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52 When Abraham’s servant heard this, he bowed low to the ground before the Eternal. 53 He brought out silver and gold jewelry and beautiful clothes, and the servant presented them to Rebekah. He also gave her brother and her mother expensive ornaments to pay her bride-price. 54 Then he and the men who traveled with him ate and drank heartily, and they spent the night there. After everyone had risen the next morning, he asked his hosts for permission to leave and return to his master with Rebekah.
Laban and Rebekah’s Mother: 55 Allow Rebekah to remain with us just a little while longer—perhaps 10 days. After that, she may go.
Servant: 56 Please don’t delay my journey. Since the Eternal One has made me successful in my mission, grant me permission to leave and return to my master.
Laban and Rebekah’s Mother: 57 We’ll call Rebekah now and ask her what she wants to do.
58 They called for Rebekah.
Laban and Rebekah’s Mother (to Rebekah): Are you willing to go with this man?
Rebekah: Yes, I will go.
59 So the family gathered and sent Rebekah, their sister, along with her nurse to go with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 They all blessed Rebekah, saying,
May you, our dear sister,
be blessed with thousands upon thousands of children,
And may your descendants possess
the cities of their enemies.
61 At last Rebekah and her maidservants all went out, mounted the camels, and followed Abraham’s trusted servant back toward Canaan. This is how the servant found Rebekah and took her to be Isaac’s wife.
62 Meanwhile, Isaac had come back from a trip to Beer-lahai-roi and was living in the Negev. 63 Isaac went outside toward evening to take a walk in the field. As he was deep in thought, he looked up and saw the camels coming toward him. 64 At the same time, Rebekah looked up; and when she saw Isaac, she slipped down quickly from the camel 65 and spoke softly to the servant.
Rebekah: Who is that man over there, walking in the field to meet us?
Servant: Ah, it is my young master.
So she took her veil and covered herself so as to be in proper attire to meet her future husband. 66 When Isaac reached them, the servant told him all of the amazing things that had happened. 67 Then Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took her as his wife and slept with her, and grew to love her deeply. In this way, Isaac found comfort in the wake of his mother’s death.
25 In time, Abraham married another woman named Keturah. 2 Keturah gave birth to additional children: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s children and grandchildren. 5 In the end, though, Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac. 6 To the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still alive. But then he sent them away to the east, far away from what would now be his son Isaac’s household.
7 Abraham lived a total of 175 years. 8 By the time Abraham took his last breath and joined his ancestors in death, he had reached a ripe old age and had lived a full life. 9 His sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron (the son of Zohar the Hittite) to the east of Mamre. 10 This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites. Here he was buried with his wife Sarah by his side. 11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled into his home at Beer-lahai-roi.
12 This is how the lineage of the two brothers progressed. Ishmael, Abraham’s son born to Hagar the Egyptian (Sarah’s slave girl), 13 fathered sons in this order: Nebaioth (his firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the names of Ishmael’s 12 sons; they became the princes of 12 villages and camps named after them. 17 Ishmael lived to the age of 137. When he breathed his last and died, he joined his ancestors in death. 18 His descendants settled into the regions from Havilah to Shur, opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. They lived on the fringes of civilization, at odds with all his relatives.
19 This is the lineage of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham was of course his father, 20 and Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah (the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean). 21 Isaac prayed to the Eternal One on behalf of his wife because she wasn’t becoming pregnant. The Eternal granted his prayer, and Rebekah conceived after 20 years. 22 But the children she carried struggled and fought with each other until, in great pain, she exclaimed, “What is going on? Why is this happening to me?” In frustration she inquired of the Eternal One why this civil war was occurring inside of her.
23 Eternal One (to Rebekah): Two nations are growing inside of your womb,
and the two peoples will be divided in the future.
One will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.[a]
24 When it was time for Rebekah to give birth, she saw that she was carrying twins. 25 The first came out red—his entire body like a hairy blanket—so they named him Esau. 26 His brother followed with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to the twins.
27 When the boys grew up, they could not have been more different. Esau became a skillful hunter and preferred to be outdoors. Jacob, on the other hand, grew up to be a contemplative man, content to stay at home. 28 Esau was Isaac’s favorite because he was fond of good meat, but Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite.
29 One day, while Jacob was cooking a stew for dinner, Esau came in from the field. He was tired and hungry.
Esau (to Jacob): 30 Please let me have some of that red stew you have there. I’m famished!
(That’s why he was nicknamed Edom, which means “red.”)
Jacob sees Esau’s weakness and decides to take advantage of the situation.
Jacob: 31 First, you have to sell me your birthright.
Esau: 32 Look! I am about to die of starvation! What good is my birthright to me if I am dead?
Jacob: 33 Swear to me first!
And so Esau swore to Jacob and handed over his rights as the firstborn son. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank. When he was satisfied, Esau went his way as if nothing had happened. Esau treated his valuable birthright contemptuously.
26 Once again, a famine spread through the land, similar to the one that occurred in Abraham’s time. Isaac went to the land of Gerar to appeal to King Abimelech of the Philistines. 2 The Eternal appeared in a vision to Isaac.
Eternal One: Don’t go down to Egypt, Isaac. Instead settle in the land I will show you. 3 Live in this land as a foreigner, but don’t worry. I will be there with you. I will put a blessing on you, and I will one day bestow this land on you and your descendants. You can be assured that I will honor the solemn vow I made to your father, Abraham: 4 I will make your children and their children’s children as numerous as the stars in the sky. One day I will give them all of these lands. Through your descendants all the peoples of the earth will discover true blessing,[b] 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice, stayed loyal to Me, and kept My commands, statutes, and teachings.[c]
6 So Isaac settled into the land of Gerar. 7 When the men of the area asked him about his wife, he was afraid to say, “Rebekah is my wife,” because he thought, “The men here might kill me in order to have her for themselves. She is after all an attractive woman.” So Isaac said instead, “She is my sister.” 8 After they had lived there for a while, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of his window one day and saw Isaac affectionately touching and caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac to his court.
Abimelech: I see that she is your wife! Why did you say then, “She is my sister”?
Isaac: Because I thought I might die because of her!
Abimelech: 10 What’s the matter with you? What have you done to us? One of my people might easily have slept with your wife. Then you would have brought great shame and guilt upon me and my kingdom!
11 (warning his people) Whoever so much as touches this man or his wife will be put to death.
Isaac repeats the ruse his father used in Egypt and Gerar many years earlier. Abraham told another Abimelech (likely the father or grandfather of this Philistine king) that Sarah was his sister to avoid being killed. Isaac tries the same trick for the same reason but is soon found out. Many rulers in that day would have killed or severely punished a man for telling such tales and jeopardizing their reign. Somehow, however, Abraham and Isaac not only survive, but they grow rich from the experiences.
12 Isaac settled in and made a place for himself in the land, sowing seeds and reaping one hundred times what he had planted that year. The Eternal One indeed put a blessing on him, 13 and Isaac became very rich. He prospered more and more until he became enormously wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines began to envy him. 15 (For spite, some of the Philistines filled with dirt all of the wells his father’s servants had dug in the days when Abraham was living there.) 16 Even Abimelech was threatened by his prosperity.
Abimelech (to Isaac): It is best you leave our land. Your success has made you more powerful than we are. You can’t live here any longer.
18 Jesus saw that a crowd had gathered around Him, and He gave orders to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe came up to Him.
Scribe: Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.
Jesus: 20 Foxes have dens in which to sleep, and the birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.
Disciple: 21 Jesus, before I do the things You’ve asked me to do, I must first bury my father.
Jesus: 22 Follow Me! And let the dead bury their own dead.
Does Jesus say, “Fair enough, you must of course bury your father. Just catch up with Me when you are done”? No. This is one of the strange and radical things Jesus brings about—our families are no longer our families. Our deepest bonds are not those of blood. Our family now is found in the bonds of fellowship made possible by this Jesus.
23 And then Jesus got into a boat, and His disciples followed Him. 24 Out of nowhere, a vicious storm blew over the sea. Waves were lapping up over the boat, threatening to overtake it! Yet Jesus was asleep. 25 Frightened (not to mention confused—how could anyone sleep through this?), the disciples woke Him up.
Disciples: Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!
Jesus: 26 Please! What are you so afraid of, you of little faith?
Jesus got up, told the wind and the waves to calm down, and they did. The sea became still and calm once again. 27 The disciples were astonished.
Disciples: Who is this? What sort of man is He, that the sea and the winds listen to Him?
28 Eventually Jesus came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gadarenes. There, two men who lived near the tombs and were possessed by demons came out to the seaside and met Jesus. They were flailing about, so violent that they obstructed the path of anyone who came their way.
Demons (screaming at Jesus): 29 Why are You here? Have You come to torture us even before the judgment day, O Son of God?
30 A ways off, though still visible, was a large herd of pigs, eating.
Demons: 31 If You cast us out of the bodies of these two men, do send us into that herd of pigs!
Jesus: 32 Very well then, go!
And the demons flew out of the bodies of the two flailing men, they set upon the pigs, and every last pig rushed over a steep bank into the sea and drowned. 33 The pig herders (totally undone, as you can imagine) took off; they headed straight for town, where they told everyone what they’d just seen—even about the demon-possessed men. 34 And so the whole town came out to see Jesus for themselves. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their area.
Psalm 10[a]
1 Why, O Eternal One, are You so far away?
Why can’t You be found during troubling times?
2 Mean and haughty people hunt down the poor.
May they get caught up in their own wicked schemes.
3 For the wicked celebrates the evil cravings of his heart
as the greedy curses and rejects the Eternal.
4 The arrogance of the wicked one keeps him from seeking the True God.
He truly thinks, “There is no God.”
5 His ways seem always to be successful;
Your judgments, too, seem far beyond him, out of his reach.
He looks down on all his enemies.
6 In his heart he has decided, “Nothing will faze me.
From generation to generation I will not face trouble.”
7 His mouth is full of curses, lies, and oppression.[b]
Beneath his tongue lie trouble and wickedness.
8 He hides in the shadows of the villages,
waiting to ambush and kill the innocent in dark corners.
He eyes the weak and the poor.
9 Ominously, like a lion in its lair,
he lurks in secret to waylay those who are downtrodden.
When he catches them, he draws them in and drags them off with his net.
10 Quietly crouching, lying low,
ready to overwhelm the next by his strength,
11 The wicked thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten us!
He has covered His face and will never notice!”
12 Arise, O Eternal, my True God. Lift up Your hand.
Do not forget the downtrodden.
13 Why does the wicked revile the True God?
He has decided, “He will not hold me responsible.”
14 But wait! You have seen,
and You will consider the trouble and grief he caused.
You will impose consequences for his actions.
The helpless, the orphans, commit themselves to You,
and You have been their Helper.
15 Break the arm of the one guilty of doing evil;
investigate all his wicked acts;
hold him responsible for every last one of them.
7 And don’t think you can decide on your own what is right and what is wrong.
Respect the Eternal; turn and run from evil.
8 If you depend on Him, your body and mind will be free from the strain of a sinful life,
will experience healing and health,
and will be strengthened at their core.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.