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.