Genesis 25:1–47:31

Abraham Dies

25 Abraham married another woman. Her name was Keturah. 2She had Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah by Abraham. 3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The children of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All of them came from Keturah.

5Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines. Then he sent them away from his son Isaac. He sent them to the land of the east.

7Abraham lived a total of 175 years. 8He took his last breath and died when he was very old. He had lived a very long time. Then he joined the members of his family who had already died.

9Abraham’s sons Isaac and Ishmael buried his body. They put it in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre. It was in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite. 10Abraham had bought it from the Hittites. He was buried there with his wife Sarah.

11After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac. At that time Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

The Sons of Ishmael

12Here is the story of Abraham’s son Ishmael. Hagar had Ishmael by Abraham. She was Sarah’s servant from Egypt.

13Here are the names of the sons of Ishmael. They are listed in the order they were born. Nebaioth was Ishmael’s oldest son. Then came Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16All of them were Ishmael’s sons. They were rulers of 12 tribes. They all lived in their own settlements and camps.

17Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he took his last breath and died. He joined the members of his family who had already died. 18His children settled in the area between Havilah and Shur. It was near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur.

Ishmael’s children weren’t friendly toward any of the tribes that were related to them.

Jacob and Esau

19Here is the story of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham was the father of Isaac. 20Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. She was the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram. She was also the sister of Laban the Aramean.

21Rebekah couldn’t have children. So Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. And the Lord answered his prayer. His wife Rebekah became pregnant.

22The babies struggled with each other inside her. She said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to ask the Lord what she should do.

23The Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your body.

Two tribes that are now inside you will be separated.

One nation will be stronger than the other.

The older son will serve the younger one.”

24The time came for Rebekah to have her babies. There were twin boys in her body. 25The first one to come out was red. His whole body was covered with hair. So they named him Esau.

26Then his brother came out. His hand was holding onto Esau’s heel. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah had them.

27The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter. He was a man who liked the open country. But Jacob was a quiet man. He stayed at home among the tents. 28Isaac liked the meat of wild animals. So Esau was his favorite son. But Rebekah’s favorite was Jacob.

29One day Jacob was cooking some stew. Esau came in from the open country. He was very hungry. 30He said to Jacob, “Quick! Let me have some of that red stew! I’m very hungry!” That’s why he was also named Edom.

31Jacob replied, “First sell me the rights that belong to you as the oldest son in the family.”

32“Look, I’m dying of hunger,” Esau said. “What good are those rights to me?”

33But Jacob said, “First promise me with an oath that you are selling me your rights.” So Esau promised to do it. He sold Jacob all of the rights that belonged to him as the oldest son.

34Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. Esau ate and drank. Then he got up and left.

So Esau didn’t care anything at all about the rights that belonged to him as the oldest son.

Isaac and Abimelech

26 There was very little food in the land. The same thing had been true earlier, in Abraham’s time. Isaac went to Abimelech in Gerar. Abimelech was the king of the Philistines.

2The Lord appeared to Isaac. He said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay here for a while. I will be with you and give you my blessing. I will give all of these lands to you and your children after you. And I will keep the promise I made with an oath to your father Abraham. 4I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. And I will give them all these lands. All nations on earth will be blessed because of your children.

5“I will do all of those things because Abraham obeyed me. He did what I required. He kept my commands, my rules and my laws.” 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

7The men of that place asked him about his wife. He said, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She’s my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me because of Rebekah. She’s a beautiful woman.”

8Isaac had been there a long time. One day Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, looked down from a window. He saw Isaac hugging and kissing his wife Rebekah.

9So Abimelech sent for Isaac. He said, “She’s really your wife, isn’t she? Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’?”

Isaac answered him, “I thought I might lose my life because of her.”

10Then Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? What if one of the men had sex with your wife? Then you would have made us guilty.”

11So Abimelech gave orders to all of the people. He said, “You can be sure that anyone who harms this man or his wife will be put to death.”

12Isaac planted crops in that land. That same year he gathered 100 times more than he planted. That was because the Lord blessed him.

13Isaac became rich. His wealth continued to grow until he became very rich. 14He had many flocks and herds and servants.

Isaac had so much that the Philistines became jealous of him. 15So they stopped up all of the wells the servants of his father Abraham had dug. They filled them with dirt.

16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Move away from us. You have become too powerful for us.”

17So Isaac moved away from there. He camped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18Isaac opened up the wells again. They had been dug in the time of his father Abraham. The Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died. Isaac gave the wells the same names his father had given them.

19Isaac’s servants dug for wells in the valley. There they discovered a well of fresh water. 20But the people of Gerar who took care of their herds argued with the people who took care of Isaac’s herds. “The water is ours!” the people of Gerar said. So Isaac named the well Esek. That’s because they argued with him.

21Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. They argued about that one too. So he named it Sitnah.

22He moved on from there and dug another well. But no one argued about that one. So he named it Rehoboth. He said, “Now the Lord has given us room. Now we will do well in the land.”

23From there Isaac went up to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid. I am with you. I will bless you. I will increase the number of your children because of my servant Abraham.”

25Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. There he set up his tent. And there his servants dug a well.

26During that time, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar. Ahuzzath had come with him. So had Phicol, Abimelech’s army commander. Ahuzzath was Abimelech’s personal adviser.

27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You were angry with me and sent me away.”

28They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you. So we said, ‘We should make an agreement by taking an oath.’ The agreement should be between us and you. We want to make a peace treaty with you. 29Promise that you won’t harm us. We didn’t harm you. We always treated you well. We sent you away in peace. Now the Lord has blessed you.”

30Then Isaac had a big dinner prepared for them. They ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men made an agreement with an oath. Then Isaac sent the men of Gerar on their way. And they left in peace.

32That day Isaac’s servants came to him. They told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33So he named it Shibah. To this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.

34When Esau was 40 years old, he got married to Judith. She was the daughter of Beeri the Hittite. He also married Basemath. She was the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35Isaac and Rebekah became very upset because Esau had married Hittite women.

Isaac Gives Jacob His Blessing

27 Isaac had become old. His eyes were so weak he couldn’t see anymore. One day he called for his older son Esau. He said to him, “My son.”

“Here I am,” he answered.

2Isaac said, “I’m an old man now. And I don’t know when I’ll die. 3Now then, get your weapons. Get your bow and arrows. Go out to the open country. Hunt some wild animals for me. 4Prepare for me the kind of tasty food I like. Bring it to me to eat. Then I’ll give you my blessing before I die.”

5Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. Esau left for the open country. He went to hunt for a wild animal and bring it back.

6Then Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau. 7He said, ‘Bring me a wild animal. Prepare some tasty food for me to eat. Then I’ll give you my blessing before I die. The Lord will be my witness.’ ”

8Rebekah continued, “My son, listen carefully. Do what I tell you. 9Go out to the flock. Bring me two of the finest young goats. I will prepare tasty food for your father. I’ll make it just the way he likes it. 10I want you to take it to your father to eat. Then he’ll give you his blessing before he dies.”

11Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau’s body is covered with hair. But my skin is smooth. 12What if my father touches me? He would know I was…