⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord.^{(A) 53} And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold and garments and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.^{(B) 54} Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they rose in the morning, he said, “Send me back to my master.”^{(C) 55} Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.” ⁵⁶ But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey successful; let me go that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷ They said, “We will call the young woman and ask her.” ⁵⁸ And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” ⁵⁹ So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men.^{(D) 60} And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man, and the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

⁶² Now Isaac had come from^[a] Beer-lahai-roi and was settled in the Negeb.^{(F) 63} Isaac went out in the evening to walk^[b] in the field, and, looking up, he saw camels coming.^{(G) 64} And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel ⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶ And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.^(H)

Abraham Marries Keturah

25 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.^{(I) 3} Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. ⁵ Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.^{(J) 6} But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

The Death of Abraham

⁷ This is the length of Abraham’s life, one hundred seventy-five years. ⁸ Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, old and full of years, and was gathered to his people.^{(K) 9} His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰ the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.^{(L) 11} After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.^(M)

Ishmael’s Descendants

¹² These are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham.^{(N) 13} These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,^{(O) 14} Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes.^{(P) 17} (This is the length of the life of Ishmael, one hundred thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.) ¹⁸ They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled down^[c] alongside^[d] all his people.^(Q)

The Birth and Youth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹ These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.^{(R) 21} Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.^{(S) 22} The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?”^[e] So she went to inquire of the Lord. ²³ And the Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle, so they named him Esau.^{(U) 26} Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob.^[f] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.^(V)

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.^{(W) 28} Isaac loved Esau because he was fond of game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ³⁰ Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.^[g]) ³¹ Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” ³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.^{(X) 34} Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Isaac and Abimelech

26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines.^{(Y) 2} The Lord appeared to Isaac^[h] and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you.^{(Z) 3} Reside in this land as an alien, 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 fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.^{(AA) 4} I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring,^{(AB) 5} because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁶ So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “or else the men of the place might kill me for the sake of Rebekah, because she is attractive in appearance.”^{(AC) 8} When Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw him fondling his wife Rebekah. ⁹ So Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why, then, did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might die because of her.” ¹⁰ Abimelech 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.”^{(AD) 11} So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

¹² Isaac sowed seed in that land and in the same year reaped a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,^{(AE) 13} and the man became rich; he prospered more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.^{(AF) 15} (Now the Philistines had stopped up and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.)^{(AG) 16} And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great crowds^[a] around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.^{(A) 19} A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰ And 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 said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”^(B)

Jesus Stills the Storm

²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ A windstorm suddenly arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm.^{(C) 27} They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men

²⁸ When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes,^[b] two men possessed by demons came out of the tombs and met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ Suddenly they shouted, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”^{(D) 30} Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹ The demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.” ³² And he said to them, “Go!” So they came out and entered the swine, and suddenly, the whole herd stampeded down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water. ³³ The swineherds ran off, and, going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the men possessed by demons. ³⁴ Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their region.

Psalm 10

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies