Genesis 24:28-67; Genesis 25; Genesis 26

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Genesis 24:28-67

28 Then the maiden ran and told her mother's household about these things.
29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.
30 When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and when he 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.
31 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."
32 So the man came into the house; and Laban ungirded the camels, and gave him straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33 Then food was set before him to eat; but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my errand." He said, "Speak on."
34 So he said, "I am Abraham's servant.
35 The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and asses.
36 And 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.
37 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;
38 but you shall go to my father's house and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son.'
39 I said to my master, 'Perhaps the woman will not follow me.'
40 But 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 kindred and from my father's house;
41 then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my kindred; 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 thou wilt prosper the way which I go,
43 behold, I am standing by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, "Pray give me a little water from your jar to drink,"
44 and 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 done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, 'Pray let me drink.'
46 She 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.
47 Then I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, The daughter of Bethu'el, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.' So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms.
48 Then 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.
49 Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left."
50 Then Laban and Bethu'el answered, "The thing comes from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good.
51 Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has spoken."
52 When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD.
53 And the servant brought forth jewelry of silver and of gold, and raiment, 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, "Send me back to my master."
55 Her brother and her mother said, "Let the maiden 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; let me go that I may go to my master."
57 They said, "We will call the maiden, 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 her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men.
60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "Our sister, be the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them!"
61 Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and rode upon the camels and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had come from Beer-la'hai-roi, and was dwelling in the Negeb.
63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there were camels coming.
64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel,
65 and said to the servant, "Who is the man yonder, 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, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 25

1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Ketu'rah.
2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Mid'ian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshu'rim, Letu'shim, and Le-um'mim.
4 The sons of Mid'ian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abi'da, and Elda'ah. All these were the children of Ketu'rah.
5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.
6 But 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.
7 These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, a hundred and seventy-five years.
8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
9 Isaac and Ish'mael his sons buried him in the cave of Mach-pe'lah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,
10 the field which Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.
11 After the death of Abraham God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac dwelt at Beer-la'hai-roi.
12 These are the descendants of Ish'mael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maid, bore to Abraham.
13 These are the names of the sons of Ish'mael, named in the order of their birth: Neba'ioth, the first-born of Ish'mael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Ked'emah.
16 These are the sons of Ish'mael 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 Ish'mael, a hundred and thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his kindred.)
18 They dwelt from Hav'ilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled over against all his people.
19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham was the father of Isaac,
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, the daughter of Bethu'el the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 The children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is thus, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger."
24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 The first came forth red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they called his name Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand had taken hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
28 Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.
30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!" (Therefore his name was called Edom.)
31 Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."
32 Esau said, "I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"
33 Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 26

1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abim'elech king of the Philistines.
2 And the LORD appeared to him, and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves:
5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
7 When 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 for the sake of Rebekah"; because she was fair to look upon.
8 When he had been there a long time, Abim'elech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah his wife.
9 So Abim'elech 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 Abim'elech 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."
11 So Abim'elech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death."
12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed 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 a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)
16 And Abim'elech said to Isaac, "Go away from us; for you are much mightier than we."
17 So Isaac departed from there, and encamped in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there.
18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names which his father had given them.
19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of springing water,
20 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 contended with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also; so he called its name Sitnah.
22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and over that they did not quarrel; so he called its name Reho'both, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba.
24 And 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 descendants for my servant Abraham's sake."
25 So 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.
26 Then Abim'elech went to him from Gerar with Ahuz'zath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
28 They said, "We see plainly that the LORD is with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,
29 that 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."
30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 In the morning they rose early and took oath with one another; and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
32 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."
33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith the daughter of Be-e'ri the Hittite, and Bas'emath the daughter of Elon the Hittite;
35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.