The Daily Audio Bible

⁵² When Abraham's servant heard their words, ^(A)he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. 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. 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, ^(B)“Send me away to my master.” 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 prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷ They said, “Let us 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 go.” ⁵⁹ So they sent away Rebekah their sister and ^(C)her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. ⁶⁰ And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

⁶² Now Isaac had returned from ^(F)Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. ⁶³ And Isaac went out ^(G)to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴ And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel ⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is that man, 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 of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was ^(H)comforted after his mother's ^(I)death.

Abraham's Death and His Descendants

25 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ^2 (J)She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan fathered 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 (K)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 ^(L)sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward ^(M)to the east country.

⁷ These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years. ⁸ Abraham ^(N)breathed his last and ^(O)died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹ Isaac and Ishmael ^(P)his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰ the field ^(Q)that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. ^(R)There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at ^(S)Beer-lahai-roi.

¹² These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, ^(T)whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham. ^13 (U)These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: ^(V)Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and ^(W)Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, ^(X)Tema, ^(Y)Jetur, ^(Z)Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, ^(AA)twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷ (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He ^(AB)breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) ^18 (AC)They settled from Havilah to ^(AD)Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled^[b] over against all his kinsmen.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹ These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: ^(AE)Abraham fathered Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, ^(AF)the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of ^(AG)Paddan-aram, ^(AH)the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And ^(AI)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 is this happening to me?”^[c] So she went ^(AJ)to inquire of the Lord. ²³ And the Lord said to her,

²⁴ When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red, ^(AN)all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out with ^(AO)his hand holding Esau's heel, so ^(AP)his name was called Jacob.^[e] Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau was ^(AQ)a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, ^(AR)dwelling in tents. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau because ^(AS)he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.^[f]) ³¹ Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” ³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and ^(AT)sold his birthright to Jacob. 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.

God's Promise to Isaac

26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides ^(AU)the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to ^(AV)Abimelech king of the ^(AW)Philistines. ² And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell ^(AX)in the land of which I shall tell you. ^3 (AY)Sojourn in this land, and ^(AZ)I will be with you and will bless you, for ^(BA)to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^(BB)the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ^4 (BC)I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And ^(BD)in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ⁵ because ^(BE)Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

⁶ So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked him about his wife, ^(BF)he said, “She is my sister,” for ^(BG)he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because ^(BH)she was attractive in appearance. ⁸ When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with^[g] Rebekah his wife. ⁹ So Abimelech 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 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and ^(BI)you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹ So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord ^(BJ)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 many servants, so that the Philistines ^(BK)envied him. ¹⁵ (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells ^(BL)that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) ¹⁶ And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸ Now ^(A)when Jesus saw a crowd around him, ^(B)he gave orders to go over to the other side. ^19 (C)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 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave ^(D)the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

^23 (E)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 ^(F)he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him, saying, ^(G)“Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you ^(H)afraid, ^(I)O you of little faith?” Then he rose and ^(J)rebuked the winds and the sea, and ^(K)there was a great calm. ²⁷ And the men ^(L)marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even ^(M)winds and sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons

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

Why Do You Hide Yourself?