24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, 1 and the Lord had blessed him 2 in everything. 24:2 Abraham said to his servant, the senior one 3 in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh 4 24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise 5 by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire 6 a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living. 24:4 You must go instead to my country and to my relatives 7 to find 8 a wife for my son Isaac.”
24:5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me 9 to this land? Must I then 10 take your son back to the land from which you came?”
24:6 “Be careful 11 never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. 12 24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, 13 promised me with a solemn oath, 14 ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel 15 before you so that you may find 16 a wife for my son from there. 24:8 But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, 17 you will be free 18 from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!” 24:9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes. 19
24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. 20 He journeyed 21 to the region of Aram Naharaim 22 and the city of Nahor. 24:11 He made the camels kneel down by the well 23 outside the city. It was evening, 24 the time when the women would go out to draw water. 24:12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. 25 Be faithful 26 to my master Abraham. 24:13 Here I am, standing by the spring, 27 and the daughters of the people 28 who live in the town are coming out to draw water. 24:14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ 29 In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” 30
24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah 31 with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor). 32 24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. 33 She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. 24:17 Abraham’s servant 34 ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.” 24:18 “Drink, my lord,” she replied, and quickly lowering 35 her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink. 24:19 When she had done so, 36 she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want.” 24:20 She quickly emptied 37 her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw more water until she had drawn enough for all his camels. 24:21 Silently the man watched her with interest to determine 38 if the Lord had made his journey successful 39 or not.
24:22 After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka 40 and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels 41 and gave them to her. 42 24:23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. 43 “Tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24:24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom Milcah bore to Nahor. 44 24:25 We have plenty of straw and feed,” she added, 45 “and room for you 46 to spend the night.”
24:26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord, 24:27 saying “Praised be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love 47 for my master! The Lord has led me 48 to the house 49 of my master’s relatives!” 50
24:28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household all about 51 these things. 24:29 (Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.) 52 Laban rushed out to meet the man at the spring. 24:30 When he saw the bracelets on his sister’s wrists and the nose ring 53 and heard his sister Rebekah say, 54 “This is what the man said to me,” he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing 55 by the camels near the spring. 24:31 Laban said to him, 56 “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! 57 Why are you standing out here when I have prepared 58 the house and a place for the camels?”
24:32 So Abraham’s servant 59 went to the house and unloaded 60 the camels. Straw and feed were given 61 to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. 62 24:33 When food was served, 63 he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.” 64 “Tell us,” Laban said. 65
24:34 “I am the servant of Abraham,” he began. 24:35 “The Lord has richly blessed my master and he has become very wealthy. 66 The Lord 67 has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 24:36 My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him 68 when she was old, 69 and my master 70 has given him everything he owns. 24:37 My master made me swear an oath. He said, ‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 24:38 but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find 71 a wife for my son.’ 24:39 But I said to my master, ‘What if the woman does not want to go 72 with me?’ 73 24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, 74 will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family. 24:41 You will be free from your oath 75 if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.’ 24:42 When I came to the spring today, I prayed, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you have decided to make my journey successful, 76 may events unfold as follows: 77 24:43 Here I am, standing by the spring. 78 When 79 the young woman goes out to draw water, I’ll say, “Give me a little water to drink from your jug.” 24:44 Then she will reply to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too.” May that woman be the one whom the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’
24:45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, 80 along came Rebekah 81 with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 24:46 She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels water. 24:47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.’ 82 I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 24:48 Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right path to find the granddaughter 83 of my master’s brother for his son. 24:49 Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.” 84
24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “This is the Lord’s doing. 85 Our wishes are of no concern. 86 24:51 Rebekah stands here before you. Take her and go so that she may become 87 the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord has decided.” 88
24:52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 24:53 Then he 89 brought out gold, silver jewelry, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and to her mother. 24:54 After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight. 90
When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 91 24:55 But Rebekah’s 92 brother and her mother replied, “Let the girl stay with us a few more days, perhaps ten. Then she can go.” 24:56 But he said to them, “Don’t detain me – the Lord 93 has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return 94 to my master.” 24:57 Then they said, “We’ll call the girl and find out what she wants to do.” 95 24:58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want 96 to go with this man?” She replied, “I want to go.”
24:59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham’s servant and his men. 24:60 They blessed Rebekah with these words: 97
“Our sister, may you become the mother 98 of thousands of ten thousands!
May your descendants possess the strongholds 99 of their enemies.”
24:61 Then Rebekah and her female servants mounted the camels and rode away with 100 the man. So Abraham’s servant 101 took Rebekah and left.
24:62 Now 102 Isaac came from 103 Beer Lahai Roi, 104 for 105 he was living in the Negev. 106 24:63 He 107 went out to relax 108 in the field in the early evening. 109 Then he looked up 110 and saw that 111 there were camels approaching. 24:64 Rebekah looked up 112 and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 24:65 and asked 113 Abraham’s servant, 114 “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” “That is my master,” the servant replied. 115 So she took her veil and covered herself.
24:66 The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. 24:67 Then Isaac brought Rebekah 116 into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took her 117 as his wife and loved her. 118 So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. 119
25:1 Abraham had taken 120 another 121 wife, named Keturah. 25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 25:3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. 122 The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. 25:4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants 123 of Keturah.
25:5 Everything he owned Abraham left to his son Isaac. 25:6 But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines 124 and sent them off to the east, away from his son Isaac. 125
25:7 Abraham lived a total of 126 175 years. 25:8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man who had lived a full life. 127 He joined his ancestors. 128 25:9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah 129 near Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar, the Hethite. 25:10 This was the field Abraham had purchased from the sons of Heth. 130 There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed 131 his son Isaac. Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi. 132
25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, 133 whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.
25:13 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, by their names according to their records: 134 Nebaioth (Ishmael’s firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 25:14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 25:15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 25:16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their settlements and their camps – twelve princes 135 according to their clans.
25:17 Ishmael lived a total of 136 137 years. He breathed his last and died; then he joined his ancestors. 137 25:18 His descendants 138 settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next 139 to Egypt all the way 140 to Asshur. 141 They settled 142 away from all their relatives. 143
25:19 This is the account of Isaac, 144 the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac. 25:20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, 145 the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 146
25:21 Isaac prayed to 147 the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 25:22 But the children struggled 148 inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” 149 So she asked the Lord, 150 25:23 and the Lord said to her,
“Two nations 151 are in your womb,
and two peoples will be separated from within you.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
25:24 When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, 152 there were 153 twins in her womb. 25:25 The first came out reddish 154 all over, 155 like a hairy 156 garment, so they named him Esau. 157 25:26 When his brother came out with 158 his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. 159 Isaac was sixty years old 160 when they were born.
25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled 161 hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. 162 25:28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, 163 but Rebekah loved 164 Jacob.
25:29 Now Jacob cooked some stew, 165 and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished. 25:30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed 166 me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called 167 Edom.) 168
25:31 But Jacob replied, “First 169 sell me your birthright.” 25:32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die! What use is the birthright to me?” 170 25:33 But Jacob said, “Swear an oath to me now.” 171 So Esau 172 swore an oath to him and sold his birthright 173 to Jacob.
25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. 174 So Esau despised his birthright. 175
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 176 in the days of Abraham. 177 Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. 26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; 178 settle down in the land that I will point out to you. 179 26:3 Stay 180 in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, 181 for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, 182 and I will fulfill 183 the solemn promise I made 184 to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them 185 all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. 186 26:5 All this will come to pass 187 because Abraham obeyed me 188 and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 189 26:6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” 190 He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, 191 “The men of this place will kill me to get 192 Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
26:8 After Isaac 193 had been there a long time, 194 Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed 195 Isaac caressing 196 his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really 197 your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” 198
26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? 199 One of the men 200 might easily have had sexual relations with 201 your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches 202 this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” 203
26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, 204 because the Lord blessed him. 205 26:13 The man became wealthy. 206 His influence continued to grow 207 until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had 208 so many sheep 209 and cattle 210 and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous 211 of him. 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up 212 all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.
26:16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, 213 for you have become much more powerful 214 than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. 215 26:18 Isaac reopened 216 the wells that had been dug 217 back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up 218 after Abraham died. Isaac 219 gave these wells 220 the same names his father had given them. 221
26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing 222 water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled 223 with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac 224 named the well 225 Esek 226 because they argued with him about it. 227 26:21 His servants 228 dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it 229 Sitnah. 230 26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac 231 named it 232 Rehoboth, 233 saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”
26:23 From there Isaac 234 went up to Beer Sheba. 26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 26:25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped 235 the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. 236
26:26 Now Abimelech had come 237 to him from Gerar along with 238 Ahuzzah his friend 239 and Phicol the commander of his army. 26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me 240 and sent me away from you.” 26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see 241 that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be 242 a pact between us 243 – between us 244 and you. Allow us to make 245 a treaty with you 26:29 so that 246 you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed 247 you, but have always treated you well 248 before sending you away 249 in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” 250
26:30 So Isaac 251 held a feast for them and they celebrated. 252 26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. 253 Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. 254
26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. 255 26:33 So he named it Shibah; 256 that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba 257 to this day.
26:34 When 258 Esau was forty years old, 259 he married 260 Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 26:35 They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety. 261