Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

and she put the skins of the goats on his hands and on the smooth parts of his neck.

Then she gave the tasty food and the bread she had prepared to her son Ya'akov.

He went to his father and said, "My father?" He replied, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"

Ya'akov said to his father, "I am 'Esav your firstborn. I've done what you asked me to do. Get up now, sit down, eat the game, and then give me your blessing."

Yitz'chak said to his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "ADONAI your God made it happen that way."

Yitz'chak said to Ya'akov, "Come here, close to me, so I can touch you, my son, and know whether you are in fact my son 'Esav or not."

Ya'akov approached Yitz'chak his father, who touched him and said, "The voice is Ya'akov's voice, but the hands are 'Esav's hands."

However, he didn't detect him; because his hands were hairy like his brother 'Esav's hands; so he gave him his blessing.

He asked, "Are you really my son 'Esav?"And he replied, "I am."

He said, "Bring it here to me, and I will eat my son's game, so that I can give you my blessing." So he brought it up to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine, and he drank.

Then his father Yitz'chak said to him,"Come close now, and kiss me, my son."

He approached and kissed him. Yitz'chak smelled his clothes and blessed Ya'akov with these words: "See, my son smells like a field which ADONAI has blessed.

So may God give you dew from heaven, the richness of the earth, and grain and wine in abundance.

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be lord over your kinsmen, let your mother's descendants bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!"

But as soon as Yitz'chak had finished giving his blessing to Ya'akov, when Ya'akov had barely left his father's presence, 'Esav his brother came in from his hunting.

He too had prepared a tasty meal and brought it to his father, and now he said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat from his son's game, so that you may give me your blessing."

Yitz'chak his father said to him, "Who are you?" and he answered, "I am your son, your firstborn, 'Esav."

Yitz'chak began trembling uncontrollably and said, "Then who was it that took game and brought it to me? I ate it all just before you came, and I gave my blessing to him. That's the truth, and the blessing must stand."

When 'Esav heard his father's words he burst into loud, bitter sobbing. "Father, bless me too," he begged.

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

'Esav said, "His name, Ya'akov [he supplants], really suits him - because he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and here, now he has taken away my blessing!" Then he asked, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"

Yitz'chak answered 'Esav, "Look, I have made him your lord, I have given him all his kinsmen as servants, and I have given him grain and wine to sustain him. What else is there that I can do for you, my son?"

'Esav said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Father, bless me too!"'Esav wept aloud,

and Yitz'chak his father answered him: "Here! Your home will be of the richness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above.

You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you break loose, you will shake his yoke off your neck."