25:1 Abraham had taken 1 another 2 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. 3 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 4 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 5 and sent them off to the east, away from his son Isaac. 6
25:7 Abraham lived a total of 7 175 years. 25:8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man who had lived a full life. 8 He joined his ancestors. 9 25:9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah 10 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. 11 There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed 12 his son Isaac. Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi. 13
25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, 14 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: 15 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 16 according to their clans.
25:17 Ishmael lived a total of 17 137 years. He breathed his last and died; then he joined his ancestors. 18 25:18 His descendants 19 settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next 20 to Egypt all the way 21 to Asshur. 22 They settled 23 away from all their relatives. 24
25:19 This is the account of Isaac, 25 the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac. 25:20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, 26 the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 27
25:21 Isaac prayed to 28 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 29 inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” 30 So she asked the Lord, 31 25:23 and the Lord said to her,
“Two nations 32 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, 33 there were 34 twins in her womb. 25:25 The first came out reddish 35 all over, 36 like a hairy 37 garment, so they named him Esau. 38 25:26 When his brother came out with 39 his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. 40 Isaac was sixty years old 41 when they were born.
25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled 42 hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. 43 25:28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, 44 but Rebekah loved 45 Jacob.
25:29 Now Jacob cooked some stew, 46 and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished. 25:30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed 47 me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called 48 Edom.) 49
25:31 But Jacob replied, “First 50 sell me your birthright.” 25:32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die! What use is the birthright to me?” 51 25:33 But Jacob said, “Swear an oath to me now.” 52 So Esau 53 swore an oath to him and sold his birthright 54 to Jacob.
25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. 55 So Esau despised his birthright. 56
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 57 in the days of Abraham. 58 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; 59 settle down in the land that I will point out to you. 60 26:3 Stay 61 in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, 62 for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, 63 and I will fulfill 64 the solemn promise I made 65 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 66 all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. 67 26:5 All this will come to pass 68 because Abraham obeyed me 69 and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 70 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.” 71 He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, 72 “The men of this place will kill me to get 73 Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
26:8 After Isaac 74 had been there a long time, 75 Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed 76 Isaac caressing 77 his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really 78 your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” 79
26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? 80 One of the men 81 might easily have had sexual relations with 82 your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches 83 this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” 84
26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, 85 because the Lord blessed him. 86 26:13 The man became wealthy. 87 His influence continued to grow 88 until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had 89 so many sheep 90 and cattle 91 and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous 92 of him. 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up 93 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, 94 for you have become much more powerful 95 than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. 96 26:18 Isaac reopened 97 the wells that had been dug 98 back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up 99 after Abraham died. Isaac 100 gave these wells 101 the same names his father had given them. 102
26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing 103 water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled 104 with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac 105 named the well 106 Esek 107 because they argued with him about it. 108 26:21 His servants 109 dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it 110 Sitnah. 111 26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac 112 named it 113 Rehoboth, 114 saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”
26:23 From there Isaac 115 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 116 the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. 117
26:26 Now Abimelech had come 118 to him from Gerar along with 119 Ahuzzah his friend 120 and Phicol the commander of his army. 26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me 121 and sent me away from you.” 26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see 122 that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be 123 a pact between us 124 – between us 125 and you. Allow us to make 126 a treaty with you 26:29 so that 127 you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed 128 you, but have always treated you well 129 before sending you away 130 in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” 131
26:30 So Isaac 132 held a feast for them and they celebrated. 133 26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. 134 Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. 135
26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. 136 26:33 So he named it Shibah; 137 that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba 138 to this day.
26:34 When 139 Esau was forty years old, 140 he married 141 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. 142