<p class="bodytext">Early in the morning Abraham took<n id="1" /> some food<n id="2" /> and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child,<n id="3" /> and sent her away. So she went wandering<n id="4" /> aimlessly through the wilderness<n id="5" /> of Beer Sheba.

Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot<n id="1" /> away; for she thought,<n id="2" /> &#8220;I refuse to watch the child die.&#8221;<n id="3" /> So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">But God heard the boy&#8217;s voice.<n id="1" /> The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, &#8220;What is the matter,<n id="2" /> Hagar? Don&#8217;t be afraid, for God has heard<n id="3" /> the boy&#8217;s voice right where he is crying.

&#8220;I do not know who has done this thing,&#8221; Abimelech replied. &#8220;Moreover,<n id="1" /> you did not tell me. I did not hear about it until today.&#8221;p>

and said to Ephron in their hearing, &#8220;Hear me, if you will. I pay<n id="1" /> to you the price<n id="2" /> of the field. Take it from me so that I may<n id="3" /> bury my dead there.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So Abraham agreed to Ephron&#8217;s price<n id="1" /> and weighed<n id="2" /> out for him<n id="3" /> the price<n id="4" /> that Ephron had quoted<n id="5" /> in the hearing of the sons of Heth &#8211; 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The servant asked him, &#8220;What if the woman is not willing to come back with me<n id="1" /> to this land? Must I then<n id="2" /> take your son back to the land from which you came?&#8221;p>

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God of heaven, who took me from my father&#8217;s house and the land of my relatives,<n id="1" /> promised me with a solemn oath,<n id="2" /> &#8216;To your descendants I will give this land.&#8217; He will send his angel<n id="3" /> before you so that you may find<n id="4" /> a wife for my son from there.

I will say to a young woman, &#8216;Please lower your jar so I may drink.&#8217; May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, &#8216;Drink, and I&#8217;ll give your camels water too.&#8217;<n id="1" /> In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Then I asked her, &#8216;Whose daughter are you?&#8217; She replied, &#8216;The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.&#8217;<n id="1" /> I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

<p class="bodytext">After Isaac<n id="1" /> had been there a long time,<n id="2" /> Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed<n id="3" /> Isaac caressing<n id="4" /> his wife Rebekah.

Isaac reopened<n id="1" /> the wells that had been dug<n id="2" /> back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up<n id="3" /> after Abraham died. Isaac<n id="4" /> gave these wells<n id="5" /> the same names his father had given them.<n id="6" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> appeared to him that night and said, &#8220;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.&#8221;

Esau exclaimed, &#8220;&#8216;Jacob&#8217; is the right name for him!<n id="1" /> He has tripped me up<n id="2" /> two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!&#8221; Then he asked, &#8220;Have you not kept back a blessing for me?&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Isaac replied to Esau, &#8220;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?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said,<n id="1" /> she quickly summoned<n id="2" /> her younger son Jacob and told him, &#8220;Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you.<n id="3" />

Stay there<n id="1" /> until your brother&#8217;s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I&#8217;ll send someone to bring you back from there.<n id="2" /> Why should I lose both of you in one day?&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

I am with you!<n id="1" /> I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, &#8220;Because the <sc>Lordsc> heard that I was unloved,<n id="1" /> he gave me this one too.&#8221; So she named him Simeon.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">At the time<n id="1" /> of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants<n id="2" /> in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, &#8220;Give me some of your son&#8217;s mandrakes.&#8221;