Genesis 17:1--27:46
The Sign of the Covenant
17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless.
17:2 Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.”
17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God said to him,
17:4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
17:5 No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.
17:6 I will make you extremely fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.
17:7 I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”
17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.
17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.
17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.
17:13 They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder.
17:14 Any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.”
17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name.
17:16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. Kings of countries will come from her!”
17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”
17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before you!”
17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him.
17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes; I will make him into a great nation.
17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
17:22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) and circumcised them on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.
17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised;
17:25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.
17:26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day.
17:27 All the men of his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Three Special Visitors
18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.
18:2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
18:3 He said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant.
18:4 Let a little water be brought so that you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree.
18:5 And let me get a bit of food so that you may refresh yourselves since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”
18:6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Take three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread.”
18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.
18:8 Abraham then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food before them. They ate while he was standing near them under a tree.
18:9 Then they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “There, in the tent.”
18:10 One of them said, “I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him.
18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; Sarah had long since passed menopause.)
18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”
18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’
18:14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.”
18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.”
Abraham Pleads for Sodom
18:16 When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom. (Now Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.)
18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
18:18 After all, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using his name.
18:19 I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then the Lord will give to Abraham what he promised him.”
18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant
18:21 that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. If not, I want to know.”
18:22 The two men turned and headed toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord.
18:23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked?
18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it?
18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?”
18:26 So the Lord replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord (although I am but dust and ashes),
18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy the whole city because five are lacking?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
18:29 Abraham spoke to him again, “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”
18:30 Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak! What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
18:31 Abraham said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”
18:32 Finally Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
18:33 The Lord went on his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home.
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.
19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.”
19:3 But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate.
19:4 Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house.
19:5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
19:6 Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.
19:7 He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly!
19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
19:9 “Out of our way!” they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We’ll do more harm to you than to them!” They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door.
19:10 So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door.
19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door.
19:12 Then the two visitors said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? Get them out of this place
19:13 because we are about to destroy it. The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord that he has sent us to destroy it.”
19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.
19:15 At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!”
19:16 When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city.
19:17 When they had brought them outside, they said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”
19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord!
19:19 Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I’ll die.
19:20 Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. Let me go there. It’s just a little place, isn’t it? Then I’ll survive.”
19:21 “Very well,” he replied, “I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned.
19:22 Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.)
19:23 The sun had just risen over the land as Lot reached Zoar.
19:24 Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord.
19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground.
19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt.
19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
19:28 He looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.
19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the region, God honored Abraham’s request. He removed Lot from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities Lot had lived in.
19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
19:31 Later the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby to have sexual relations with us, according to the way of all the world.
19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine so we can have sexual relations with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, and the older daughter came and had sexual relations with her father. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up.
19:34 So in the morning the older daughter said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”
19:35 So they made their father drunk that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up.
19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.
19:37 The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.
19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
Abraham and Abimelech
20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident in Gerar,
20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.
20:3 But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.”
20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, would you really slaughter an innocent nation?
20:5 Did Abraham not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!”
20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.
20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live. But if you don’t give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you.”
20:8 Early in the morning Abimelech summoned all his servants. When he told them about all these things, they were terrified.
20:9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!”
20:10 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?”
20:11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’
20:12 What’s more, she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife.
20:13 When God made me wander from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
20:14 So Abimelech gave sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him.
20:15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.”
20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your ‘brother.’ This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.”
20:17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.
20:18 For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
The Birth of Isaac
21:1 The Lord visited Sarah just as he had said he would and did for Sarah what he had promised.
21:2 So Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.
21:3 Abraham named his son – whom Sarah bore to him – Isaac.
21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do.
21:5 (Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.)
21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
21:7 She went on to say, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”
21:8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham prepared a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
21:9 But Sarah noticed the son of Hagar the Egyptian – the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham – mocking.
21:10 So she said to Abraham, “Banish that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!”
21:11 Sarah’s demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son.
21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife. Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.
21:13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”
21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, and sent her away. So she went wandering aimlessly through the wilderness of Beer Sheba.
21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved the child under one of the shrubs.
21:16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot away; for she thought, “I refuse to watch the child die.” So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.
21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is crying.
21:18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
21:19 Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water. She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.
21:20 God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother found a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
21:22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
21:23 Now swear to me right here in God’s name that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. Show me, and the land where you are staying, the same loyalty that I have shown you.”
21:24 Abraham said, “I swear to do this.”
21:25 But Abraham lodged a complaint against Abimelech concerning a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
21:26 “I do not know who has done this thing,” Abimelech replied. “Moreover, you did not tell me. I did not hear about it until today.”
21:27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a treaty.
21:28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the flock by themselves.
21:29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”
21:30 He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof that I dug this well.”
21:31 That is why he named that place Beer Sheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
21:32 So they made a treaty at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines.
21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, the eternal God.
21:34 So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time.
The Sacrifice of Isaac
22:1 Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied.
22:2 God said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac – and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.”
22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.
22:4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of the place in the distance.
22:5 So he said to his servants, “You two stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go up there. We will worship and then return to you.”
22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together.
22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father?” “What is it, my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
22:8 “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.
22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son.
22:11 But the Lord’s angel called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered.
22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
22:13 Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” It is said to this day, “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.”
22:15 The Lord’s angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven
22:16 and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ decrees the Lord, ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
22:17 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies.
22:18 Because you have obeyed me, all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.’”
22:19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer Sheba where Abraham stayed.
22:20 After these things Abraham was told, “Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor –
22:21 Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22:22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
22:23 (Now Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
22:24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore him children – Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
The Death of Sarah
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years.
23:2 Then she died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
23:3 Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife and said to the sons of Heth,
23:4 “I am a temporary settler among you. Grant me ownership of a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead.”
23:5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham,
23:6 “Listen, sir, you are a mighty prince among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you from burying your dead.”
23:7 Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, the sons of Heth.
23:8 Then he said to them, “If you agree that I may bury my dead, then hear me out. Ask Ephron the son of Zohar
23:9 if he will sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly for the full price, so that I may own it as a burial site.”
23:10 (Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hethite replied to Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth – before all who entered the gate of his city –
23:11 “No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell you both the field and the cave that is in it. In the presence of my people I sell it to you. Bury your dead.”
23:12 Abraham bowed before the local people
23:13 and said to Ephron in their hearing, “Hear me, if you will. I pay to you the price of the field. Take it from me so that I may bury my dead there.”
23:14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
23:15 “Hear me, my lord. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”
23:16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and weighed out for him the price that Ephron had quoted in the hearing of the sons of Heth – 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time.
23:17 So Abraham secured Ephron’s field in Machpelah, next to Mamre, including the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and all around its border,
23:18 as his property in the presence of the sons of Heth before all who entered the gate of Ephron’s city.
23:19 After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah next to Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
23:20 So Abraham secured the field and the cave that was in it as a burial site from the sons of Heth.
The Wife for Isaac
24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything.
24:2 Abraham said to his servant, the senior one in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh
24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire 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 to find a wife for my son Isaac.”
24:5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”
24:6 “Be careful never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him.
24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, promised me with a solemn oath, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel before you so that you may find a wife for my son from there.
24:8 But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you will be free 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.
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. He journeyed to the region of Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor.
24:11 He made the camels kneel down by the well outside the city. It was evening, 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. Be faithful to my master Abraham.
24:13 Here I am, standing by the spring, and the daughters of the people 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.’ In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.”
24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah 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).
24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.
24:17 Abraham’s servant 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 her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink.
24:19 When she had done so, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want.”
24:20 She quickly emptied 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 if the Lord had made his journey successful or not.
24:22 After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels and gave them to her.
24:23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “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.
24:25 We have plenty of straw and feed,” she added, “and room for you 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 for my master! The Lord has led me to the house of my master’s relatives!”
24:28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household all about these things.
24:29 (Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.) 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 and heard his sister Rebekah say, “This is what the man said to me,” he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing by the camels near the spring.
24:31 Laban said to him, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing out here when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?”
24:32 So Abraham’s servant went to the house and unloaded the camels. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet.
24:33 When food was served, he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.” “Tell us,” Laban said.
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. The Lord 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 when she was old, and my master 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 a wife for my son.’
24:39 But I said to my master, ‘What if the woman does not want to go with me?’
24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, 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 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, may events unfold as follows:
24:43 Here I am, standing by the spring. When 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, along came Rebekah 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.’ 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 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.”
24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “This is the Lord’s doing. Our wishes are of no concern.
24:51 Rebekah stands here before you. Take her and go so that she may become the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord has decided.”
24:52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.
24:53 Then he 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.
When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.”
24:55 But Rebekah’s 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 has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return to my master.”
24:57 Then they said, “We’ll call the girl and find out what she wants to do.”
24:58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want 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:
“Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands!
May your descendants possess the strongholds of their enemies.”
24:61 Then Rebekah and her female servants mounted the camels and rode away with the man. So Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and left.
24:62 Now Isaac came from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.
24:63 He went out to relax in the field in the early evening. Then he looked up and saw that there were camels approaching.
24:64 Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel
24:65 and asked Abraham’s servant, “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” “That is my master,” the servant replied. So she took her veil and covered herself.
24:66 The servant told Isaac everything that had happened.
24:67 Then Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took her as his wife and loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
The Death of Abraham
25:1 Abraham had taken another 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. 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 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 and sent them off to the east, away from his son Isaac.
25:7 Abraham lived a total of 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. He joined his ancestors.
25:9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah 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. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.
25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi.
The Sons of Ishmael
25:12 This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, 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: 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 according to their clans.
25:17 Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. He breathed his last and died; then he joined his ancestors.
25:18 His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next to Egypt all the way to Asshur. They settled away from all their relatives.
Jacob and Esau
25:19 This is the account of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac.
25:20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
25:21 Isaac prayed to 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 inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” So she asked the Lord,
25:23 and the Lord said to her,
“Two nations 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, there were twins in her womb.
25:25 The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau.
25:26 When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents.
25:28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
25:29 Now Jacob cooked some stew, and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished.
25:30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
25:31 But Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
25:32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die! What use is the birthright to me?”
25:33 But Jacob said, “Swear an oath to me now.” So Esau swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. So Esau despised his birthright.
Isaac and Abimelech
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. 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; settle down in the land that I will point out to you.
26:3 Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made 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 all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.
26:5 All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
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.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
26:8 After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”
26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”
26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, because the Lord blessed him.
26:13 The man became wealthy. His influence continued to grow until he became very prominent.
26:14 He had so many sheep and cattle and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous of him.
26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up 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, for you have become much more powerful than we are.”
26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley.
26:18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham died. Isaac gave these wells the same names his father had given them.
26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing water there,
26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it.
26:21 His servants dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it Sitnah.
26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac named it Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”
26:23 From there Isaac 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 the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.
26:26 Now Abimelech had come to him from Gerar along with Ahuzzah his friend and Phicol the commander of his army.
26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me and sent me away from you.”
26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be a pact between us – between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you
26:29 so that you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed you, but have always treated you well before sending you away in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.”
26:30 So Isaac held a feast for them and they celebrated.
26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms.
26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported.
26:33 So he named it Shibah; that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba to this day.
26:34 When Esau was forty years old, he married 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.
Jacob Cheats Esau out of the Blessing
27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau replied.
27:2 Isaac said, “Since I am so old, I could die at any time.
27:3 Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game for me.
27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then I will eat it so that I may bless you before I die.”
27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back,
27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,
27:7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before I die.’
27:8 Now then, my son, do exactly what I tell you!
27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them.
27:10 Then you will take it to your father. Thus he will eat it and bless you before he dies.”
27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin!
27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.”
27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, my son! Just obey me! Go and get them for me!”
27:14 So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother. She prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it.
27:15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
27:16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.
27:17 Then she handed the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?”
27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.”
27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world did you find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” he replied.
27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you, my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau.”
27:22 So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.”
27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob.
27:24 Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob replied.
27:25 Isaac said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. Then I will bless you.” So Jacob brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac drank.
27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.”
27:27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,
“Yes, my son smells
like the scent of an open field
which the Lord has blessed.
27:28 May God give you
the dew of the sky
and the richness of the earth,
and plenty of grain and new wine.
27:29 May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
You will be lord over your brothers,
and the sons of your mother will bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed,
and those who bless you be blessed.”
27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt.
27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau said to him, “My father, get up and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.”
27:32 His father Isaac asked, “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” he replied, “Esau!”
27:33 Isaac began to shake violently and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. He will indeed be blessed!”
27:34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”
27:35 But Isaac replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing.”
27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”
27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” Then Esau wept loudly.
27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,
“Indeed, your home will be
away from the richness of the earth,
and away from the dew of the sky above.
27:40 You will live by your sword
but you will serve your brother.
When you grow restless,
you will tear off his yoke
from your neck.”
27:41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. Esau said privately, “The time of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill my brother Jacob!”
27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, she quickly summoned her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you.
27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. Run away immediately to my brother Laban in Haran.
27:44 Live with him for a little while until your brother’s rage subsides.
27:45 Stay there until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed because of these daughters of Heth. If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!”
2 Corinthians 13:1
Paul’s Third Visit to Corinth
13:1 This is the third time I am coming to visit you. By the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter will be established.