Genesis 25:30-32

New English Translation

³⁰So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed^[a] me some of the red stuff—yes, this red stuff—because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called^[b] Edom.)^[c]

³¹But Jacob replied, “First^[d] sell me your birthright.” ³²“Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die! What use is the birthright to me?”^[e]

Genesis 25:30 tn The rare term לָעַט (laʿat), translated “feed,” is used in later Hebrew for feeding animals (see Jastrow, 714). If this nuance was attached to the word in the biblical period, then it may depict Esau in a negative light, comparing him to a hungry animal. Famished Esau comes in from the hunt, only to enter the trap. He can only point at the red stew and ask Jacob to feed him.
Genesis 25:30 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so is given a passive translation.
Genesis 25:30 sn Esau’s descendants would eventually be called Edom. Edom was the place where they lived, so-named probably because of the reddish nature of the hills. The writer can use the word “red” to describe the stew that Esau gasped for to convey the nature of Esau and his descendants. They were a lusty, passionate, and profane people who lived for the moment. Again, the wordplay is meant to capture the “omen in the nomen.”
Genesis 25:31 tn Heb “today.”
Genesis 25:32 tn Heb “And what is this to me, a birthright?”

New English Translation (NET)