Genesis 25; Genesis 26

Genesis 25

1 Abraham married another wife, named Keturah.

2 The children she bore him were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's sons were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

4 Midian's sons were Ephah, Epher, Enoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah's sons.

5 Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.

6 To the sons of Abraham's secondary wives, Abraham gave gifts and, while he was still living, sent them away from his son Isaac to land in the east.

7 Abraham lived to the age of 175.

8 Abraham took his last breath and died after a good long life, a content old man, and he was placed with his ancestors.

9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave in Machpelah, which is in the field of Zohar's son Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre.

10 Thus Abraham and his wife Sarah were both buried in the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites.

11 After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived in Beer-lahai-roi.

12 These are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore for Abraham.

13 These are the names of Ishmael's sons, by their names and according to their birth order: Nebaioth, Ishmael's oldest son; Kedar; Adbeel; Mibsam;

14 Mishma; Dumah; Massa;

15 Hadad; Tema; Jetur; Naphish; and Kedemah.

16 These are Ishmael's sons. These are their names by their villages and their settlements: twelve tribal leaders according to their tribes.

17 Ishmael lived to the age of 137. He took his last breath and died, and was placed with his ancestors.

18 He established camps from Havilah to Shur, which is near Egypt on the road to Assyria. He died among all of his brothers.

19 These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac.

20 Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean and the sister of Laban the Aramean, from Paddan-aram.

21 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, since she was unable to have children. The LORD was moved by his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

22 But the boys pushed against each other inside of her, and she said, "If this is what it's like, why did it happen to me?" So she went to ask the LORD.

23 And the LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; two different peoples will emerge from your body. One people will be stronger than the other; the older will serve the younger."

24 When she reached the end of her pregnancy, she discovered that she had twins.

25 The first came out red all over, clothed with hair, and she named him Esau.

26 Immediately afterward, his brother came out gripping Esau's heel, and she named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

27 When the young men grew up, Esau became an outdoorsman who knew how to hunt, and Jacob became a quiet man who stayed at home.

28 Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was boiling stew, Esau came in from the field hungry

30 and said to Jacob, "I'm starving! Let me devour some of this red stuff." That's why his name is Edom.

31 Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright today."

32 Esau said, "Since I'm going to die anyway, what good is my birthright to me?"

33 Jacob said, "Give me your word today." And he did. He sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 So Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate, drank, got up, and left, showing just how little he thought of his birthright.

Genesis 26

1 When a famine gripped the land, a different one from the first famine that occurred in Abraham's time, Isaac set out toward Gerar and toward King Abimelech of the Philistines.

2 The LORD appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt but settle temporarily in the land that I will show you.

3 Stay in this land as an immigrant, and I will be with you and bless you because I will give all of these lands to you and your descendants. I will keep my word, which I gave to your father Abraham.

4 I will give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all of these lands. All of the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants.

5 I will do this because Abraham obeyed me and kept my orders, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions."

6 So Isaac lived in Gerar.

7 When the men who lived there asked about his wife, he said, "She's my sister," because he was afraid to say, "my wife," thinking, The men who live there will kill me for Rebekah because she's very beautiful.

8 After Isaac had lived there for some time, the Philistines' King Abimelech looked out his window and saw Isaac laughing together with his wife Rebekah.

9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She's your wife, isn't she? How could you say, ‘She's my sister'?" Isaac responded, "Because I thought that I might be killed because of her."

10 Abimelech said, "What are you trying to do to us? Before long, one of the people would have slept with your wife; and you would have made us guilty."

11 Abimelech gave orders to all of the people, "Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!"

12 Isaac planted grain in that land and reaped one hundred shearim that year because the LORD had blessed him.

13 Isaac grew richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy.

14 He had livestock, both flocks and cattle, and many servants. As a result, the Philistines envied him.

15 The Philistines closed up and filled with dirt all of the wells that his father's servants had dug during his father Abraham's lifetime.

16 Abimelech said to Isaac, "Move away from us because you have become too powerful among us."

17 So Isaac moved away from there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

18 Isaac dug out again the wells that were dug during the lifetime of his father Abraham. The Philistines had closed them up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Isaac's servants dug wells in the valley and found a well there with fresh water.

20 Isaac's shepherds argued with Gerar's shepherds, each claiming, "This is our water." So Isaac named the well Esek because they quarreled with him.

21 They dug another well and argued about it too, so he named it Sitnah.

22 He left there and dug another well, but they didn't argue about it, so he named it Rehoboth and said, "Now the LORD has made an open space for us and has made us fertile in the land."

23 Then he went up from Gerar to Beer-sheba.

24 The LORD appeared to him that night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Don't be afraid because I am with you. I will bless you, and I will give you many children for my servant Abraham's sake."

25 So Isaac built an altar there and worshipped in the LORD's name. Isaac pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.

26 But Abimelech set out toward him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his ally and Phicol the commander of his forces.

27 Isaac said to him, "Why have you come after me? You resented me and sent me away from you."

28 They said, "We now see that the LORD was with you. We propose that there be a formal agreement between us and that we draw up a treaty with you:

29 you must not treat us badly since we haven't harmed you and since we have treated you well at all times. Then we will send you away peacefully, for you are now blessed by the LORD."

30 Isaac prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank.

31 They got up early in the morning, and they gave each other their word. Isaac sent them off, and they left peacefully.

32 That day Isaac's servants informed him about the well that they had been digging and said to him, "We found water."

33 He called it Shibah; therefore, the city's name has been Beer-sheba until today.

34 When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 They made life very difficult for Isaac and Rebekah.