Old/New Testament
Abraham’s Family
25 Abraham married again. His new wife was Keturah. 2 She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the people of Assyria, Letush and Leum. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah. 5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6 But before Abraham died, he did give gifts to the sons of his other wives. Abraham sent them to the East to be away from Isaac.
7 Abraham lived to be 175 years old. 8 He breathed his last breath and died at an old age. He had lived a long and satisfying life. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah. This cave is in the field of Ephron east of Mamre. Ephron was the son of Zohar the Hittite. 10 This is the same field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac was now living at Beer Lahai Roi.
12 This is the family history of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. (Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant, was Ishmael’s mother.) 13 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons in the order they were born. The first son was Nebaioth. Then came Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These were Ishmael’s sons. And these are the names of the tribal leaders. They are listed according to their settlements and camps. 17 Ishmael lived 137 years. Then he breathed his last breath and died. 18 Ishmael’s descendants lived from Havilah to Shur. This is east of Egypt stretching toward Assyria. Ishmael’s descendants often attacked the descendants of his brothers.
Isaac’s Family
19 This is the family history of Isaac. Abraham had a son named Isaac. 20 When Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah. Rebekah was from Northwest Mesopotamia. She was Bethuel’s daughter and the sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac’s wife could not have children. So Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. The Lord heard Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant.
22 While she was pregnant, the babies struggled inside her. She asked, “Why is this happening to me?” Then she went to get an answer from the Lord.
23 The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your body.
Two groups of people will be taken from you.
One group will be stronger than the other.
The older will serve the younger.”
24 And when the time came, Rebekah gave birth to twins. 25 The first baby was born red. His skin was like a hairy robe. So he was named Esau.[a] 26 When the second baby was born, he was holding on to Esau’s heel. So that baby was named Jacob.[b] Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter. He loved to be out in the fields. But Jacob was a quiet man. He stayed among the tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau. Esau hunted the wild animals that Isaac enjoyed eating. But Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 One day Jacob was boiling a pot of vegetable soup. Esau came in from hunting in the fields. He was weak from hunger. 30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red soup. I am weak with hunger.” (That is why people call him Edom.[c])
31 But Jacob said, “You must sell me your rights as the firstborn son.”[d]
32 Esau said, “I am almost dead from hunger. If I die, all of my father’s wealth will not help me.”
33 But Jacob said, “First, promise me that you will give it to me.” So Esau made a promise to Jacob. In this way he sold his part of their father’s wealth to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and vegetable soup. Esau ate and drank and then left. So Esau showed how little he cared about his rights as the firstborn son.
Isaac Lies to Abimelech
26 Once there was a time of hunger in the land. This was besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar. He went to see Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your descendants all these lands. I will keep the agreement I made to Abraham your father. 4 I will give you many descendants. They will be as hard to count as the stars in the sky. And I will give them all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed. 5 I will do this because your father Abraham obeyed me. He did what I said. He obeyed my commands, my teachings and my rules.”
6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7 Isaac’s wife Rebekah was very beautiful. The men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to tell them she was his wife. He thought they might kill him so they could have her.
8 Isaac lived there a long time. One day as Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out his window, he saw Isaac. Isaac was holding his wife Rebekah tenderly. 9 Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “This woman is your wife. Why did you say she was your sister?”
Isaac said to him, “I was afraid you would kill me so you could have her.”
10 Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of our men might have had physical relations with your wife. Then we would have been guilty of a great sin.”
11 So Abimelech warned everyone. He said, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death.”
Isaac Becomes Rich
12 Isaac planted seed in that land. And that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much. 13 Isaac became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14 He had many slaves and many flocks and herds. The Philistines envied him. 15 So they stopped up all the wells the servants of Isaac’s father Abraham had dug. (They had dug them when Abraham was alive.) The Philistines filled those wells with dirt. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become much more powerful than we are.”
17 So Isaac left that place. He camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there. 18 Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells. After Abraham died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19 Isaac’s servants dug a well in the valley. From it a spring of water flowed. 20 But the men who herded sheep in Gerar argued with Isaac’s servants. They said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Argue because they argued with him. 21 Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. The people also argued about it. So Isaac named that well Fight. 22 Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one argued about this one. So he named that well Room Enough. Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made room for us. We will be successful in this land.”
23 From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24 The Lord appeared to Isaac that night. The Lord said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid because I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants. I will do this because of my servant Abraham.” 25 So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.
26 Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. Abimelech brought with him Ahuzzath, who advised him, and Phicol, the commander of his army. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to see me? You were my enemy. You forced me to leave your country.”
28 They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. We will make a promise to you. And we would like you to make one to us. We would like to make an agreement with you. 29 We did not hurt you. So promise you will not hurt us. And we were good to you, and we sent you away in peace. Now the Lord has blessed you.”
30 So Isaac prepared food for them, and they all ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men made a promise to each other. Then Isaac sent them away, and they left in peace.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We found water in that well.” 33 So Isaac named it Shibah[e] and that city is still called Beersheba even now.
34 When Esau was 40 years old, he married two Hittite women. One was Judith daughter of Beeri. The other was Basemath daughter of Elon. 35 These women brought much sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.
Jesus Heals a Sick Man
8 When Jesus came down from the hill, great crowds followed him. 2 Then a man sick with a harmful skin disease came to Jesus. The man bowed down before him and said, “Lord, you have the power to heal me if you want.”
3 Jesus touched the man and said, “I want to heal you. Be healed!” And immediately the man was healed from his skin disease. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened. But go and show yourself to the priest.[a] And offer the gift that Moses commanded[b] for people who are made well. This will show people that you are healed.”
Jesus Heals a Soldier’s Servant
5 Jesus went to the city of Capernaum. When he entered the city, an army officer came to Jesus and begged for help. 6 The officer said, “Lord, my servant is at home in bed. He can’t move his body and is in much pain.”
7 Jesus said to the officer, “I will go and heal him.”
8 The officer answered, “Lord, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. All you need to do is command that my servant be healed, and he will be healed. 9 I myself am a man under the authority of other men. And I have soldiers under my command. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I tell another soldier, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and my servant obeys me.
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to those who were with him, “I tell you the truth. This man has more faith than any other person I have found, even in Israel. 11 Many people will come from the east and from the west. They will sit and eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 And those people who should have the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. In that place people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.”
13 Then Jesus said to the officer, “Go home. Your servant will be healed just as you believed he would.” And at that same time his servant was healed.
Jesus Heals Many People
14 Jesus went to Peter’s house. There Jesus saw that Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever. 15 Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she stood up and began to serve Jesus.
16 That evening people brought to Jesus many who had demons. Jesus spoke and the demons left them. Jesus healed all the sick. 17 He did these things to make come true what Isaiah the prophet said:
“He took our suffering on him.
And he felt our pain for us.” Isaiah 53:4
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.