Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Parallel Translations
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Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
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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.
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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.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Genesis 27:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 12:17 For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
- Genesis 27:34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”
- Genesis 27:36 He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
- Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his own blessing.
- Proverbs 1:24-26 Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you,
- Isaiah 32:10-12 For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage will fail. The harvest won’t come. Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
- Isaiah 65:14 Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 38. Hast thou but one blessing? Esau seems to…
38. Hast thou but one blessing? Esau seems to take courage; but he neglects the care of his soul, and turns, like a swine, to the pampering of his flesh. He had heard that his father had nothing left to grant; because, truly, the full and entire grace of God so rested upon Jacob, that out of his family there was no happiness. Wherefore, if Esau sought his own welfare, he ought to have drawn from that fountain, and rather to have subjected himself to his brother, than to have cut himself off from a happy connection with him. He chose, however, rather to be deprived of spiritual grace, provided he might but possess something of his own, and apart from his brother, than to be his inferior at home. He could not be ignorant, that there was one sole benediction by which his brother Jacob had been constituted the heir of the divine covenant: for Isaac would be daily discoursing with them concerning the singular privilege which God had vouchsafed to Abraham and his seed. Esau would not previously have complained so bitterly, unless he had felt that he had been deprived of an incomparable benefit. Therefore, by departing from this one source of blessing, he indirectly renounces God, and cuts himself off from the body of the Church, caring for nothing but this transitory life. But it would have been better for him, miserably to perish through the want of all things in this world, and with difficulty to draw his languishing breath, than to slumber amidst temporal delights. What afterwards follows, — namely, that he wept with loud lamentations, — is a sign of fierce and proud indignation, rather than of penitence; for he remitted nothing of his ferocity, but raged like a cruel beast of prey. So the wicked, when punishment overtakes them, bewail the salvation they have lost; but, meanwhile, do not cease to delight themselves in their vices; and instead of heartily seeking after the righteousness of God, they rather desire that his deity should be extinct. Of a similar character is that gnashing of teeth and weeping in hell which, instead of stimulating the reprobate to seek after God, only consumes them with unknown torments
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, I am also (thy son).
Or, I am also (thy son).
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 27:38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast…
Gen 27:38 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.
Ver. 38. Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.] Yet, "found no place for repentance". {Heb 12:17} That is, he could not, by his tears, prevail with his father to reverse the blessing. See the fruit of God’s holy fear. Moses’ rod was not so famous for being turned into a serpent, for even the magicians did as much, as for devouring the magicians’ rods: so the true fear of God is most eminent and effectual when set in emulation or opposition to other fears or carnal aims and affections.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Hast thou but one? By these words Esau manifests…
Hast thou but one? By these words Esau manifests his profane and worldly mind, that he esteemed this blessing but as one among many others equal to it, and did not apprehend the true and peculiar excellency and absolute necessity of it, and that it was impossible for him or his posterity to be happy without an interest in this covenant, and continuance in that church to which it was appropriated.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Esau said unto his father, hast thou but…
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:
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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, Heb 12:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 38. but one blessing] Esau’s words shew the importance…
38. but one blessing] Esau’s words shew the importance attached to the blessing invoked by the dying head of the family. Isaac’s words in the preceding verse, coupled with Esau’s exclamation, imply that there was only one blessing. Esau knows that the blessing once given cannot be recalled.
wept] Cf. Gen_21:16. “Those tears of Esau, the sensuous, wild, impulsive man,—almost like the cry of some ‘trapped creature,’ are among the most pathetic in the Bible” (Davidson, Hebrews, 242).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (38) Hast thou but one blessing?—Only one son could…
(38) Hast thou but one blessing?—Only one son could inherit the spiritual prerogatives of the birthright, and the temporal lordship which accompanied it. And even lower earthly blessings would avail little if Esau’s descendants were to be subject to the dominion of the other brother’s race. With some mitigation, then, of his lot Esau must now be content.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And ESAU said unto his father, Hast thou but…
And ESAU said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Not as desiring either the reversal of the patriarchal sentence upon Jacob, which he appears to have understood to be irrevocable, or an extension of its gracious provisions, so as to include him as well as Jacob; but as soliciting such a benediction as would place him, at least in respect of temporalities, on a level with the favorite of Rebekah, either because he did not recognize the spiritual character of the covenant blessing, or because, though recognizing it, he was willing to let it go.
Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept (cf. Heb_12:17) "Those tear expressed, indeed, sorrow for his forfeiture, but not for the sinful levity by which it had been incurred. They were ineffectual (i.e. they did not lead to genuine repentance) because Esau was incapable of true repentance". (vide Delitzsch on Heb_12:17)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain and Esau
and Esau
Esau wept because of a lost advantage, but "found no way to change his mind, though he sought it carefully with tears" Heb 12:17 so far may regret or remorse be from true repentance:
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Have you not even one blessing for me, my…
Have you not even one blessing for me, my father
This can be stated in positive form. "My father, do you have one more blessing for me"
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translationWords
bless
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.