Abraham Names Isaac to be His Heir

25 Abraham had taken another wife whose name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. ⁴ Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s descendants.

⁵ Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶ While he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to his concubines^[a] and sent them to the east country in order to keep them away from his son Isaac.

⁷ Abraham lived for 175 years,^{[b] 8} then passed away, dying at a ripe old age, having lived a full life, and joined his ancestors.^{[c] 9} His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field that used to belong to Zohar the Hittite’s son Ephron. ¹⁰ This was the same field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites, where Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. ¹¹ After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who continued to live near Beer-lahai-roi.

A Summary of Ishmael’s Life

¹² Now this is what happened to Ishmael, whom Sarah’s Egyptian servant Hagar bore for Abraham. ¹³ Here’s a list of the names of Ishmael’s sons, recorded by their names and descendants: Nebaioth was the firstborn, followed by^[d] Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These were Ishmael’s children, listed by their names according to their villages and their camps. There were a total of twelve tribal chiefs, according to their clans. ¹⁷ Ishmael lived^[e] for 137 years, then he took his last breath, died, and joined his ancestors.^{[f] 18} His descendants^[g] settled from Havilah to Shur (that’s near Egypt), all the way to Assyria, in defiance^[h] of all of his relatives.

The Births of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹ This is the account of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham fathered Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he married^[i] Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean^[j] from Paddan-aram^[k] and sister of Laban the Aramean.^{[l] 21} Later, Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, since she was unable to conceive children, and the Lord responded to him—his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

²² But when the infants^[m] kept on wrestling each other inside her womb,^[n] she asked herself, “Why is this happening?”^[o] So she asked the Lord for an explanation.^[p]

²³ “Two nations^[q] are in your womb,” the Lord responded, “and two separate people will emerge. One people will be the stronger, and the older one will serve the younger.”

²⁴ Sure enough, when her due date arrived, she delivered twin sons.^{[r] 25} The first son came out reddish—his entire body was covered with hair—so they named him Esau.^{[s] 26} After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, so they named him Jacob.^[t] Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

²⁷ As the boys were growing up, Esau became skilled at hunting and was a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was the quiet type who tended to stay indoors. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau, because he loved to hunt, while Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹ One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished.

³⁰ Esau told Jacob, “Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I’m starving.” (That’s how Esau got his nickname “Edom”.)^[u]

³¹ But Jacob responded, “Sell me your birthright. Do it now.”^[v]

³² “Look! I’m about to die,” Esau replied. “What good is this birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob insisted, “Swear it by an oath right now.” So he swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some of his food, along with some boiled stew. So Esau ate, drank, got up, and left, after having belittled his own birthright.