The Daily Audio Bible
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52 So, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 53 The servant brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and her mother. 54 He and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. They got up in the morning, and he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”
55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she can go.”
56 He said to them, “Do not hold me back, since the Lord has granted my journey success. Send me on my way so that I can go to my master.”
57 They said, “We will call the young lady and ask her.” 58 They called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want to go with this man?”
She said, “I do.”
59 So they sent all of them on their way—their sister Rebekah with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. 60 They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring take possession of the gates of those who hate them.”
61 Rebekah set out with her female attendants. They rode on the camels and followed the man. Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and set out on his journey.
62 Isaac had come from the direction of Be’er Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 In the evening Isaac had gone out into the field to meditate.[a] He looked up and saw that there were camels coming. 64 Rebekah also looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped down from the camel. 65 She said to the servant, “Who is that man who is walking through the field to meet us?”
The servant said, “It is my master.”
She took her veil and covered herself. 66 The servant told Isaac everything that he had done. 67 Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took her as his wife. He loved her, and Isaac stopped mourning his mother’s death.
Abraham’s Death
25 Abraham had taken another wife. Her name was Keturah. 2 She bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah for him. 3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Ashshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Elda’ah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.
5 Abraham left all that he had to Isaac. 6 To the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and during his lifetime he sent them away from Isaac his son to the territory that lay to the east.
7 The total days and years of Abraham’s life were one hundred seventy-five years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man who lived a full life, and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre. 10 This was the field that Abraham had purchased from the descendants of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. 11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived near Be’er Lahai Roi.
The Descendants of Ishmael
12 Now this is the account about the development of the family line of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, had borne to Abraham.
13 The following are the names of the sons of Ishmael and the tribes that came from them, arranged in the order of their birth:
The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebaioth. Then came Kedar, Adbe’el, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, arranged by their settlements and by their camps. They were twelve chiefs, each with his own tribe.
17 The total years of the life of Ishmael were one hundred thirty-seven years. When he breathed his last and died, he was gathered to his people. 18 His people lived between Havilah and Shur, east of Egypt, as you go toward Ashshur. He lived in hostility toward[b] all his relatives.
The Family of Isaac
19 This is the account about the development of the family of Isaac, Abraham’s son.
Abraham became the father of Isaac. 20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel, an Aramean from Paddan Aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children fought with each other inside her. She said, “What is this? Why is this happening to me?” She went to inquire of the Lord.
23 The Lord said to her:
Two nations are in your womb.
Two peoples will be separated from your body.
The one people will be stronger than the other people.
The elder will serve the younger.
24 When it was time for her to give birth, it was true: There were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.[c] 26 After that, his brother came out, with his hand grabbing Esau’s heel. So he was named Jacob.[d] Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up. Esau was a skillful hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man, who stayed home among the tents. 28 Now Isaac loved Esau more, because he ate Esau’s wild game. Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once Jacob was cooking stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he was starving. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “Come on, let me eat some of that red stew, that red stew there, because I am starving.” (That is why Esau was also called Edom.[e])
31 Jacob said, “First, sell me your right as the firstborn.”
32 Esau said, “Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”
So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Jacob gave Esau bread and a stew made of lentils. Esau ate and drank, got up, and went on his way. So Esau treated his birthright as if it was worthless.
Isaac and Abimelek
26 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that had occurred during the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines at Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Live in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the sky and will give all these lands to your descendants. In your seed[f] all the nations of the earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6 Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “The men of this place might kill me for Rebekah, since she is beautiful.” 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines happened to look out a window, and there was Isaac caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9 Abimelek called Isaac and said, “It is obvious that she is your wife. So why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘If I do not, I will die because of her.’”
10 Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”
11 Abimelek gave this command to all the people: “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Isaac planted grain in that land, and in the same year he reaped one hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. 13 The man kept growing wealthier and wealthier until he became very great. 14 He possessed flocks and herds and a large household, so the Philistines were envious of him.
15 Now the Philistines had blocked all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 16 Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us, for you are much more powerful than we are.”[g]
Follow Jesus
18 When Jesus saw a large crowd gathering around him, he gave orders to go over to the other shore.
19 Then an expert in the law came and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms the Storm
23 When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a terrible storm came up on the sea, so that their boat was covered by the waves. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 They went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a complete calm.
27 The men were amazed, saying, “What kind of a man is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Two Demon-Possessed Men and a Herd of Pigs
28 When he arrived at the other side, in the region of the Gergesenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him there. They were very dangerous, so that nobody could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they cried out, “What do we have to do with you, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 There was a large herd of pigs feeding some distance away from them. 31 The demons begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 He told them, “Go!”
So the demons came out of the men and went into the pigs. Immediately the whole herd of pigs rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water. 33 Those who were feeding the pigs fled and went into the town. They reported everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the entire town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
Psalm 10
Break the Arm of the Wicked Man
An Opening Appeal for Action
1 Why, Lord, do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide in times of distress?
A Portrait of the Wicked
2 Because of the pride of the wicked, the oppressed burn.[a]
They are caught in the schemes that the wicked plan.
3 Yes, the wicked man boasts about his heart’s desires.
He blesses the robber. He despises the Lord.[b]
4 With his nose in the air, the wicked does not seek God.
There is no room at all for God in his thoughts.
5 His ways are prosperous all the time.
He is haughty. Your judgments do not concern him.
He snorts at all of his foes.
6 He says in his heart, “I will not be shaken.
Through age after age I will have no trouble.”
7 Cursing fills his mouth, along with lies and threats.
Trouble and evil lie under his tongue.
8 He waits in ambush by the villages.
In hidden places he murders the innocent.
His eyes are spying on the helpless.
9 He lies in ambush. He hides like a lion in a thicket.
He lies in ambush to catch the oppressed.
He catches the oppressed by dragging them in his net.
10 The helpless are crushed. They sink down.
They fall under his strength.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.
He hides his face. He never sees.”
An Appeal for Divine Justice
12 Rise up, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why does the wicked man despise God?
Why does he say in his heart,
“You do not seek justice”?
14 But you do see. You notice trouble and grief.
You take it into your own hands.
The helpless one abandons himself to you.
For the fatherless you are indeed a helper.
15 Break the arm of the wicked.
You pursue the wickedness of the evil man
until you find no more.[c]
7 Do not consider yourself wise.
Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 Then your body[a] will be healed,
and your bones will be refreshed.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.