Bible Strands
Genesis 27:41
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Esau reacts to Isaac’s transfer of the patriarchal blessing to Jacob, formulating a private plot to murder him once Isaac dies. The narrative places this moment before Jacob’s departure, as Rebekah has not yet relayed the threat or ordered his flight.
The words — וַ/יִּשְׂטֹם (vayistom) literally means “and he bore a grudge against,” while בְּרָכָה (berakhah) denotes the formal blessing Isaac conferred. These terms anchor Esau’s hostile resolve directly to the transferred inheritance.
The thread — This pattern of fratricidal envy recurs in Genesis 37:4 with Joseph’s brothers and is later typologically linked to Cain in 1 John 3:12. The specified mourning timeframe also echoes the seventy-day lament in Genesis 50:3.
Why it lands — The verse requires a reader to recognize how threatened blessing breeds secret violence and demands immediate intervention. It frames the necessity of Rebekah’s warning and Jacob’s flight without moralizing the outcome.
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
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
Cross-references
- 1 John 3:12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- Genesis 37:4 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
- Genesis 50:3 taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
- Genesis 32:6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”
- Genesis 37:8 “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.
- Proverbs 6:14 With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.
- Ecclesiastes 7:9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
- Ezekiel 25:12 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,
- Obadiah 1:10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
- Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,