²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.^(A) Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.^(B)

²⁴ His concubine,^(A) whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.

²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old^(A) when he married Rebekah^(B) daughter of Bethuel^(C) the Aramean from Paddan Aram^[a](D) and sister of Laban^(E) the Aramean.^(F)

²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless.^(G) The Lord answered his prayer,^(H) and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.^(I)

²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth,^(L) there were twin boys in her womb.^{(M) 25} The first to come out was red,^(N) and his whole body was like a hairy garment;^(O) so they named him Esau.^{[b](P) 26} After this, his brother came out,^(Q) with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;^(R) so he was named Jacob.^[c](S) Isaac was sixty years old^(T) when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter,^(U) a man of the open country,^(V) while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game,^(W) loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.^(X)

⁶ So Isaac stayed in Gerar.^(A)

⁷ When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,^(B)” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

⁸ When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines^(C) looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹ So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?^(D)”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”

¹⁰ Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us?^(E) One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

¹¹ So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms^(F) this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”^(G)

¹² Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold,^(H) because the Lord blessed him.^{(I) 13} The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.^{(J) 14} He had so many flocks and herds and servants^(K) that the Philistines envied him.^{(L) 15} So all the wells^(M) that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up,^(N) filling them with earth.

¹⁶ Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us;^(O) you have become too powerful for us.^(P)”

¹⁷ So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar,^(Q) where he settled. ¹⁸ Isaac reopened the wells^(R) that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

¹⁹ Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. ²⁰ But the herders of Gerar quarreled^(S) with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!”^(T) So he named the well Esek,^[a] because they disputed with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, but they quarreled^(U) over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.^{[b] 22} He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,^[c](V) saying, “Now the Lord has given us room^(W) and we will flourish^(X) in the land.”

²³ From there he went up to Beersheba.^{(Y) 24} That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.^(Z) Do not be afraid,^(AA) for I am with you;^(AB) I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants^(AC) for the sake of my servant Abraham.”^(AD)

²⁵ Isaac built an altar^(AE) there and called on the name of the Lord.^(AF) There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.^(AG)

²⁶ Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.^{(AH) 27} Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?^(AI)”

²⁸ They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;^(AJ) so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty^(AK) with you ²⁹ that you will do us no harm,^(AL) just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”^(AM)

³⁰ Isaac then made a feast^(AN) for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning the men swore an oath^(AO) to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

³² That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well^(AP) they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” ³³ He called it Shibah,^[d] and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.^[e](AQ)

Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old,^(AR) he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.^{(AS) 35} They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.^(AT)

²⁷ Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?^(A)”

⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way,^(A) and he went to Paddan Aram,^(B) to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean,^(C) the brother of Rebekah,^(D) who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

¹² He had told Rachel that he was a relative^(A) of her father and a son of Rebekah.^(B) So she ran and told her father.^(C)

⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse,^(A) died and was buried under the oak^(B) outside Bethel.^(C) So it was named Allon Bakuth.^[a]

³¹ There Abraham^(A) and his wife Sarah^(B) were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah^(C) were buried, and there I buried Leah.^(D)