Limitless Word
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.”
Genesis 27:41 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
  • KJV 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.
  • NKJV So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
  • NASB So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
  • NLT From that time on, Esau hated Jacob because their father had given Jacob the blessing. And Esau began to scheme: “I will soon be mourning my father’s death. Then I will kill my brother, Jacob.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Esau hates Jacob over the blessing and resolves to kill him after their father dies.

Overview

Esau's bitterness turns to murderous intent, echoing the earlier fratricidal hatred of Cain. His plan to wait for Isaac's death reveals calculated malice. This hostility forces Jacob's flight and begins his long exile, through which God will continue to shape and discipline him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 28

  • 1 Jn 3:12–15Do 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.
  • Gen 37:4When 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.
  • Gen 50:3–4taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
  • Gen 32:6When 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.”
  • Eccl 7:9Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
  • Prov 6:14With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.
  • Gen 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.
  • Obad 1:10–14Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
  • Eph 4:26–27“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
  • Ezek 25:12–15This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,
  • Ps 37:12–13The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
  • Ezek 35:5Because you harbored an ancient hatred and delivered the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their disaster at the final stage of their punishment,
  • Prov 1:12–13let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
  • Gen 4:2–8Later she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, while Cain was a tiller of the soil.
  • Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
  • Gen 32:11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
  • 2 Sam 13:28–29Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”
  • Gen 35:29Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
  • Prov 1:16For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
  • Titus 1:15–16To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
  • Ps 142:3Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.
  • Deut 34:8The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
  • Ps 140:4–5Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble.
  • Ps 35:14I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.
  • Amos 1:11–12This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.
  • Gen 50:10–11When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
  • Ps 37:16Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.
  • 2 Chr 35:24So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. And Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Genesis videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Genesis 27:41YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GenesisMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 27:41 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.