Genesis 24-27

World English Bible

24 Abraham was old, and well advanced in age. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things. ² Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. ³ I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. ⁴ But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again. ⁷ Yahweh, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring—he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath to me. Only you shall not bring my son there again.”

⁹ The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰ The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. ¹² He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin. No man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up. ¹⁷ The servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher.”

¹⁸ She said, “Drink, my lord.” She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ She hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels.

²¹ The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not. ²² As the camels had done drinking, the man took a golden ring of half a shekel^[a] weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, ²³ and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?”

²⁴ She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ She said moreover to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge in.”

²⁶ The man bowed his head, and worshiped Yahweh. ²⁷ He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”

²⁸ The young lady ran, and told her mother’s house about these words. ²⁹ Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. ³⁰ When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ He said, “Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.”

³² The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.”

Laban said, “Speak on.”

³⁴ He said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. Yahweh has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. ³⁷ My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, ³⁸ but you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ ⁴⁰ He said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my relatives, and of my father’s house. ⁴¹ Then you will be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don’t give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.’ ⁴² I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go— ⁴³ behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” ⁴⁴ then she tells me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵ Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶ She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink. ⁴⁷ I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. ⁴⁸ I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. ⁴⁹ Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹ Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Yahweh has spoken.”

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. ⁵³ The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴ They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away 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 will go.”

⁵⁶ He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷ They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.” ⁵⁸ They called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”

She said, “I will go.”

⁵⁹ They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. ⁶⁰ They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”

⁶¹ Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way. ⁶² Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. ⁶³ Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴ Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil, and covered herself. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷ Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

25 Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan became 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 that he had to Isaac, ⁶ but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Abraham’s concubines. While he still lived, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country. ⁷ These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. ⁸ Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹ Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre, ¹⁰ the field which Abraham purchased from the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.

¹² Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 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 nations. ¹⁷ These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. ¹⁸ They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.

¹⁹ This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham became the father of Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. ²¹ Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²² The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it is like this, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Yahweh. ²³ Yahweh said to her,

²⁴ When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. ²⁶ After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷ The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. ²⁸ Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹ Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ³⁰ Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.^[b]

³¹ Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”

³² Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”

He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

26 There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. ² Yahweh appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. ³ Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring 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 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.” ⁸ When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. ⁹ Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister?’”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I 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 on us!”

¹¹ Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

¹² Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. ¹³ The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. ¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. ¹⁶ Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷ Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

¹⁸ Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. ¹⁹ Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing^[c] water. ²⁰ The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,^[d] because they contended with him. ²¹ They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. So he called its name Sitnah.^{[e] 22} He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. So he called it Rehoboth.^[f] He said, “For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

²³ He went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴ Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

²⁵ He built an altar there, and called on Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.

²⁶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”

²⁸ They said, “We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let’s make a covenant with you, ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of Yahweh.”

³⁰ He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹ They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ³² The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³ He called it “Shibah”.^[g] Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba”^[h] to this day.

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵ They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.

27 When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?”

He said to him, “Here I am.”

² He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death. ³ Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and get me venison. ⁴ Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. ⁶ Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.’ ⁸ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock and get me two good young goats from there. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

¹¹ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹² What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing.”

¹³ His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me.”

¹⁴ He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son. ¹⁶ She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck. ¹⁷ She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ He came to his father, and said, “My father?”

He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

He said, “Because Yahweh your God gave me success.”

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. ²⁴ He said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless you.”

He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said,

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that your soul may bless me.”

³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?”

He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³ Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”

³⁵ He said, “Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶ He said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing.” He said, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

³⁹ Isaac his father answered him,

⁴¹ Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away— ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”