Then Isaac trembled violently is literally “And Isaac was terrified with a very great terror.” Isaac knew the voice of Jacob in verse 22, and now Esau’s words of identification caused his father to realize that he had been deceived, and the shock caused him to tremble. The word translated trembled is used of the quaking or trembling of a mountain in Exo 19.18. In 1 Sam 14.15 it is used of both people and the earth.

It may be necessary to provide some kind of transition between Esau’s response in verse 32 and Isaac’s reaction; for example, “When Isaac found out that it was Esau, he began to shake and tremble.”

Who was it then who hunted game and brought it to me: the Hebrew text does not use question marks, and Revised Standard Version has placed the question mark at the wrong place. Translators should follow something similar to the punctuation of Good News Translation. Another possibility is given in the translation “Who … brought me this food that I just finished when you walked in? I gave him….”

I ate it all: the Revised Standard Version footnote shows that the Hebrew has “of all,” which probably means “I ate some of everything.”

—yes, and he shall be blessed: Isaac pulls himself together and remembers that what he has done cannot be undone; the blessing given to Jacob cannot be withdrawn. We may also render this statement, for example, “It is true, I have blessed him and he will remain blessed,” “Yes, it is finished and he has the final blessing,” “Hear me, I have blessed him and I can never take it away from him,” “I blessed him with my last talk and I can’t change it; it is his for ever.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .