Genesis 25:30

So Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me eat some of that red soup right now. I’m really tired and hungry.” Jacob said to Esau, “First, I want you to do something for me. You are the oldest son in our family. That means you are the most important son, and you will be the next leader for our family. But I want to be the most important son, instead of you. I want to be the next leader for our family. So you have to promise that you will let me be the most important son now, instead of you. Then you can eat some soup.” Esau said, “Look, I’m so tired and hungry that I’m going to die. So it doesn’t matter if I stop being the next leader for our family. I just need some food right now.” But Jacob said, “First, you have to make me that strong promise.” So Esau did what Jacob asked. He said to Jacob, “I promise that you can be the most important son in our family, instead of me, and you can be the next leader for our family.” Then Jacob gave Esau some of that soup with red beans in it, and some bread. Esau ate that red soup and bread, and then he got up and left. That’s the story about how Esau let Jacob be the most important son. So Esau wasn’t the most important son any more, but he didn’t care. Later on, people sometimes called Esau a different name. They called him Edom. That name means red, like that red soup.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

In Context

29One day, while Esau was out bush, Jacob cooked some soup with red beans in it. While Jacob was cooking that soup, Esau came back home, and he was really tired and hungry.

Read all of Genesis 25

Cross References

Genesis 32:4I want him to know that I respect him, just like a work-man respects his boss. Tell Esau that I said, ‘I went and stayed with our uncle Laban for a long time, and now I’m coming back.

Genesis 36:19All those sons of Esau, they were the leaders for their clans. And you know, sometimes people called Esau a different name. They called him Edom.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 25:30-34

Esau Sells His Birthright. ( b. c. 1805.) 29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 25:30