Genesis 25-26

1Now Abraham took another wife, [1] whose name was Keturah. 2She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. 3Jokshan [1] became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. 5Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; 6but to the sons of [1] his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.

7These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, one hundred and seventy-five years. 8Abraham breathed his last and died in a [1] ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. 9Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, 10the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. 11It came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac [1] lived by Beer-lahai-roi.

12Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; 13and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, [1] in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam 14and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, 15Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their [1] tribes. 17These are the years of the life of Ishmael, one hundred and thirty-seven years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18They [1] settled from Havilah to Shur which is [2] east of Egypt [3] as one goes toward Assyria; he [4] settled in defiance of all his [5] relatives.

19Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham [1] became the father of Isaac; 20and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the [1] Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the [1] Aramean, to be his wife. 21Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord [1] answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23The Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb;

And two peoples will be separated from your body;

And one people shall be stronger than the other;

And the older shall serve the younger.”

24When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. 26Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called [1] Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

27When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a [1] peaceful man, [2] living in tents.

28Now Isaac loved Esau, because [1] he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was [1] famished; 30and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of [1] that red stuff there, for I am [2] famished.” Therefore his name was called [3] Edom.

31But Jacob said, “[1] First sell me your birthright.”

32Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

33And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

26:1Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; [1] stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your [1] descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will multiply your [1] descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your [1] descendants all these lands; and by your [1] descendants all the nations of the earth [2] shall be blessed; 5because Abraham [1] obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”

6So Isaac [1] lived in Gerar. 7When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “[1] the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful.”

8It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’”

10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12Now Isaac sowed in that land and [1] reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, 13and the man became rich, and continued to grow [1] richer until he became very [1] wealthy; 14for he had possessions of flocks [1] and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up [1] by filling them with earth. 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are [1] too powerful for us.” 17And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and [1] settled there.

18Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which [1] had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he [2] gave them the same names which his father had [3] given them. 19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of [1] flowing water, 20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.

21Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it [1] Sitnah. 22He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it [1] Rehoboth, for he said, “[2] At last the Lord has made [3] room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,

“I am the God of your father Abraham;

Do not fear, for I am with you.

I will bless you, and multiply your [1] descendants,

For the sake of My servant Abraham.”

25So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar [1] with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. 27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

28They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between [1] you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you [1] and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’” 30Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

31In the morning they arose early and [1] exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. 32Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34When Esau was forty years old he [1] married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35and they [1] brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.