father? Pray that good will come to me also, O my father." And Esau gave out a loud cry.
New Revised Standard
Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Esau said unto his father, But one blessing, hast thou, O my father? Bless, me also, O my father! And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Esau sayde vnto his father, Hast thou but one blessing my father? blesse mee, euen me also, my father: and Esau lifted vp his voyce, and wept.
George Lamsa Translation
And Esau said to his father, Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Good News Translation
Esau continued to plead with his father: "Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!" He began to cry.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Esau said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I beseech thee bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry,
Revised Standard Version
Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Esau said to his father, Hast thou only one blessing, father? Bless, I pray thee, me also, father. And Isaac being troubled, Esau cried aloud and wept.
English Revised Version
And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Christian Standard Bible®
Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.
Hebrew Names Version
Esav said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esav lifted up his voice, and wept.
Lexham English Bible
And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me also, my father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Literal Translation
And Esau said to his father, Is one blessing left to you, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Esau sayde vnto his father? Hast thou not one blessynge more my father? O blesse me also my father. And he lift vp his voyce, & wepte.
THE MESSAGE
"But don't you have just one blessing for me, Father? Oh, bless me my father! Bless me!" Esau sobbed inconsolably.
New American Standard Bible
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father." So Esau raised his voice and wept.
New King James Version
And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me--me also, O my father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
New Living Translation
Esau pleaded, "But do you have only one blessing? Oh my father, bless me, too!" Then Esau broke down and wept.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
Legacy Standard Bible
And Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

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 27:34, Genesis 27:36, Genesis 49:28, Proverbs 1:24-26, Isaiah 32:10-12, Isaiah 65:14, Hebrews 12:17

Reciprocal: Genesis 21:16 - lift Exodus 12:32 - bless me Judges 21:2 - lifted

Cross-References

Genesis 27:10
Then you will carry the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies."
Genesis 27:12
If my father touches me, he will know that I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me—he will curse me because I tried to trick him."
Genesis 27:24
Isaac said, "Are you really my son Esau?" Jacob answered, "Yes, I am."
Genesis 27:26
Then Isaac said to him. "Son, come near and kiss me."
Genesis 27:34
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!"
Genesis 27:36
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?"
Genesis 49:28
These are the twelve families of Israel. And this is what their father said to them. He gave each son a blessing that was right for him.
Isaiah 65:14
My servants will shout for joy, but you will cry out in pain. Your spirits will be broken, and you will be very sad.
Hebrews 12:17
You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father's blessing. He wanted that blessing so much that he cried. But his father refused to give him the blessing, because Esau could find no way to change what he had done.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Esau said unto his father, hast thou but one blessing, my father?.... He seems to speak diminutively of what had been given to Jacob, calling it one blessing: whereas there were many, and of different sorts, both temporal and spiritual; but it may be Esau had not so clear and comprehensive a view of what was contained in Jacob's blessing; or at least was willing to think and hope that there was not so much given, but there might be some behind for him, and that his father had a greater stock than to be drained of all at once:

bless me, [even] me also, O my father: with another blessing, with one equal to what has been given my brother:

and Esau lift up his voice, and wept; in order to move the affections of his father, and to prevail upon him to reverse the blessing he had bestowed on Jacob, and give it to him; but he could not bring his father to repentance, to change his mind, and revoke the blessing, and give it him, with all his crying and tears, as the apostle observes,

Hebrews 12:17.

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.


 
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