⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. ⁵³ And the servant brought forth jewelry of silver and of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. ⁵⁴ And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me back to my master.” ⁵⁵ Her brother and her mother said, “Let the maiden 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 prospered my way; let me go that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷ They said, “We will call the maiden, and ask her.” ⁵⁸ And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, be the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them!” ⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and rode upon the camels and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

⁶² Now Isaac had come from^[a] Beer-la′hai-roi, and was dwelling in the Negeb. ⁶³ And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴ And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel, ⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is the man yonder, 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 the tent,^[b] and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Abraham Marries Keturah

25 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Ketu′rah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Mid′ian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshu′rim, Letu′shim, and Le-um′mim. ⁴ The sons of Mid′ian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abi′da, and Elda′ah. All these were the children of Ketu′rah. ⁵ Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. ⁶ But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

The Death of Abraham

⁷ These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹ Isaac and Ish′mael his sons buried him in the cave of Mach-pe′lah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰ the field which Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac dwelt at Beer-la′hai-roi.

Ishmael’s Descendants

¹² These are the descendants of Ish′mael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ish′mael, named in the order of their birth: Neba′ioth, the first-born of Ish′mael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Ked′emah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ish′mael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷ (These are the years of the life of Ish′mael, a hundred and thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his kindred.) ¹⁸ They dwelt from Hav′ilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled^[c] over against all his people.

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 took to wife Rebekah, the daughter of Bethu′el the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹ And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²² The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is thus, why do I live?”^[d] So she went to inquire of the Lord. ²³ And the Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came forth red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they called his name Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand had taken hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob.^[e] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁹ Once when Jacob was boiling pottage, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am famished!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.^[f]) 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.”^[g] So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, 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 was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abim′elech king of the Philistines. ² And the Lord appeared to him, and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Sojourn 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 fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves: ⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister”; for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me for the sake of Rebekah”; because she was fair to look upon. ⁸ When he had been there a long time, Abim′elech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah his wife. ⁹ So Abim′elech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, she is your wife; how then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” ¹⁰ Abim′elech 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.” ¹¹ So Abim′elech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

¹² And Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and gained 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. ¹⁵ (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) ¹⁶ And Abim′elech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; for you are much mightier than we.”

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

¹⁸ Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. ¹⁹ And a scribe came up and said to him, “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 the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²² But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Stills the Storm

²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him, saying, “Save, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. ²⁷ And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals the Gadarene Demoniacs

²⁸ And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes,^[a] two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰ Now a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹ And the demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.” ³² And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters. ³³ The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs. ³⁴ And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies