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Genesis 27:11

in Genesis 27

Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

KJV

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:

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This verse in Genesis 27

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Hebrew Questions on Genesis · Written before 420.

(Chapter XXVII, Verse 11) Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Where it is written that he was hairy, in Hebrew it is written Seir (). Therefore, afterwards the mountains of Seir and the region in which he lived were called Seir: we have spoken of this before and above.

This site's exposition

my brother Esau is a hairy man

on Genesis 27:11-13

Jacob's objection is that his father may touch him and find him out. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark the scruple as fear of discovery. Rebekah answers by taking the curse on herself, Your curse be on me, my son. Jerome ties the word behind hairy to Seir, which becomes the name of Esau's country.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Hippolytus of Rome

ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 5 · Written before 235.

proposed

How clearly Jacob has shown here his piety!… In other respects it was also true what was said by Jacob, that is: "My brother Esau is a hairy man," that is, a sinner, "but I am a man of smooth skin." In fact, through these words the faultless and sinless character of the flesh of the Lord is revealed.
And that no man may imagine that his simplicity was natural foolishness, see how attentive he was to the curses of his father, and how he returned answer concerning the things which were set forth by knowledge, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother,.... Being timorous lest he should do an ill thing, and be accounted a deceiver, and bring a curse upon himself: behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man; covered all over with hair; as with a hairy garment; so he was born, and so he continued, and no doubt his hair increased, Gen 25:25, and I am a smooth man: without hair, excepting in those parts where it is common for all men to have it.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Jacob said, Esau my brother is a hairy man--It is remarkable that his scruples were founded, not on the evil of the act, but on the risk and consequences of deception.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

The reason that Isaac will feel him is not for the purpose of recognition.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Genesis 27:12:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יַעֲקֹ֔בJacob

    yaakoH3290 →350 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • רִבְקָ֖הRebekah

    rivkahH7259 →30 times

  • אִמּ֑וֹmother his

    ʾimoH517 →220 times

  • הֵ֣ןhere!

    henH2005 →316 times

  • עֵשָׂ֤וEsau

    ʾesavH6215 →97 times

  • אָחִי֙brother my

    ʾachiH251 →630 times

  • אִ֣ישׁ[is] a man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • שָׂעִ֔רhairy

    sairH8163 →59 times

  • וְאָנֹכִ֖יand I

    veanokhiH595 →359 times

  • אִ֥ישׁ[am] a man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • חָלָֽק׃smooth

    chalakH2509 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

2 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Genesis 25:25

    The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 27:16

      She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

    • Genesis 27:23

      Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Isaac Blesses Jacob — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Isaac Blesses Jacob — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 27 →

This page draws on Hippolytus of Rome, ON THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC AND JACOB 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 -- On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity.

Read on in Genesis 27 →