Genesis 25; Genesis 26; Matthew 8:1-17

Genesis 25

1 Abraham married another woman, whose name was Keturah.

2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.

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

5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac;

6 but while he was still alive, he gave presents to the sons his other wives had borne him. Then he sent these sons to the land of the East, away from his son Isaac.

7 Abraham died at the ripe old age of 175.

9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in Machpelah Cave, in the field east of Mamre that had belonged to Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.

10 It was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; both Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there.

11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me."

12 Ishmael, whom Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Sarah, bore to Abraham,

13 had the following sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

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

16 They were the ancestors of twelve tribes, and their names were given to their villages and camping places.

17 Ishmael was 137 years old when he died.

18 The descendants of Ishmael lived in the territory between Havilah and Shur, to the east of Egypt on the way to Assyria. They lived apart from the other descendants of Abraham.

19 This is the story of Abraham's son Isaac.

20 Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel (an Aramean from Mesopotamia) and sister of Laban.

21 Because Rebecca had no children, Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant.

22 She was going to have twins, and before they were born, they struggled against each other in her womb. She said, "Why should something like this happen to me?" So she went to ask the Lord for an answer.

23 The Lord said to her, "Two nations are within you; You will give birth to two rival peoples. One will be stronger than the other; The older will serve the younger."

24 The time came for her to give birth, and she had twin sons.

25 The first one was reddish, and his skin was like a hairy robe, so he was named Esau.

26 The second one was born holding on tightly to the heel of Esau, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilled hunter, a man who loved the outdoors, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

28 Isaac preferred Esau, because he enjoyed eating the animals Esau killed, but Rebecca preferred Jacob.

29 One day while Jacob was cooking some bean soup, Esau came in from hunting. He was hungry

30 and said to Jacob, "I'm starving; give me some of that red stuff." (That is why he was named Edom. )

31 Jacob answered, "I will give it to you if you give me your rights as the first-born son."

32 Esau said, "All right! I am about to die; what good will my rights do me?"

33 Jacob answered, "First make a vow that you will give me your rights." Esau made the vow and gave his rights to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave him some bread and some of the soup. He ate and drank and then got up and left. That was all Esau cared about his rights as the first-born son.

Genesis 26

1 There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

2 The Lord had appeared to Isaac and had said, "Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay.

3 Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham.

4 I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants.

5 I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands."

6 So Isaac lived at Gerar.

7 When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful.

8 When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love.

9 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, "So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?" He answered, "I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife."

10 "What have you done to us?" Abimelech said. "One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt."

11 Abimelech warned all the people: "Anyone who mistreats this man or his wife will be put to death."

12 Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him.

13 He continued to prosper and became a very rich man.

14 Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him.

15 So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.

16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are."

17 So Isaac left and set up his camp in Gerar Valley, where he stayed for some time.

18 He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

19 Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water.

20 The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said, "This water belongs to us." So Isaac named the well "Quarrel."

21 Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it "Enmity."

22 He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it "Freedom." He said, "Now the Lord has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here."

23 Isaac left and went to Beersheba.

24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham."

25 Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.

26 Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac.

27 So Isaac asked, "Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?"

28 They answered, "Now we know that the Lord is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise

29 that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you."

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

31 Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them, and they parted as friends.

32 On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, "We have found water."

33 He named the well "Vow." That is how the city of Beersheba got its name.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon.

35 They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.

Matthew 8:1-17

1 When Jesus came down from the hill, large crowds followed him.

2 Then a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to him, knelt down before him, and said, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean."

3 Jesus reached out and touched him. "I do want to," he answered. "Be clean!" At once the man was healed of his disease.

4 Then Jesus said to him, "Listen! Don't tell anyone, but go straight to the priest and let him examine you; then in order to prove to everyone that you are cured, offer the sacrifice that Moses ordered."

5 When Jesus entered Capernaum, a Roman officer met him and begged for help:

6 "Sir, my servant is sick in bed at home, unable to move and suffering terribly."

7 "I will go and make him well," Jesus said.

8 "Oh no, sir," answered the officer. "I do not deserve to have you come into my house. Just give the order, and my servant will get well.

9 I, too, am a man under the authority of superior officers, and I have soldiers under me. I order this one, "Go!' and he goes; and I order that one, "Come!' and he comes; and I order my slave, "Do this!' and he does it."

10 When Jesus heard this, he was surprised and said to the people following him, "I tell you, I have never found anyone in Israel with faith like this.

11 I assure you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of heaven.

12 But those who should be in the Kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness, where they will cry and gnash their teeth."

13 Then Jesus said to the officer, "Go home, and what you believe will be done for you." And the officer's servant was healed that very moment.

14 Jesus went to Peter's home, and there he saw Peter's mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever.

15 He touched her hand; the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

16 When evening came, people brought to Jesus many who had demons in them. Jesus drove out the evil spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

17 He did this to make come true what the prophet Isaiah had said, "He himself took our sickness and carried away our diseases."