Read Genesis 26:34-28:9 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Gen 26:34-35 {s} Esau’s wives
Gen 27:1-28:9 {s} Jacob receives the blessing/ Jacob’s wife (repeating events from the life of Isaac)
Gen 26:34-28:9 {s+s} chiastic structure
1a) Gen 26:34-35 {s} Esau’s wives/ they were bitterness of spirit to Isaac + Rebekah;
1b.1) Gen 27:1-4 Isaac commanded Esau to bring him game/ receive the firstborn blessing;
1b.2) Gen 27:5-17 Rebekah told Jacob what she heard + formulates a plan;
1a) Gen 27:5-7 Rebekah conceived the deception;
1a) Gen 27:5a Rebekah was listening;
1b) Gen 27:5b When Isaac spoke to Esau his son;
central axis) Gen 27:5c And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it;
2b) Gen 27:6a Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying;
2a) Gen 27:6b-7 I heard your father speak: Bring me game that I may eat it + bless you;
1b) Gen 27:8-10 Rebekah commanded Jacob to obey her in bringing goat kids to deceive Isaac;
1c) Gen 27:11-12a Jacob’s objection: My father will discern me + I shall bring a curse on myself;
central axis) Gen 27:12b And not a blessing;
2c) Gen 27:13a But his mother said: Let your curse be on me, my son;
2b) Gen 27:13b Only obey my voice, and go, get them for me;
2a) Gen 27:14-17 Rebekah prepared the deception;
1a) Gen 27:14a He went and got them + brought them to his mother;
1b) Gen 27:14b His mother made savory food, such as his father loved;
central axis) Gen 27:15-16 Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck;
2b) Gen 27:17a Then she gave the savory food + the bread, which she had prepared;
2a) Gen 27:17b Into the hand of her son Jacob;
1c) Gen 27:18-25 Jacob came in to the presence of Isaac his father;
1a.1) Gen 27:18-19a Jacob went to his father/ Isaac: Who are you? + Jacob: I am Esau your firstborn;
1a.2) Gen 27:19b-20 Jacob: Eat my game that you may bless me/ the Lord brought it to me;
1b) Gen 27:21 Isaac: “Come near, that I may feel you, whether you are really my son Esau or not;
1c) Gen 27:22 Jacob went near/ Isaac felt him: The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are Esau’s hands;
central axis) Gen 27:23a And he did not recognize him;
2c) Gen 27:23b Because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him;
2b) Gen 27:24a Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?”
2a.1) Gen 27:24b Jacob said, “I am;”
2a.2) Gen 27:25 Isaac: Bring it to me, so that I may bless you/ he ate what Jacob brought;
1d) Gen 27:26-27a Isaac smelled Esau’s raiment and blessed him;
central axis) Gen 27:27b-29 Isaac blessed Jacob with the firstborn blessing;
“See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yehovah has blessed. So God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fat places of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one that curses you, and blessed be every one that blesses you;”
2d) Gen 27:30a It came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob;
2c) Gen 27:30b And Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father;
2b.1) Gen 27:30c-40 Esau brought Isaac his game/ received a blessing (not the firstborn);
1a) Gen 27:30c-33 Esau returns + asks his father for his blessing;
1a.1) Gen 27:30c-31a Esau came in from hunting/ made savory food + brought it to his father;
1a.2) Gen 27:31b Esau: Let my father arise + eat his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me;
1b) Gen 27:32a His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
central axis) Gen 27:32b So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau;”
2b) Gen 27:33a Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who?”
2a.1) Gen 27:33b Isaac: “Where is the one who hunted game + brought it to me?”
2a.2) Gen 27:33c Isaac: “I ate all of it before you came/ I have blessed him + he shall be blessed;”
1b) Gen 27:34a When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great + bitter cry;
1c) Gen 27:34b-36 Esau: “Bless me—me also, O my father! Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
1a) Gen 27:34b And said to his father, “Bless me—me also, O my father!”
1b) Gen 27:35a But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing;”
central axis) Gen 27:36a Esau: “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times;”
2b) Gen 27:36b Esau: “He took away my birthright + he has taken away my blessing!”
2a) Gen 27:36c Esau: “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
central axis) Gen 27:37 Isaac: “I have made him your master + all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain + wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?”
2c) Gen 27:38a Esau: “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me also, O my father!”
2b) Gen 27:38b And Esau lifted up his voice and wept;
2a) Gen 27:39-40 Isaac blessed Esau, but not with the firstborn blessing;
2b.2) Gen 27:41-45 Rebekah told Jacob what she heard + formulates a plan;
1a) Gen 27:41a So Esau hated Jacob;
central axis) Gen 27:41b Because of the blessing with which his father blessed him;
2a) Gen 27:41c-45 Esau planned to murder his brother after his father’s death;
1a) Gen 47:41c-42 Esau planned to murder his brother/ it was told to Rebekah, who called Jacob;
1b) Gen 27:43-44a Rebekah: Hearken to my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran + stay with him;
central axis) Gen 27:44b-45a Until your brother’s fury turns away/ he forgets what you have done;
2b) Gen 27:45b Then I will send + bring you from there;
2a) Gen 27:45c Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
2a) Gen 27:46-28:9 {s} Jacob’s wife/ Esau’s wives;
1a) Gen 27:46 Rebekah to Isaac: If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, what good will my life be to me?
1a) Gen 27:46a Rebekah to Isaac: I am weary of my life;
1b) Gen 27:46b Because of the daughters of Heth;
central axis) Gen 27:46c If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth;
2b) Gen 27:46d Like these who are the daughters of the land;
2a) Gen 27:46e What good will my life be to me?
1b) Gen 28:1-2 Isaac charged Jacob: Do not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, but go to Padan Aram, to the house of your mother’s people;
central axis) Gen 28:3-4 “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham;”
2b) Gen 28:5 Isaac sent Jacob away to Padan Aram, to Laban, the brother of Rebekah;
2a) Gen 28:6-9 {s} Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father/ he took the daughter of Ishmael to wife;
1a) Gen 28:6a Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob + sent him away to take a wife;
1b) Gen 28:6b That he gave him a charge: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan;”
central axis) Gen 28:7 That Jacob had obeyed his father + mother, and had gone to Padan Aram;
2b) Gen 28:8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac;
2a) Gen 28:9 {s} So Esau took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael to wife in addition to the wives he had.
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