Genesis 27:3

3 Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me.

Genesis 27:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 27:3

Now therefore, take, I pray thee, thy weapons
Or "thy vessels", or "instruments" F14, his instruments of hunting: as thy quiver and thy bow;
the former is the vessel or instrument, in which arrows were put and carried, and has its name in the Hebrew language from its being hung at the girdle, though another word is more commonly used for a quiver; and Onkelos and Jarchi interpret this of a sword; and which is not disapproved of by Aben Ezra and Ben Melech, who explain it either a quiver or a sword; and the latter was as necessary for hunting as the former, see ( Genesis 27:40 ) ; and such a sword may be meant, as Mr. Fuller observes F15, which we call a "hanger" (i.e. a small sword often worn by seamen); and of the bow being an instrument of hunting, not anything need be said: and go out to the field, and take me [some] venison;
this does not necessarily intend what we commonly call so, but anything hunted in the field, as hares, wild goats and indeed the latter seems to be what Isaac loved, by the preparation Rebekah afterwards made.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 (Kylk) "instrumenta tua", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "vasa tua", Vatablus.
F15 Miscell. Sacr. l. 1. c. 17.

Genesis 27:3 In-Context

1 One day when Isaac was old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, “My son.” “Yes, Father?” Esau replied.
2 “I am an old man now,” Isaac said, “and I don’t know when I may die.
3 Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
4 Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.”
5 But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game,
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.