Genesis 27:6

Easy-to-Read Version

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,

Update Bible Version
And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Look, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,

New Century Version
She said to her son Jacob, "Listen, I heard your father saying to your brother Esau,

New English Translation
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

Webster's Bible Translation
And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak to Esau thy brother, saying,

World English Bible
Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,

Amplified Bible
Rebekah said to Jacob her [younger and favorite] son, "Listen carefully: I heard your father saying to Esau your brother,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
sche seide to hir sone Jacob, Y herde thi fadir spekynge with Esau, thi brothir, and seiynge to him, Brynge thou me of thin huntyng,

Young's Literal Translation
and Rebekah hath spoken unto Jacob her son, saying, `Lo, I have heard thy father speaking unto Esau thy brother, saying,

Berean Standard Bible
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,

Contemporary English Version
she said to Jacob, "I heard your father tell Esau

Complete Jewish Bible
she said to her son Ya‘akov, "Listen! I heard your father telling ‘Esav your brother,

American Standard Version
And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,

Bible in Basic English
And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Rebecca spake vnto Iacob her sonne, saying: Beholde, I haue hearde thy father talkyng with Esau thy brother, and saying:

Darby Translation
And Rebecca spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak to Esau thy brother, saying,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Rebekah spoke unto Jacob her son, saying: 'Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying:

King James Version (1611)
And Rebekah spake vnto Iacob her sonne, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speake vnto Esau thy brother, saying,

King James Version
And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,

New Life Bible
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He said,

New Revised Standard
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father say to your brother Esau,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Rebekah, therefore spake unto Jacob her son saying, - Lo! I heard thy father, speaking unto Esau thy brother, saying,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Rebekah spake vnto Iaakob her sonne, saying, Beholde, I haue heard thy father talking with Esau thy brother, saying,

George Lamsa Translation
Then Rebekah said to Jacob her son, Behold, I heard your father say to Esau your brother,

Good News Translation
she said to Jacob, "I have just heard your father say to Esau,

Douay-Rheims Bible
She said to her son Jacob: I heard thy father talking with Esau, thy brother, and saying to him:

Revised Standard Version
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Rebecca said to Jacob her younger son, Behold, I heard thy father speaking to Esau thy brother, saying,

English Revised Version
And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,

Christian Standard Bible®
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said,

Hebrew Names Version
Rivka spoke to Ya`akov her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esav your brother, saying,

Lexham English Bible
Rebekah said to Jacob her son, "Look, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother saying,

Literal Translation
And Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau saying,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde Rebecca vnto Iacob hir sonne: beholde, I haue herde thy father talkinge with Esau thy brother, and sayenge:

New American Standard Bible
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,

New King James Version
So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,

New Living Translation
she said to her son Jacob, "Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,

Legacy Standard Bible
But Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying,

Contextual Overview

⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. 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.' ⁸ So listen, son, and do what I tell you. ⁹ Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them the way your father loves them. ¹⁰ Then you will carry the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies." ¹¹ But Jacob told his mother Rebekah, "My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am not hairy like him. 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." ¹³ So Rebekah said to him, "I will accept the blame if there is trouble. Do what I said. Go get the goats for me." ¹⁴ So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. His mother cooked the goats in the special way that Isaac loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Genesis 25:28 - Rebekah

Cross-References

Genesis 25:28
Isaac loved Esau. He liked to eat the animals Esau killed. But Rebekah loved Jacob.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son,.... Who was in the tent with her, and for whom she had the strongest affection:

saying, behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother; heard the conversation that passed between them, and particularly what Isaac had given in charge to Esau,

saying, as follows:

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.