Genesis 25:29

Now Jacob cooked some stew, ¹  and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished.

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;

One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home exhausted and hungry from a hunt.

One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved.

And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food;

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.

Now Jacob cooked some stew, ¹  and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished.

¹ sn Jacob cooked some stew. There are some significant words and wordplays in this story that help clarify the points of the story. The verb “cook” is זִיד (zid), which sounds like the word for “hunter” (צַיִד, tsayid). This is deliberate, for the hunter becomes the hunted in this story. The word זִיד means “to cook, to boil,” but by the sound play with צַיִד it comes to mean “set a trap by cooking.” The usage of the word shows that it can also have the connotation of acting presumptuously (as in boiling over). This too may be a comment on the scene. For further discussion of the rhetorical devices in the Jacob narratives, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).