Genesis 20-29
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 20
1Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived for a time in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' So Abimelech king of Gerar sent men and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, 'Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.' 4Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, 'Lord, will You kill a nation, even though blameless? 5Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.' 6Then God said to him in the dream, 'Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.'
8So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their presence; and the people were greatly frightened.
9Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, 'What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.'
10And Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?'
11Abraham said, 'Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
12Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife;
13and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.'?’?'
14Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.
15Abimelech said, 'Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.'
16To Sarah he said, 'Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you, and before everyone you are cleared.'
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, so that they gave birth to children.
18For the Lord had completely closed all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Chapter 21
1Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. 2So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Sarah said, 'God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.' 7And she said, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.'
8And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac.
10Therefore she said to Abraham, 'Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!'
11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael.
12But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
13And of the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.'
14So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes.
16Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, 'May I not see the boy die!' And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept.
17God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.'
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, 'God is with you in all that you do;
23so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.'
24Abraham said, 'I swear it.'
25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized.
26And Abimelech said, 'I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.'
27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29Then Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?'
30He said, 'You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness for me, that I dug this well.'
31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.
32So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Chapter 22
1Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' 2Then He said, 'Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.' 3So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.' 6And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, 'My father!' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' 8Abraham said, 'God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.' So the two of them walked on together.
9Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10And Abraham reached out with his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'
12He said, 'Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.'
13Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'
15Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16and said, 'By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'
19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba.
20Now it came about after these things, that Abraham was told, saying, 'Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel'—
23and it was Bethuel who fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3Then Abraham arose from mourning before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4I am a stranger and a foreign resident among you; give me a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.' 5The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6Hear us, my lord: you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.' 7So Abraham stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8And he spoke with them, saying, 'If you are willing to let me bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me, and plead with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, 9that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he owns, which is at the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in your presence for a burial site.' 10Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham so that the sons of Heth heard, that is, all who entered the gate of his city, saying, 11No, my lord, listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.' 12And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. 13But he spoke to Ephron so that the people of the land heard, saying, 'If you will only please listen to me; I will give the price of the field, accept it from me so that I may bury my dead there.' 14Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15My lord, listen to me: a plot of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.' 16Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the presence of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency acceptable to a merchant.
17So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over
18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who entered the gate of his city.
19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan.
20So the field and the cave that was in it were deeded over to Abraham for a burial site by the sons of Heth.
Chapter 24
1Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. 2Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, 'Please place your hand under my thigh, 3and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live; 4but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.' 5The servant said to him, 'Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?' 6Then Abraham said to him, 'Beware that you do not take my son back there! 7The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free of this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.' 9So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
11He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water when it was evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
12And he said, 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;
14now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’— may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.'
15And it came about, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
16The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.
17Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jar.'
18And she said, 'Drink, my lord'; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.
19Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, 'I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.'
20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
21Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,
23and he said, 'Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?'
24She said to him, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.'
25Again she said to him, 'We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.'
26Then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord.
27And he said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.'
28Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.
30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, 'This is what the man said to me,' he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31And he said, 'Come in, blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?'
32So the man entered the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33But when food was set before him to eat, he said, 'I will not eat until I have stated my business.' And he said, 'Speak on.'
34So he said, 'I am Abraham’s servant.
35The Lord has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich; and He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys.
36Now my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has.
37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;
38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
39Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’
40And he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;
41then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going successful;
43behold, I am standing by the spring, and may it be that the young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jar';
44and she says to me, 'You drink, and I will draw for your camels also'—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.
47Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists.
48And I bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49So now if you are going to deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.'
50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, 'The matter has come from the Lord; so we cannot speak to you bad or good.
51Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.'
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord.
53And the servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
54Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they got up in the morning, he said, 'Send me away to my master.'
55But her brother and her mother said, 'Let the young woman stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.'
56However, he said to them, 'Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master.'
57And they said, 'We will call the young woman and ask her.'
58Then they called Rebekah and said to her, 'Will you go with this man?' And she said, 'I will go.'
59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.
62Now Isaac had come back from a journey to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the Negev.
63Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.
64Rebekah raised her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.
65She said to the servant, 'Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?' And the servant said, 'He is my master.' Then she took her veil and covered herself.
66The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; so Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Chapter 25
1Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She bore to him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were the sons of Keturah. 5Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; 6but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.
7These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, 175 years.
8Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.
9Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre,
10the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.
11It came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi.
12Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave woman, bore to Abraham;
13and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes.
17These are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.
18They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt going toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives.
19Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac;
20and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
21Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children; and the Lord answered him, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
22But the children struggled together within her; and she said, 'If it is so, why am I in this condition?' So she went to inquire of the Lord.
24When her days leading to the delivery were at an end, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25Now the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.
26Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
27When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a civilized man, living in tents.
28Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29When Jacob had cooked a stew one day, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted;
30and Esau said to Jacob, 'Please let me have a mouthful of that red stuff there, for I am exhausted.' Therefore he was called Edom by name.
31But Jacob said, 'First sell me your birthright.'
32Esau said, 'Look, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?'
33And Jacob said, 'First swear to me'; so he swore an oath to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
Chapter 26
1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2And the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5because Abraham obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.'
6So Isaac lived in Gerar.
7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, 'She is my sister,' for he was afraid to say, 'my wife,' thinking, 'the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is beautiful.'
8Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.
9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, 'Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister’?' And Isaac said to him, 'Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.’?'
10And Abimelech said, 'What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.'
11So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, 'He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.'
12Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And the Lord blessed him,
13and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy;
14for he had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with dirt.
16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, 'Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.'
17So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.
18Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them.
19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water,
20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, 'The water is ours!' So he named the well Esek, because they argued with him.
21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah.
22Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, 'At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.'
26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army.
27Isaac said to them, 'Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?'
28They said, 'We have seen plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken by us,’ that is, by you and us. So let us make a covenant with you,
29that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.'
30Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31In the morning they got up early and exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace.
32Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, 'We have found water.'
33So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
35and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Chapter 27
1Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, 'My son.' And he said to him, 'Here I am.' 2Then Isaac said, 'Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. 3Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; 4and prepare a delicious meal for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.'
5Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,
6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, 'Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,
7‘Bring me some game and prepare a delicious meal for me, so that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’
8So now, my son, listen to me as I command you.
9Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, so that I may prepare them as a delicious meal for your father, such as he loves.
10Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.'
11But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, 'Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.
12Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.'
13But his mother said to him, 'Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me.'
14So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a delicious meal such as his father loved.
15Then Rebekah took the best garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
16And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17She also gave the delicious meal and the bread which she had made to her son Jacob.
18Then he came to his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am. Who are you, my son?'
19Jacob said to his father, 'I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.'
20Isaac said to his son, 'How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?' And he said, 'Because the Lord your God made it come to me.'
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, 'Please come close, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.'
22So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, 'The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.'
23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24And he said, 'Are you really my son Esau?' And he said, 'I am.'
25So he said, 'Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.' And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.
26Then his father Isaac said to him, 'Please come close and kiss me, my son.'
27So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, 'See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed;
28Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine;
30Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, that his brother Esau came in from his hunting.
31Then he also made a delicious meal, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, 'Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.'
32His father Isaac said to him, 'Who are you?' And he said, 'I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.'
33Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, 'Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate from all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.'
34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, 'Bless me, me as well, my father!'
35And he said, 'Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.'
36Then Esau said, 'Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has betrayed me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.' And he said, 'Have you not reserved a blessing for me?'
37But Isaac replied to Esau, 'Behold, I have made him your master, and I have given to him all his relatives as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?'
38Esau said to his father, 'Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.' So Esau raised his voice and wept.
41So Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, 'The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.'
42Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent word and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, 'Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you.
43Now then, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban!
44Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides,
45until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send word and get you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?'
Chapter 28
1So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, saying to him, 'You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of peoples. 4May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, so that you may possess the land where you live as a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.' 5Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, saying, 'You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,'
7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.
8So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac;
9and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
10Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11And he happened upon a particular place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and made it a support for his head, and lay down in that place.
12And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13Then behold, the Lord was standing above it and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants.
14Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.'
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'The Lord is certainly in this place, and I did not know it!'
17And he was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'
18So Jacob got up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had placed as a support for his head, and set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on its top.
19Then he named that place Bethel; but previously the name of the city had been Luz.
20Jacob also made a vow, saying, 'If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and give me food to eat and garments to wear,
21and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.
22And this stone, which I have set up as a memorial stone, will be God’s house, and of everything that You give me I will assuredly give a tenth to You.'
Chapter 29
1Then Jacob set out on his journey, and went to the land of the people of the east. 2He looked, and saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, because they watered the flocks from that well. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large. 3When all the flocks were gathered there, they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place on the mouth of the well.
4Jacob said to them, 'My brothers, where are you from?' And they said, 'We are from Haran.'
5So he said to them, 'Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?' And they said, 'We know him.'
6And he said to them, 'Is it well with him?' And they said, 'It is well, and here is his daughter Rachel coming with the sheep.'
7Then he said, 'Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go, pasture them.'
8But they said, 'We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.'
9While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the sheep of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of his mother’s brother Laban.
11Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and raised his voice and wept.
12Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.
13So when Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things.
14And Laban said to him, 'You certainly are my bone and my flesh.' And he stayed with him a month.
15Then Laban said to Jacob, 'Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?'
16Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in figure and appearance.
18Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, 'I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.'
19Laban said, 'It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me.'
20So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him like only a few days because of his love for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, 'Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may have relations with her.'
22So Laban gathered all the people of the place and held a feast.
23Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and Jacob had relations with her.
24Laban also gave his female slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a slave.
25So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, 'What is this that you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?'
26But Laban said, 'It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn.
27Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me, for another seven years.'
28Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
29Laban also gave his female slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.
30So Jacob had relations with Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.
31Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was unable to have children.
32Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, 'Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.'
33Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, 'Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.' So she named him Simeon.
34And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, 'Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.' Therefore he was named Levi.
35And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.' Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.
King James Version
Chapter 20
1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.
17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
18For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
Chapter 21
1And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.
6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
7And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
8And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
20And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
22And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:
23Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.
24And Abraham said, I will swear.
25And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
26And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day.
27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
30And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.
31Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.
32Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
33And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.
34And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
Chapter 22
1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
15And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Chapter 23
1And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
3And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,
4I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
5And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
6Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
7And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.
8And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
9That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.
10And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
11Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.
12And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.
13And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
14And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
15My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
17And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure
18Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
19And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
Chapter 24
1And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: 3And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: 4But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
6And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
7The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
8And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
9And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.
10And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.
11And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
12And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
13Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:
14And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.
15And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
16And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
17And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
18And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
19And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
20And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
21And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
22And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
23And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?
24And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.
25She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
26And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord.
27And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.
28And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things.
29And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.
30And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.
31And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
32And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him.
33And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.
34And he said, I am Abraham's servant.
35And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.
36And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.
37And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:
38But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son.
39And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.
40And he said unto me, The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house:
41Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
42And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:
43Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink;
44And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's son.
45And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.
46And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.
47And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.
48And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son.
49And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
51Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken.
52And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.
53And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
54And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.
55And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
56And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.
57And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.
58And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.
59And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men.
60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
61And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
62And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.
63And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.
64And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
65For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.
66And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.
67And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Chapter 25
1Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
5And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.
6But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
7And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.
8Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.
9And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
10The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.
11And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.
12Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham:
13And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
14And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
15Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
16These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
17And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.
18And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.
19And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:
20And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord.
23And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
24And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
26And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
27And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
28And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
30And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
31And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
33And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Chapter 26
1And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 6And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
8And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
9And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
10And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
11And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.
13And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
14For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
15For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
16And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
17And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
21And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
24And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
25And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
27And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
28And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
29That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord.
30And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
33And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
34And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Chapter 27
1And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
5And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
6And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
7Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death.
8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
9Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
10And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:
12My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
13And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
14And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.
15And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:
16And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
17And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
19And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
20And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me.
21And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
22And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
23And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.
24And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
25And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
27And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed:
29Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
30And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.
32And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
33And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
34And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
35And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.
36And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
37And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
38And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
40And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.
41And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
42And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;
44And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;
45Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?
46And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
Chapter 28
1And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. 3And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
7And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;
8And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
9Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
10And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
13And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
19And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:
22And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
Chapter 29
1Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. 3And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place.
4And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.
5And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.
6And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.
7And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
8And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep.
9And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep: for she kept them.
10And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother.
11And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.
12And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father.
13And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.
15And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?
16And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured.
18And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
19And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
20And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
21And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
22And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
23And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
24And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.
25And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?
26And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
27Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
30And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
31And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
32And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 20
1From there Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar, 2Abraham said about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.
4Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, "Lord, would you destroy a nation even though it is innocent?
5Didn’t he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.
7Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours."
9Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, "What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done."
10Abimelech also asked Abraham, "What made you do this?"
11Abraham replied, "I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’
12Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13So when God had me wander from my father’s house, I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me: ‘He’s my brother.’"
14Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.
15Abimelech said, "Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you want."
16And he said to Sarah, "Look, I am giving your brother one thousand pieces of silver. It is a verification of your honor to all who are with you. You are fully vindicated."
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,
18for the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Chapter 21
1The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me."
7She also said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age."
8The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
9But Sarah saw the son mocking—the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.
10So she said to Abraham, "Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!"
11This was very distressing to Abraham because of his son.
12But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,
13and I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring."
14Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes
16and went and sat at a distance, about a bowshot away, for she said, "I can’t bear to watch the boy die!" While she sat at a distance, she wept loudly.
17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is.
18Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation."
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer.
21He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
23Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien."
24And Abraham said, "I swear it."
25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
27Abraham took flocks and herds and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock.
29And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?"
30He replied, "You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from me so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well."
31Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
32After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Chapter 22
1After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered.
3So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.
4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you."
6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.
9When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
10Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
12Then he said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me."
13Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: "It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain."
15Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16and said, "By myself I have sworn," this is the Lord’s declaration: "Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,
17I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.
18And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command."
20Now after these things Abraham was told, "Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."
23And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life. 2Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron ) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
3Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hethites:
4"I am an alien residing among you. Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead."
5The Hethites replied to Abraham,
6"Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead."
7Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of the land.
8He said to them, "If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
9to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as burial property."
10Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham:
11"No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the sight of my people. Bury your dead."
12Abraham bowed down to the people of the land
13and said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, "Listen to me, if you please. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there."
14Ephron answered Abraham and said to him,
15"My lord, listen to me. Land worth four hundred shekels of silver —what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."
16Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the hearing of the Hethites: four hundred standard shekels of silver.
17So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became
18Abraham’s possession in the sight of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city.
19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20The field with its cave passed from the Hethites to Abraham as burial property.
Chapter 24
1Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, "Place your hand under my thigh, 3and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, 4but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac."
6Abraham answered him, "Make sure that you don’t take my son back there.
7The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’ —he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.
8If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there."
9So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor’s town.
11At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town.
12"Lord, God of my master Abraham," he prayed, "make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.
14Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
15Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder.
16Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin—no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.
17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me have a little water from your jug."
18She replied, "Drink, my lord." She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink.
19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink."
20She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels
21while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success.
22As the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold.
23"Whose daughter are you?" he asked. "Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?"
24She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."
25She also said to him, "We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night."
26Then the man knelt low, worshiped the Lord,
27and said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives."
28The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.
30As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—"The man said this to me!"—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.
31Laban said, "Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."
32So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.
34"I am Abraham’s servant," he said.
35"The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.
36Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
37My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live
38but will go to my father’s family and to my clan to take a wife for my son.’
39But I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman will not come back with me?’
40He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s family.
41Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you—you will be free from my oath.’
42"Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful!
43I am standing here at a spring. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jug,’
44and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’—let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.
45"Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please let me have a drink.’
46She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.
47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
48Then I knelt low, worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere."
50Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter.
51Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the Lord has spoken."
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the Lord.
53Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.
58They called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She replied, "I will go."
59So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men.
62Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region.
63In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming.
64Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel
65and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" The servant answered, "It is my master." So she took her veil and covered herself.
66Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.
Chapter 25
1Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah, 2and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4And Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah. 5Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac. 6But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.
7This is the length of Abraham’s life: 175 years.
8He took his last breath and died at a good old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people.
9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hethite.
10This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hethites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.
11After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.
12These are the family records of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham.
13These are the names of Ishmael’s sons; their names according to the family records are Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16These are Ishmael’s sons, and these are their names by their settlements and encampments: twelve leaders of their clans.
17This is the length of Ishmael’s life: 137 years. He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people.
18And they settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt as you go toward Asshur. He stayed near all his relatives.
19These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac.
20Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
22But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.
24When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.
25The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau.
26After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
27When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.
28Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted.
30He said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted." That is why he was also named Edom.
33Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.
34Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.
Chapter 26
1There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. 2The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; 3stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, 5because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions." 6So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say "my wife," thinking, "The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman."
8When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
10Then Abimelech said, "What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us."
11So Abimelech warned all the people, "Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly be put to death."
12Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him,
13and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.
14He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.
15Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.
16And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us."
17So Isaac left there, camped in the Gerar Valley, and lived there.
18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
19Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.
20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek because they argued with him.
21Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Sitnah.
22He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, "For now the Lord has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."
23From there he went up to Beer-sheba,
24and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham."
26Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
27Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you."
28They replied, "We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you:
29You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord."
30So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank.
31They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
32On that same day Isaac’s servants came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, "We have found water!"
33He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is still Beer-sheba today.
34When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hethite.
35They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
2He said, "Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death.
3So now take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me.
4Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die."
5Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in,
6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said,
7‘Bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’
8Now, my son, listen to me and do what I tell you.
9Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves.
10Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies."
11Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, "Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin.
12Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself."
14So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved.
15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them.
16She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.
17Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
22So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
27So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said: Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
28May God give to you— from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land — an abundance of grain and new wine.
29May peoples serve you and nations bow in worship to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in worship to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting.
31He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me."
39His father Isaac answered him, Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above.
40You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck.
42When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.
43So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran,
44and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides—
45until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?"
Chapter 28
1So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite girl. 2Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham." 5So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, "Do not marry a Canaanite girl."
7And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.
8Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,
9so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.
10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.
11He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.
12And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
13The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.
14Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."
17He was afraid and said, "What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven."
18Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it
19and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz.
20Then Jacob made a vow: "If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,
21and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the Lord will be my God.
22This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me."
Chapter 29
1Jacob resumed his journey and went to the eastern country. 2He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. But a large stone covered the opening of the well. 3The shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when all the flocks were gathered there. Then they would return the stone to its place over the well’s opening.
9While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep.
11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.
12He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.
14Laban said to him, "Yes, you are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
15Laban said to him, "Just because you’re my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."
16Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.
17Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
18Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, "I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
19Laban replied, "Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me."
20So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, "Since my time is complete, give me my wife, so I can sleep with her."
22So Laban invited all the men of the place and sponsored a feast.
23That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.
24And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave.
26Laban answered, "It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.
27Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me."
28And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
29And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.
30Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
New Living Translation
Chapter 20
1Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner, 2Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, 'She is my sister.' So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.
4But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, 'Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?
5Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.'
6In the dream God responded, 'Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her.
7Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.'
8Abimelech got up early the next morning and quickly called all his servants together. When he told them what had happened, his men were terrified.
9Then Abimelech called for Abraham. 'What have you done to us?' he demanded. 'What crime have I committed that deserves treatment like this, making me and my kingdom guilty of this great sin? No one should ever do what you have done!
10Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?'
11Abraham replied, 'I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’
12And she really is my sister, for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her.
13When God called me to leave my father’s home and to travel from place to place, I told her, ‘Do me a favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am your brother.’'
14Then Abimelech took some of his sheep and goats, cattle, and male and female servants, and he presented them to Abraham. He also returned his wife, Sarah, to him.
15Then Abimelech said, 'Look over my land and choose any place where you would like to live.'
16And he said to Sarah, 'Look, I am giving your ‘brother’ 1,000 pieces of silver in the presence of all these witnesses. This is to compensate you for any wrong I may have done to you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared.'
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children.
18For the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.
Chapter 21
1The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. 2She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. 3And Abraham named their son Isaac. 4Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. 5Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.
6And Sarah declared, 'God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me.
7Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!'
8When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion.
9But Sarah saw Ishmael — the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar — making fun of her son, Isaac.
10So she turned to Abraham and demanded, 'Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!'
11This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son.
12But God told Abraham, 'Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.
13But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.'
15When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush.
16Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. 'I don’t want to watch the boy die,' she said, as she burst into tears.
17But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, 'Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.'
20And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer,
21and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt.
22About this time, Abimelech came with Phicol, his army commander, to visit Abraham. 'God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do,' Abimelech said.
23Swear to me in God’s name that you will never deceive me, my children, or any of my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so now swear that you will be loyal to me and to this country where you are living as a foreigner.'
24Abraham replied, 'Yes, I swear to it!'
25Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had taken by force from Abraham’s servants.
27Abraham then gave some of his sheep, goats, and cattle to Abimelech, and they made a treaty.
28But Abraham also took seven additional female lambs and set them off by themselves.
29Abimelech asked, 'Why have you set these seven apart from the others?'
30Abraham replied, 'Please accept these seven lambs to show your agreement that I dug this well.'
31Then he named the place Beersheba (which means 'well of the oath'), because that was where they had sworn the oath.
32After making their covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech left with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned home to the land of the Philistines.
33Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he worshiped the Lord, the Eternal God.
34And Abraham lived as a foreigner in Philistine country for a long time.
Chapter 22
1Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. 'Abraham!' God called. 'Yes,' he replied. 'Here I am.'
3The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.
4On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5Stay here with the donkey,' Abraham told the servants. 'The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.'
9When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
13Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means 'the Lord will provide'). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'
15Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.
16This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that
17I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.
18And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — all because you have obeyed me.'
20Soon after this, Abraham heard that Milcah, his brother Nahor’s wife, had borne Nahor eight sons.
21The oldest was named Uz, the next oldest was Buz, followed by Kemuel (the ancestor of the Arameans),
22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23(Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) In addition to these eight sons from Milcah,
24Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1When Sarah was 127 years old, 2she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.
3Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders,
4Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.'
5The Hittites replied to Abraham,
6Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince among us. Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse to help you in this way.'
7Then Abraham bowed low before the Hittites
8and said, 'Since you are willing to help me in this way, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar
9to let me buy his cave at Machpelah, down at the end of his field. I will pay the full price in the presence of witnesses, so I will have a permanent burial place for my family.'
10Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the Hittite elders of the town.
11No, my lord,' he said to Abraham, 'please listen to me. I will give you the field and the cave. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead.'
12Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land,
13and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. 'No, listen to me. I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.'
14Ephron answered Abraham,
15My lord, please listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.'
17So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all the surrounding trees.
18It was transferred to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate.
19Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron).
20So the field and the cave were transferred from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.
Chapter 24
1Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, 'Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. 3Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. 4Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.'
6No!' Abraham responded. 'Be careful never to take my son there.
7For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.
8If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there.'
9So the servant took an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He swore to follow Abraham’s instructions.
10Then he loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant Aram-naharaim. There he went to the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor had settled.
11He made the camels kneel beside a well just outside the town. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.
12O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,' he prayed. 'Please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham.
13See, I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water.
14This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’ — let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.'
15Before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
16Rebekah was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again.
17Running over to her, the servant said, 'Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.'
18Yes, my lord,' she answered, 'have a drink.' And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink.
19When she had given him a drink, she said, 'I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink.'
20So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw water for all his camels.
21The servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not the Lord had given him success in his mission.
22Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists.
24I am the daughter of Bethuel,' she replied. 'My grandparents are Nahor and Milcah.
25Yes, we have plenty of straw and feed for the camels, and we have room for guests.'
26The man bowed low and worshiped the Lord.
27Praise the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham,' he said. 'The Lord has shown unfailing love and faithfulness to my master, for he has led me straight to my master’s relatives.'
28The young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened.
29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, who ran out to meet the man at the spring.
30He had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels.
31Laban said to him, 'Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels?'
34I am Abraham’s servant,' he explained.
35And the Lord has greatly blessed my master; he has become a wealthy man. The Lord has given him flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many male and female servants and camels and donkeys.
36When Sarah, my master’s wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master’s son, and my master has given him everything he owns.
37And my master made me take an oath. He said, ‘Do not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women.
38Go instead to my father’s house, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son.’
39But I said to my master, ‘What if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to go back with me?’
40He responded, ‘The Lord, in whose presence I have lived, will send his angel with you and will make your mission successful. Yes, you must find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.
41Then you will have fulfilled your obligation. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her go with you, you will be free from my oath.’
42So today when I came to the spring, I prayed this prayer: ‘O Lord, God of my master, Abraham, please give me success on this mission.
43See, I am standing here beside this spring. This is my request. When a young woman comes to draw water, I will say to her, 'Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.'
44If she says, 'Yes, have a drink, and I will draw water for your camels, too,' let her be the one you have selected to be the wife of my master’s son.’
45Before I had finished praying in my heart, I saw Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
46She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’ So I drank, and then she watered the camels.
48Then I bowed low and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, because he had led me straight to my master’s niece to be his son’s wife.
49So tell me — will you or won’t you show unfailing love and faithfulness to my master? Please tell me yes or no, and then I’ll know what to do next.'
50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, 'The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we can say.
51Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.'
52When Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord.
53Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and presented them to Rebekah. He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother.
62Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beer-lahai-roi.
63One evening as he was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw the camels coming.
64When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel.
65Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?' she asked the servant. And he replied, 'It is my master.' So Rebekah covered her face with her veil.
66Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.
Chapter 25
1Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. 4Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were all descendants of Abraham through Keturah.
5Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac.
6But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac.
7Abraham lived for 175 years,
8and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.
9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
10This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he had buried his wife Sarah.
11After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
12This is the account of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant.
13Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped.
17Ishmael lived for 137 years. Then he breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.
18Ishmael’s descendants occupied the region from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt in the direction of Asshur. There they lived in open hostility toward all their relatives.
19This is the account of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
20When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
21Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.
22But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. 'Why is this happening to me?' she asked.
24And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins!
25The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau.
26Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
27As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home.
28Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry.
30Esau said to Jacob, 'I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!' (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means 'red.')
2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you.
3Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father.
4I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
5I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions.'
6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, 'She is my sister.' He was afraid to say, 'She is my wife.' He thought, 'They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.'
8But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah.
12When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the Lord blessed him.
13He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow.
14He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him.
15So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac’s wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.
17So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down.
18He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them.
19Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water.
20But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. 'This is our water,' they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means 'argument').
21Isaac’s men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means 'hostility').
22Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means 'open space'), for he said, 'At last the Lord has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.'
23From there Isaac moved to Beersheba,
24where the Lord appeared to him on the night of his arrival. 'I am the God of your father, Abraham,' he said. 'Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.'
25Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. He set up his camp at that place, and his servants dug another well.
26One day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander.
27Why have you come here?' Isaac asked. 'You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.'
28They replied, 'We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant.
29Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the Lord has blessed you!'
30So Isaac prepared a covenant feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together.
31Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath not to interfere with each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left him in peace.
32That very day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. 'We’ve found water!' they exclaimed.
33So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means 'oath'). And to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means 'well of the oath').
34At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon.
35But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.
2I am an old man now,' Isaac said, 'and I don’t know when I may die.
3Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
4Prepare my favorite dish, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die.'
5But Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game,
6she said to her son Jacob, 'Listen. I overheard your father say to Esau,
7‘Bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal. Then I will bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’
8Now, my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you.
9Go out to the flocks, and bring me two fine young goats. I’ll use them to prepare your father’s favorite dish.
10Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies.'
11But look,' Jacob replied to Rebekah, 'my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth.
12What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.'
14So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebekah took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Isaac liked it.
15Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Jacob.
16She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats.
17Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread.
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, 'Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.'
22So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. 'The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,' Isaac said.
23But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob.
25Then Isaac said, 'Now, my son, bring me the wild game. Let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.' So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him.
26Then Isaac said to Jacob, 'Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son.'
28'From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine.
29May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.'
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunt.
31Esau prepared a delicious meal and brought it to his father. Then he said, 'Sit up, my father, and eat my wild game so you can give me your blessing.'
39Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, 'You will live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above.
40You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.'
42But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told him, 'Listen, Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.
43So listen carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran.
44Stay there with him until your brother cools off.
45When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?'
Chapter 28
1So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, 'You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. 3May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.'
6Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, 'You must not marry a Canaanite woman.'
7He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram.
8It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women.
9So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.
10Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.
11At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep.
12As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, 'I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.
14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions — to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.
15What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.'
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!'
17But he was also afraid and said, 'What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!'
18The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it.
19He named that place Bethel (which means 'house of God'), although it was previously called Luz.
20Then Jacob made this vow: 'If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing,
21and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God.
22And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.'
Chapter 29
1Then Jacob hurried on, finally arriving in the land of the east. 2He saw a well in the distance. Three flocks of sheep and goats lay in an open field beside it, waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone covered the mouth of the well.
9Jacob was still talking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherd.
10And because Rachel was his cousin — the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother — and because the sheep and goats belonged to his uncle Laban, Jacob went over to the well and moved the stone from its mouth and watered his uncle’s flock.
11Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and he wept aloud.
12He explained to Rachel that he was her cousin on her father’s side — the son of her aunt Rebekah. So Rachel quickly ran and told her father, Laban.
14Laban exclaimed, 'You really are my own flesh and blood!' After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month,
15Laban said to him, 'You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.'
16Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel.
17There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face.
18Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, 'I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.'
19Agreed!' Laban replied. 'I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.'
20So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.
22So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast.
23But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her.
24(Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)
26It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,' Laban replied.
27But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too — provided you promise to work another seven years for me.'
28So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too.
29(Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.)
30So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.
English Standard Version
Chapter 20
1From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man 's wife." 4Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, "Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this." 6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7Now then, return the man 's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."
8So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.
9Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done."
10And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you did this thing?"
11Abraham said, "I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
12Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13And when God caused me to wander from my father 's house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, "He is my brother."’"
14Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.
15And Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you."
16To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated."
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
18For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham 's wife.
Chapter 21
1The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." 7And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
8And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.
10So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."
11And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.
12But God said to Abraham, "Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
13And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring."
14So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.
16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, "Let me not look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
17And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.
21He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do.
23Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned."
24And Abraham said, "I will swear."
25When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech 's servants had seized,
26Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today."
27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.
28Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.
29And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?"
30He said, "These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well."
31Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
Chapter 22
1After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 3So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." 6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
9When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
12He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
13And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14So Abraham called the name of that place, "The Lord will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."
15And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."
19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
20Now after these things it was told to Abraham, "Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."
23(Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham 's brother.
24Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4"I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." 5The Hittites answered Abraham, 6"Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead." 7Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8And he said to them, "If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place."
10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,
11"No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead."
12Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.
13And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, "But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there."
14Ephron answered Abraham,
15"My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."
16Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over
18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
Chapter 24
1Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh, 3that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac." 5The servant said to him, "Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?" 6Abraham said to him, "See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father 's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there." 9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant took ten of his master 's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.
11And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
12And he said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
13Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ — let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master."
15Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham 's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.
16The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water to drink from your jar."
18She said, "Drink, my lord." And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.
19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking."
20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.
21The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
23and said, "Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father 's house for us to spend the night?"
24She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."
25She added, "We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night."
26The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord
27and said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master 's kinsmen."
28Then the young woman ran and told her mother 's household about these things.
29Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring.
30As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister 's arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, "Thus the man spoke to me," he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31He said, "Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."
32So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, "I will not eat until I have said what I have to say." He said, "Speak on."
34So he said, "I am Abraham 's servant.
35The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.
36And Sarah my master 's wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has.
37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,
38but you shall go to my father 's house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’
39I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
40But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father 's house.
41Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42"I came today to the spring and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go,
43behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, "Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,"
44and who will say to me, "Drink, and I will draw for your camels also," let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master 's son.’
45"Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.
47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor 's son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms.
48Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master 's kinsman for his son.
49Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left."
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good.
51Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master 's son, as the Lord has spoken."
52When Abraham 's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord.
53And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
54And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, "Send me away to my master."
55Her brother and her mother said, "Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go."
56But he said to them, "Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master."
57They said, "Let us call the young woman and ask her."
58And they called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I will go."
59So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham 's servant and his men.
60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!"
62Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb.
63And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.
64And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel
65and said to the servant, "Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." So she took her veil and covered herself.
66And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother 's death.
Chapter 25
1Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
7These are the days of the years of Abraham 's life, 175 years.
8Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
9Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,
10the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.
11After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.
12These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham 's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah 's servant, bore to Abraham.
13These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes.
17(These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.)
18They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen.
19These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham 's son: Abraham fathered Isaac,
20and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
21And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22The children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23And the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger."
24When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau.
26Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau 's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
28Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.
30And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" (Therefore his name was called Edom. )
31Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright now."
32Esau said, "I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"
33Jacob said, "Swear to me now." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Chapter 26
1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2And the Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
6So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he feared to say, "My wife," thinking, "lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah," because she was attractive in appearance.
8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.
9So Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’"
10Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."
11So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
12And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,
13and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.
14He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.
15(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father 's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)
16And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."
17So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
18And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.
19But when Isaac 's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,
20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac 's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.
22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
23From there he went up to Beersheba.
24And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham 's sake."
25So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac 's servants dug a well.
26When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army,
27Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
28They said, "We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,
29that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord."
30So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
32That same day Isaac 's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, "We have found water."
33He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
35and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
Chapter 27
1When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son"; and he answered, "Here I am." 2He said, "Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
5Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,
6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,
7‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’
8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.
9Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.
10And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
11But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."
13His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me."
14So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.
15Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18So he went in to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
19Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me."
20But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because the Lord your God granted me success."
21Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."
22So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob 's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau 's hands. So he blessed him.
24He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am."
25Then he said, "Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son 's game and bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son."
27So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!
28May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.
29Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother 's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!"
30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son 's game, that you may bless me."
32His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
33Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, "Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."
34As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
35But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing."
36Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"
37Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?"
38Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
40By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck."
41Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
42But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran
44and stay with him a while, until your brother 's fury turns away —
45until your brother 's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?"
Chapter 28
1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother 's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother 's brother. 3God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!" 5Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob 's and Esau 's mother.
6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,"
7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
8So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,
9Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham 's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
10Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
12And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
13And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."
17And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
18So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
19He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21so that I come again to my father 's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God,
22and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God 's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you."
Chapter 29
1Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. 2As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well 's mouth was large, 3and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.
4Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where do you come from?" They said, "We are from Haran."
5He said to them, "Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him."
6He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!"
7He said, "Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them."
8But they said, "We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep."
9While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father 's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother 's brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother 's brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well 's mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother 's brother.
11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.
12And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father 's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah 's son, and she ran and told her father.
13As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister 's son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things,
14and Laban said to him, "Surely you are my bone and my flesh!" And he stayed with him a month.
15Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?"
16Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17Leah 's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.
18Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
19Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me."
20So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed."
22So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.
23But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.
24(Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)
25And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"
26Laban said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
27Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."
28Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29(Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)
30So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.
31When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me."
33She conceived again and bore a son, and said, "Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also." And she called his name Simeon.
34Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, "Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore his name was called Levi.
35And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, "This time I will praise the Lord." Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.
New International Version
Chapter 20
1Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
4Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?
5Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
7Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die."
8Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.
9Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done."
10And Abimelek asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?"
11Abraham replied, "I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
12Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.
13And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." ’ "
14Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him.
15And Abimelek said, "My land is before you; live wherever you like."
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again,
18for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Chapter 21
1Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."
7And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
8The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
9But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,
10and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."
11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
12But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring."
15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there, she began to sob.
17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
20God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
21While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
22At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
23Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you."
25Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized.
26But Abimelek said, "I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today."
27So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.
28Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,
29and Abimelek asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?"
32After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.
34And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
3Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."
15The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
18and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
20Some time later Abraham was told, "Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel."
23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
Chapter 23
1Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
3Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said,
4"I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead."
5The Hittites replied to Abraham,
6"Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."
7Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
8He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
9so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you."
10Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
11"No, my lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead."
12Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land
13and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there."
14Ephron answered Abraham,
15"Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."
17So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded
18to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.
19Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
Chapter 24
1Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. 3I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."
6"Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said.
7"The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
8If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."
9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.
11He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
12Then he prayed, "Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
14May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
15Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
16The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
19After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink."
20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
21Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.
23Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?"
24She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor."
25And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."
26Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord,
27saying, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives."
28The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.
30As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.
31"Come, you who are blessed by the Lord," he said. "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."
34So he said, "I am Abraham’s servant.
35The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
36My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
37And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
38but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’
40"He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family.
41You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.’
42"When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
43See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar,"
44and if she says to me, "Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’
47"I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ "She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’ "Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
48and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn."
50Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.
51Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed."
52When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.
53Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.
62Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.
63He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.
64Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel
66Then the servant told Isaac all he had done.
67Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Chapter 25
1Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
5Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.
6But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.
7Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years.
8Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.
9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,
10the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.
11After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.
13These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.
16These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps.
17Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people.
18His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them.
19This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac,
20and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
22The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.
24When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.
25The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.
26After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.
28Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.
30He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom. )
Chapter 26
1Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions." 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
12Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.
13The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.
14He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
15So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
17So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled.
18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there.
20But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him.
21Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.
22He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land."
23From there he went up to Beersheba.
24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."
26Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.
27Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?"
28They answered, "We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you
29that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord."
30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
31Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
32That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, "We’ve found water!"
33He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
34When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
2Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death.
3Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.
4Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."
5Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back,
6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau,
7‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’
8Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you:
9Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it.
10Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."
11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin.
12What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."
14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it.
15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
16She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins.
17Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.
22Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him.
25Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank.
26Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."
27So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
28May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine.
29May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
30After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting.
31He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, "My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing."
39His father Isaac answered him, "Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above.
40You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck."
42When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you.
43Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran.
44Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides.
45When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
Chapter 28
1So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: "Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham." 5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, "Do not marry a Canaanite woman,"
7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram.
8Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac;
9so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.
10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
11When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13There above it stood the Lord, and he said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it."
17He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
19He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
21so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God
22and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
Chapter 29
1Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. 2There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
9While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd.
10When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep.
11Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
12He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
14Then Laban said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month,
15Laban said to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be."
16Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful.
18Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
19Laban said, "It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me."
20So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to make love to her."
22So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast.
23But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love to her.
24And Laban gave his servant Zilpah to his daughter as her attendant.
26Laban replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.
27Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work."
28And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29Laban gave his servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her attendant.
30Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.
New King James Version
Chapter 20
1And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
4But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?
5Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
6And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.
7Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid.
9And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.”
10Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”
11And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.
12But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
14Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him.
15And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”
16Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was rebuked.
17So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;
18for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Chapter 21
1And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him— Isaac. 4Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” 7She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.
10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”
11And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.
13Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
14So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
15And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.
16Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.
20So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
21He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.
23Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”
25Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized.
26And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.”
27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
30And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.”
31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
32Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.
3So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
9Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
13Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
16and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
17blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
20Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
23And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.
Chapter 23
1Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
3Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,
4“I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
5And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
6“Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”
7Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.
8And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me,
9that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”
10Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying,
11“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”
12Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land;
13and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”
14And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
15“My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.”
16And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.
17So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded
18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
19And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.
Chapter 24
1Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
6But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there.
7The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
8And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.”
9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
11And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.
12Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’— let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
15And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder.
16Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up.
17And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”
18So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink.
19And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
20Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
21And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
22So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold,
23and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”
24So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.”
25Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”
26Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord.
27And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
28So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well.
30So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well.
31And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”
34So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
35The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
36And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has.
37Now my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell;
38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’
39And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
40But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house.
41You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’
42“And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go,
43behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,”
44and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”— let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45“But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also.
47Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
48And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good.
51Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken.”
52And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.
53Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
62Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the South.
63And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming.
64Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;
66And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Chapter 25
1Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
5And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
6But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.
7This is the sum of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years.
8Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
9And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite,
10the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.
11And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi.
12Now this is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham.
13And these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.
17These were the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.
18(They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria.) He died in the presence of all his brethren.
19This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac.
20Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian.
21Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
24So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.
25And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.
26Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
28And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.
30And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
33Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
2Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.
3Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
5because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
7And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “ She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.”
8Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.
10And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”
11So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him.
13The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;
14for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.
15Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth.
16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.
19Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.
21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah.
22And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
23Then he went up from there to Beersheba.
24And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.”
25So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army.
27And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you,
29that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’ ”
30So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.
2Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death.
3Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.
4And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”
5Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
6So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
7‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’
8Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you.
9Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.
10Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.”
11And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth- skinned man.
12Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”
13But his mother said to him, “ Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”
14And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
15Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
25He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.”
27And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: “Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field Which the Lord has blessed.
28Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.
29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!”
30Now it happened, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me.”
39Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above.
40By your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
42And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you.
43Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran.
44And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,
45until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”
Chapter 28
1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3“May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.”
6Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”
7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram.
8Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac.
9So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
10Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.
12Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.
14Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
18Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
19And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,
21so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.
22And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Chapter 29
1So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. 2And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. 3Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth.
9Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.
12And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father.
13Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things.
14And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.
15Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?”
16Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance.
19And Laban said, “ It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me.”
20So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.
21Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.”
22And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.
23Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her.
24And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid.
25So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?”
26And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
27Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.”
28Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also.
29And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid.
30Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.
31When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
32So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.”
33Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.
34She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.
35And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing.
