Genesis 24:52–26:16
52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, yhe bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. 53 And 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. 54 And 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, d“Send me away to my master.” 55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.” 56 But 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.” 57 They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.” 58 And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” 59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and eher nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“Our sister, may you fbecome
thousands of ten thousands,
and gmay your offspring possess
the gate of those who hate him!”6
61 Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had returned from hBeer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. 63 And Isaac went out ito meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel 65 and 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. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then 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 jcomforted after his mother’s kdeath.
Abraham’s Death and His Descendants
25 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 lShe bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 mAbraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he nsent them away from his son Isaac, eastward oto the east country.
7 These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. 8 Abraham pbreathed his last and qdied in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9 Isaac and Ishmael rhis sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, 10 the field sthat Abraham purchased from the Hittites. tThere Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. 11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at uBeer-lahai-roi.
12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, vwhom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. 13 wThese are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: xNebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and xKedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, yTema, zJetur, zNaphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, atwelve princes according to their tribes. 17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He bbreathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) 18 cThey settled from Havilah to dShur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled1 over against all his kinsmen.
19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: eAbraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, fthe daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of gPaddan-aram, hthe sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And ithe Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”2 So she went jto inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,
k“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you3 shall be divided;
lthe one shall be stronger than the other,
mthe older shall serve the younger.”
24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, nall his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with ohis hand holding Esau’s heel, so phis name was called Jacob.4 Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was qa skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, rdwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because she ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.5) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and tsold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides uthe former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to vAbimelech king of the wPhilistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell xin the land of which I shall tell you. 3 ySojourn in this land, and zI will be with you and will bless you, for ato you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish bthe oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 cI will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And din your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because eAbraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, fhe said, “She is my sister,” for ghe feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because hshe was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with1 Rebekah his wife. 9 So 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.’ ” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and iyou would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord jblessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines kenvied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells lthat his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”