Old/New Testament
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.
Isaac Lives in Philistia for a While
26 Later on, a famine swept through the land. This famine was different from the previous famine that had occurred earlier, during Abraham’s lifetime. So Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.
2 That’s when the Lord appeared to Isaac.[w] “You are not to go down to Egypt,” he said. “Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I’ll tell you. 3 Remain in this land, and I’ll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham. 4 I’ll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I’ll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another. 5 I’m going to do this because Abraham did what I told him to do. He kept my instructions, commands, statutes, and laws.”
6 So Isaac lived in Gerar.
Isaac Lies about His Wife
7 Later on, the men of that place asked about his wife, so he replied, “She’s my sister,” because he was afraid to call her “my wife.” He kept thinking, “…otherwise, the men around here will kill me on account of Rebekah, since she’s very beautiful.”
8 After he had been there awhile, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing[x] his wife Rebekah.
9 So Abimelech called Isaac and confronted him. “She is definitely your wife!” he accused him, “So why did you claim, ‘She’s my sister?’”
Isaac responded, “Because I had thought ‘…otherwise, I’ll die on account of her.’”
10 “What have you done to us?” Abimelech asked. “Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty.” 11 So he issued this order to everyone: “Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed.”
Isaac Grows Wealthy
12 Isaac received a 100-fold return on what he planted that year in the land he received,[y] because the Lord blessed him. 13 He[z] became very wealthy and lived a life of wealth,[aa] becoming more and more wealthy. 14 He owned so many sheep, cattle, and servants that the Philistines eventually became envious of him. 15 They[ab] filled in with sand all of the wells that Isaac’s[ac] father Abraham’s servants had dug during his lifetime. 16 Then Abimelech ordered Isaac, “Move away from us! You’ve become more powerful than we are.” 17 So Isaac moved from there and encamped in the Gerar Valley, where he settled.
Disputes over Water Rights
18 Isaac re-excavated some wells that his father had first dug during his lifetime, because the Philistines had filled them with sand[ad] after Abraham’s death. Isaac[ae] renamed those wells with the same names that his father had called them.
19 While Isaac’s servants were digging in the valley, they discovered a well with flowing water. 20 But the herdsmen who lived in Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen. “The water is ours,” they said. As a result, Isaac named the well Esek,[af] for they had fiercely disputed with him about it. 21 When his workers started digging another well, those herdsmen[ag] quarreled about that one, too, so Isaac[ah] named it Sitnah.[ai] 22 Then he left that area and dug still another well. Because they did not quarrel over that one, Isaac[aj] named it Rehoboth,[ak] because he used to say, “The Lord has enlarged the territory[al] for us. We will prosper in the land.”
God Renews His Promise to Isaac
23 Later on, he left there and went to Beer-sheba, 24 where one night the Lord appeared to him. “I am the God of your father Abraham,” he told him. “Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you. I’m going to bless you and multiply your descendants on account of my servant Abraham.” 25 In response, Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. He also pitched his tents there and his servants dug a well.
Abimelech Requests a Covenant
26 Later, Abimelech traveled from Gerar to visit Isaac[am]. He arrived with Ahuzzath, his staff advisor, and Phicol, the commanding officer of his army.
27 “Why have you come to see me,” Isaac asked them, “since you hate me so much that you sent me away from you?”
28 “We’ve seen that the Lord is with you,” they responded, “so we’re proposing an agreement[an] between us—between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you 29 by which you’ll agree not to do us any harm, just as we haven’t harmed[ao] you, since we’ve done nothing but good for you after we sent you away in peace. As a result, you’ve been tremendously blessed by the Lord.” 30 So Isaac[ap] held a festival for them, and they ate and drank. 31 They woke up early the next morning and made the treaty.[aq] After this, Isaac sent them off and they left on peaceful terms.
32 That very same day, Isaac’s servants arrived and reported to him about a well that they had just completed digging. “We’ve found water!” they said. 33 So Isaac[ar] named the well Shebah,[as] which is why the city is named Beer-sheba[at] to this day.
Esau Causes Trouble for Isaac
34 When Esau was 40 years old, he married[au] Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 This brought extreme grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Jesus Cleanses a Leper(A)
8 When Jesus[a] came down from the hillside, large crowds followed him. 2 Suddenly, a leper[b] came up to him, fell down before him, and said, “Sir,[c] if you want to, you can make me clean.”[d]
3 So Jesus[e] reached out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do want to. Be clean!” And instantly his leprosy was made clean. 4 Then Jesus told him, “See to it that you don’t speak to anyone. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest, and then offer the sacrifice that Moses commanded[f] as proof to the authorities.”[g]
Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant(B)
5 When Jesus[h] returned to Capernaum, a centurion[i] came up to him and begged him repeatedly, 6 “Sir,[j] my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus[k] told him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion replied, “Sir,[l] I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed, 9 because I, too, am a man under authority and I have soldiers under me. I say to one of them[m] ‘Go’ and he goes, to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my servant ‘Do this’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and told those who were following him, “I tell all of you[n] with certainty, not even[o] in Israel have I found this kind of faith! 11 I tell all of you,[p] many will come from east and west and will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom from[q] heaven. 12 But the unfaithful heirs[r] of that kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”[s]
13 “Go,” Jesus told the centurion, “and it will be done for you, just as you have believed.” And his servant was healed that very hour.
Jesus Heals Many People(C)
14 When Jesus went into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s[t] mother-in-law lying in bed, sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began serving him.
16 When evening came, people[u] brought to him many who were possessed by demons. He drove out the spirits by speaking a command[v] and healed everyone who was sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was declared by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“It was he who took our illnesses away
and removed our diseases.”[w]
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