Bible Strands
Genesis 25:34
Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob hands bread and lentil stew to Esau immediately after Esau swears to sell his birthright. The exchange concludes the brothers' transaction as Esau departs.
The words — נָתַן (na.Tan) = he gave, and עֲדָשִׁים ('a.da.shim) = lentils. The Hebrew presents the food as a simple, unadorned provision rather than a ceremonial offering.
The thread — The transaction reappears in Hebrews 12:16 as a warning against godlessness, while Isaiah 22:13 and Philippians 3:18 echo the pattern of prioritizing immediate physical satisfaction over lasting spiritual or moral standing.
Why it lands — The text records Esau’s consumption and departure before declaring his contempt for the birthright, requiring the reader to weigh the permanence of a covenant against the immediacy of physical appetite.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 12:16 See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.
- Philippians 3:18 For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
- Isaiah 22:13 But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
- Matthew 26:15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.
- 1 Corinthians 15:32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
- Psalms 106:24 They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.
- Zechariah 11:13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
- Matthew 22:5 But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business.
- Luke 14:18 But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’
- Acts 13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”