Genesis 25-26 (Contemporary English Version)

Genesis 25

Abraham Marries Keturah

 ¹Abraham married Keturah, ²and they had six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Later, Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan, and when Dedan grew up, he had three sons: Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴Midian also had five sons: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah.

    ^5-6While Abraham was still alive, he gave gifts to the sons of Hagar and Keturah. He also sent their sons to live in the east far from his son Isaac, and when Abraham died, he left everything to Isaac.

   

The Death of Abraham

 ^7-8Abraham died at the ripe old age of one hundred seventy-five. ^9-10His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him east of Hebron ^[a] in Machpelah Cave that was part of the field Abraham had bought from Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. Abraham was buried there beside his wife Sarah. ¹¹God blessed Isaac after this, and Isaac moved to a place called "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me." ^[b]

Ishmael's Descendants

 ¹²Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar, the slave woman of Sarah. ¹³Ishmael had twelve sons, in this order: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶Each of Ishmael's sons was a tribal chief, and a village was named after each of them.

    ^17-18Ishmael had settled in the land east of his brothers, and his sons ^[c] settled everywhere from Havilah to Shur, east of Egypt on the way to Asshur. ^[d] Ishmael was one hundred thirty-seven when he died.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

 ¹⁹Isaac was the son of Abraham, ²⁰and he was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. She was also the sister of Laban, the Aramean from northern Syria. ^[e] Almost twenty years later, ²¹Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac asked the LORD to let her have a child, and the LORD answered his prayer.

    ²²Before Rebekah gave birth, she knew she was going to have twins, because she could feel them inside her, fighting each other. She thought, "Why is this happening to me?" Finally, she asked the LORD why her twins were fighting, ²³and he told her:

   "Your two sons will become

   two separate nations. ^[f] The younger of the two

   will be stronger,

   and the older son

   will be his servant."

    ²⁴When Rebekah gave birth, ²⁵the first baby was covered with red hair, so he was named Esau. ^{[g] 26}The second baby grabbed on to his brother's heel, so they named him Jacob. ^[h] Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

Esau Sells His Rights as the First-Born Son

 ²⁷As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob settled down and became a shepherd. ²⁸Esau would take the meat of wild animals to his father Isaac, and so Isaac loved him more, but Jacob was his mother's favorite son.

    ²⁹One day, Jacob was cooking some stew, when Esau came home hungry ³⁰and said, "I'm starving to death! Give me some of that red stew right now!" That's how Esau got the name "Edom." ^{[i] 31}Jacob replied, "Sell me your rights as the first-born son." ^{[j] 32}"I'm about to die," Esau answered. "What good will those rights do me?"

    ³³But Jacob said, "Promise me your birthrights, here and now!" And that's what Esau did. ³⁴Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born.

   

Genesis 26

Isaac and Abimelech

 ¹Once during Abraham's lifetime, the fields had not produced enough grain, and now the same thing happened. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines in the land of Gerar, ²because the LORD had appeared to Isaac and said:

   Isaac, stay away from Egypt! I will show you where I want you to go. ³You will live there as a foreigner, but I will be with you and bless you. I will keep my promise to your father Abraham by giving this land to you and your descendants.

    ⁴I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all of this land. They will be a blessing to every nation on earth, ^{[k] 5}because Abraham did everything I told him to do. ⁶Isaac moved to Gerar ⁷with his beautiful wife Rebekah. He was afraid that someone might kill him to get her, and so he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister. ⁸After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac hugging and kissing Rebekah. ⁹Abimelech called him in and said, "Rebekah must be your wife! Why did you say she is your sister?"

   "Because I thought someone would kill me," Isaac answered.

    ¹⁰"Don't you know what you've done?" Abimelech exclaimed. "If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!" ¹¹Then Abimelech warned his people that anyone who even touched Isaac or Rebekah would be put to death.

    ¹²Isaac planted grain and had a good harvest that same year. The LORD blessed him, ¹³and Isaac was so successful that he became very rich. ¹⁴In fact, the Philistines were jealous of the large number of sheep, goats, and slaves that Isaac owned, ¹⁵and they stopped up the wells that Abraham's servants had dug before his death. ¹⁶Finally, Abimelech said, "Isaac, I want you to leave our country. You have become too powerful to stay here."

    ¹⁷Isaac left and settled in Gerar Valley, ¹⁸where he cleaned out those wells that the Philistines had stopped up. Isaac also gave each of the wells the same name ^[l] that Abraham had given to them. ¹⁹While his servants were digging in the valley, they found a spring-fed well. ²⁰But the shepherds of Gerar Valley quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and claimed the water belonged to them. So the well was named "Quarrel," because they had quarreled with Isaac. ²¹Isaac's servants dug another well, and the shepherds also quarreled about it. So that well was named "Jealous." ²²Finally, they dug one more well. There was no quarreling this time, and the well was named "Lots of Room," because the LORD had given them room and would make them very successful.

    ²³Isaac went on to Beersheba, ²⁴where the LORD appeared to him that night and told him, "Don't be afraid! I am the God who was worshiped by your father Abraham, my servant. I will be with you and bless you, and because of Abraham I will give you many descendants." ²⁵Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. Then he set up camp, and his servants started digging a well.

    ²⁶Meanwhile, Abimelech had left Gerar and was taking his advisor Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol to see Isaac. ²⁷When they arrived, Isaac asked, "Why are you here? Didn't you send me away because you hated me?"

    ²⁸They answered, "We now know for certain that the LORD is with you, and we have decided there needs to be a peace treaty between you and us. So let's make a solemn agreement ²⁹not to harm each other. Remember, we have never hurt you, and when we sent you away, we let you go in peace. The LORD has truly blessed you."

    ³⁰Isaac gave a big feast for them, and everyone ate and drank. ³¹Early the next morning Isaac and the others made a solemn agreement, then he let them go in peace.

    ³²Later that same day Isaac's servants came and said, "We've struck water!" ³³So Isaac named the well Shibah, ^[m] and the town is still called Beersheba. ^[n]

Esau's Foreign Wives

 ³⁴When Esau was forty, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵But these two women brought a lot of grief to his parents Isaac and Rebekah.