(כז) וַֽיִּגְדְּלוּ֙ הַנְּעָרִ֔ים וַיְהִ֣י עֵשָׂ֗ו אִ֛ישׁ יֹדֵ֥עַ צַ֖יִד אִ֣ישׁ שָׂדֶ֑ה וְיַעֲקֹב֙ אִ֣ישׁ תָּ֔ם יֹשֵׁ֖ב אֹהָלִֽים׃
(כח) וַיֶּאֱהַ֥ב יִצְחָ֛ק אֶת־עֵשָׂ֖ו כִּי־צַ֣יִד בְּפִ֑יו וְרִבְקָ֖ה אֹהֶ֥בֶת אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃
(27) When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a mild man who stayed in camp.
(28) Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah favored Jacob.
(NJPS translation)
NRSV
When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Artscroll
The lads grew up and Esau became one who knows trapping, a man of the field; but Jacob was a wholesome man, abiding in tents.
Isaac loved Esau for game was in his mouth; but Rebecca loved Jacob.
Everett Fox, The Schocken Bible
The lads grew up: Esav became a man who knew the hunt, a man of the field, but Yaakov was plain man, staying among the tents.
Yitzhak grew to love Esav, for (he brought) hunted-game for his mouth, but Rivka loved Yaakov.
Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses
And the lads grew up, and Esau was a man skilled at hunting, a man of the field, and Jacob was a simple man, a dweller in tents. And Isaac loved Esau for the game that he brought him, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
(א) יודע ציד - לצוד ציד להביא.
(1) A skillful hunter: hunting game and retrieving (the animal to serve as food.)
(א) יודע ציד. לעולם מלא מרמות כי רוב החיות בדרך מרמה יתפשו
A skillful hunter: Generally, one who is a skilled trickster. For the way to trap most game is through one's cunning.
(ב) ידע ציד. לצוד ולרמות את אביו בפיו, ושואלו אבא היאך מעשרין את המלח ואת התבן, כסבור אביו שהוא מדקדק במצות:
A skillful hunter: [He knew how] to trap and to deceive his father with his mouth and ask him,“Father, how do we tithe salt and straw?” His father thereby thought that he was scrupulous in his observance of the commandments.
II. Jacob the Mild
Sarna on Genesis 25:7
a mild man: Jacob is a quiet man and does not carry weapons
(ה) ישב אהלים. אהלו של שם ואהלו של עבר:
who stayed in camp: the tent of Shem and the tent of Eber.
(א) ויאהב יצחק את עשו גם את עשו אע''פ שידע בלי ספק שלא היה שלם כיעקב:
(1) ויאהב יצחק את עשו, also Esau, not only Yaakov, even though he must have been aware that Esau was far less perfect than Yaakov.
Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz, "The Sh.L.aH." on Genesis 25:28
Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah favored Jacob.
Isaac's love was a love dependent on an external factor "כִּי־צַ֣יִד בְּפִ֑יו." Of such a love, we are told, once the external factor disappears, the love disappears as well. Rebekah, on the other hand, loved Jacob without an external factor being the cause of her love. Such love remains forever. This is why the Torah uses the form, "אֹהֶ֥בֶת" to describe her love - which is in the present, continuous, tense - to signify that Rebekah's love for Jacob was an eternal one.
(א) ויאהב יצחק את עשו כי ציד בפיו. לפי כשהיה שואלו אביו מה אתה עושה בשדה כל היום היה מתנצל ואומר כדי לצוד ציד להביא טרף לפיו של אביו, ולפי שלא היה מצוי אצל אמו על כן לא אהבה אותו רבקה והיתה אוהבת את יעקב שהיה מצוי אצל אמו וכל געגועיה עליו ...
Isaac favored Esau because he had a taste for game:
When his father asked him, "What do you do in the field all day?" He would apologize, saying, "It takes me all day to hunt animals and bring meat to my father's mouth." Since his mother rarely saw him, she did not love him, only Jacob, because he spent his time with her, and she poured all her affection upon him.
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz
Isaac, who grew up in the house of Abraham, surrounded by the righteous and pure, did not know the ways of tricksters, and therefore fell for Esau's trickery. But Rebecca, she grew up in the house of Bethuel and Laban. She knew tricksters and their lies. She was able to see through Esau and his lies.
Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, p.130
for the game that he brought him: The Hebrew says literally, "for the game in his mouth." It is unclear whether the idiom suggests Esau as a kind of lion bringing home game in its mouth or rather bringing game to put in his father's mouth. The almost grotesque concreteness of the idiom may be associated with the material reason for Isaac's paternal favoritism. Pointedly, no reason is assigned for Rebekah's love of Jacob in the next clause.