Genesis 24-27

Genesis 24

¹Now Abraham was old and far on in years: and the Lord had given him everything in full measure.

²And Abraham said to his chief servant, the manager of all his property, Come now, put your hand under my leg:

³And take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

⁴But that you will go into my country and to my relations and get a wife there for my son Isaac.

⁵And the servant said, If by chance the woman will not come with me into this land, am I to take your son back again to the land from which you came?

⁶And Abraham said, Take care that you do not let my son go back to that land.

⁷The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and made an oath to me, saying, To your seed I will give this land: he will send his angel before you and give you a wife for my son in that land.

⁸And if the woman will not come with you, then you are free from this oath; only do not take my son back there.

⁹And the servant put his hand under Abraham's leg, and gave him his oath about this thing.

¹⁰And the servant took ten of his master's camels, and all sorts of good things of his master's, and went to Mesopotamia, to the town of Nahor.

¹¹And he made the camels take their rest outside the town by the water-spring in the evening, at the time when the women came to get water.

¹²And he said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, let me do well in what I have undertaken this day, and give your mercy to my master Abraham.

¹³See, I am waiting here by the water-spring; and the daughters of the town are coming out to get water:

¹⁴Now, may the girl to whom I say, Let down your vessel and give me a drink, and who says in answer, Here is a drink for you and let me give water to your camels: may she be the one marked out by you for your servant Isaac: so may I be certain that you have been good to my master Abraham.

¹⁵And even before his words were ended, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water-vessel on her arm.

¹⁶She was a very beautiful girl, a virgin, who had never been touched by a man: and she went down to the spring to get water in her vessel.

¹⁷And the servant came running to her and said, Give me a little water from your vessel.

¹⁸And she said, Take a drink, my lord: and quickly letting down her vessel onto her hand, she gave him a drink.

¹⁹And having done so, she said, I will get water for your camels till they have had enough.

²⁰And after putting the water from her vessel into the animals' drinking-place, she went quickly back to the spring and got water for all the camels.

²¹And the man, looking at her, said nothing, waiting to see if the Lord had given his journey a good outcome.

²²And when the camels had had enough, the man took a gold nose-ring, half a shekel in weight, and two ornaments for her arms of ten shekels weight of gold;

²³And said to her, Whose daughter are you? is there room in your father's house for us?

²⁴And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, Nahor's wife.

²⁵And she said, We have a great store of dry grass and cattle-food, and there is room for you.

²⁶And with bent head the man gave worship to the Lord;

²⁷And said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has given a sign that he is good and true to my master, by guiding me straight to the house of my master's family.

²⁸So the girl went running and took the news of these things to her mother's house

²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he came out quickly to the man at the water-spring.

³⁰And when he saw the nose-ring and the ornaments on his sister's hands, and when she gave him word of what the man had said to her, then he went out to the man who was waiting with the camels by the water-spring.

³¹And he said to him, Come in, you on whom is the blessing of the Lord; why are you waiting outside? for I have made the house ready for you, and a place for the camels.

³²Then the man came into the house, and Laban took their cords off the camels and gave them dry grass and food, and he gave to him and the men who were with him water for washing their feet.

³³And meat was put before him, but he said, I will not take food till I have made my business clear to you. And they said, Do so.

³⁴And he said, I am Abraham's servant.

³⁵The Lord has given my master every blessing, and he has become great: he has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold, and men-servants and women-servants and camels and asses.

³⁶And when Sarah, my master's wife, was old, she gave birth to a son, to whom he has given all he has.

³⁷And my master made me take an oath, saying, Do not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living;

³⁸But go to my father's house and to my relations for a wife for my son.

³⁹And I said to my master, What if the woman will not come with me?

⁴⁰And he said, The Lord, whom I have ever kept before me, will send his angel with you, who will make it possible for you to get a wife for my son from my relations and my father's house;

⁴¹And you will be free from your oath to me when you come to my people; and if they will not give her to you, you will be free from your oath.

⁴²And I came today to the water-spring, and I said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if it is your purpose to give a good outcome to my journey,

⁴³Let it come about that, while I am waiting here by the water-spring, if a girl comes to get water and I say to her, Give me a little water from your vessel, and she says,

⁴⁴Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels; let her be the woman marked out by the Lord for my master's son.

⁴⁵And even while I was saying this to myself, Rebekah came out with her vessel on her arm; and she went down to the spring to get water; and I said to her, Give me a drink.

⁴⁶And straight away she took down her vessel from her arm, and said, Take a drink, and I will get water for your camels.

⁴⁷And questioning her, I said, Whose daughter are you? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, and Milcah his wife. Then I put the ring on her nose and the ornaments on her hands.

⁴⁸And with bent head I gave worship and praise to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, by whom I had been guided in the right way, to get the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

⁴⁹And now, say if you will do what is good and right for my master or not, in order that it may be clear to me what I have to do.

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel said in answer, This is the Lord's doing: it is not for us to say Yes or No to you.

⁵¹See, here is Rebekah: take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has said.

⁵²And at these words, Abraham's servant went down on his face and gave praise to the Lord.

⁵³Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.

⁵⁴Then he and the men who were with him had food and drink, and took their rest there that night; and in the morning he got up, and said, Let me now go back to my master.

⁵⁵But her brother and her mother said, Let the girl be with us a week or ten days, and then she may go.

⁵⁶And he said, Do not keep me; the Lord has given a good outcome to my journey; let me now go back to my master.

⁵⁷And they said, We will send for the girl, and let her make the decision.

⁵⁸And they sent for Rebekah and said to her, Are you ready to go with this man? And she said, I am ready.

⁵⁹So they sent their sister Rebekah and her servant with Abraham's servant and his men.

⁶⁰And they gave Rebekah their blessing, saying, O sister, may you be the mother of thousands and ten thousands; and may your seed overcome all those who make war against them.

⁶¹So Rebekah and her servant-women went with the man, seated on the camels; and so the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

⁶²Now Isaac had come through the waste land to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the South.

⁶³And when the evening was near, he went wandering out into the fields, and lifting up his eyes he saw camels coming.

⁶⁴And when Rebekah, looking up, saw Isaac, she got down from her camel,

⁶⁵And said to the servant, Who is that man coming to us through the field? And the servant said, It is my master: then she took her veil, covering her face with it.

⁶⁶Then the servant gave Isaac the story of all he had done.

⁶⁷And Isaac took Rebekah into his tent and she became his wife; and in his love for her, Isaac was comforted after his father's death.

Genesis 25

¹And Abraham took another wife named Keturah.

²She became the mother of Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

³And Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And from Dedan came the Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

⁴And from Midian came Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the offspring of Keturah.

⁵Now Abraham gave all his property to Isaac;

⁶But to the sons of his other women he gave offerings, and sent them away, while he was still living, into the east country.

⁷Now the years of Abraham's life were a hundred and seventy-five.

⁸And Abraham came to his death, an old man, full of years; and he was put to rest with his people.

⁹And Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, put him to rest in the hollow rock of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, near Mamre;

¹⁰The same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth: there Abraham was put to rest with Sarah, his wife.

¹¹Now after the death of Abraham, the blessing of God was with Isaac, his son.

¹²Now these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian, the servant of Sarah:

¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by their generations: Ishmael's first son was Nebaioth; then Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam

¹⁴And Mishma and Dumah and Massa,

¹⁵Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names in their towns and their tent-circles; twelve chiefs with their peoples.

¹⁷And the years of Ishmael's life were a hundred and thirty-seven: and he came to his end, and was put to rest with his people.

¹⁸And their country was from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt: they took their place to the east of all their brothers.

¹⁹Now these are the generations of Abraham's son Isaac:

²⁰Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramaean, to be his wife.

²¹Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.

²²And the children were fighting together inside her, and she said, If it is to be so, why am I like this? So she went to put her question to the Lord.

²³And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your body, and two peoples will come to birth from you: the one will be stronger than the other, and the older will be the servant of the younger.

²⁴And when the time came for her to give birth, there were two children in her body.

²⁵And the first came out red from head to foot like a robe of hair, and they gave him the name of Esau.

²⁶And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

²⁷And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

²⁸Now Isaac's love was for Esau, because Esau's meat was greatly to his taste: but Rebekah had more love for Jacob.

²⁹And one day Jacob was cooking some soup when Esau came in from the fields in great need of food;

³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food: for this reason he was named Edom.

³¹And Jacob said, First of all give me your birthright.

³²And Esau said, Truly, I am at the point of death: what profit is the birthright to me?

³³And Jacob said, First of all give me your oath; and he gave him his oath, handing over his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave him bread and soup; and he took food and drink and went away, caring little for his birthright.

Genesis 26

¹Then came a time of great need in the land, like that which had been before in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

²And the Lord came to him in a vision and said, Do not go down to Egypt; keep in the land of which I will give you knowledge:

³Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing; for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham;

⁴I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;

⁵Because Abraham gave ear to my voice and kept my words, my rules, my orders, and my laws.

⁶So Isaac went on living in Gerar;

⁷And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, She is my sister; fearing to say, She is my wife; for, he said, the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebekah; because she is very beautiful.

⁸And when he had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looking through a window, saw Isaac playing with Rebekah his wife.

⁹And he said to Isaac, It is clear that she is your wife: why then did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said, For fear that I might be put to death because of her.

¹⁰Then Abimelech said, What have you done to us? one of the people might well have had connection with your wife, and the sin would have been ours.

¹¹And Abimelech gave orders to his people that anyone touching Isaac or his wife was to be put to death.

¹²Now Isaac, planting seed in that land, got in the same year fruit a hundred times as much, for the blessing of the Lord was on him.

¹³And his wealth became very great, increasing more and more;

¹⁴For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.

¹⁵Now all the water-holes, which his father's servants had made in the days of Abraham, had been stopped up with earth by the Philistines.

¹⁶And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go away from us, for you are stronger than we are.

¹⁷So Isaac went away from there, and put up his tents in the valley of Gerar, making his living-place there.

¹⁸And he made again the water-holes which had been made in the days of Abraham his father, and which had been stopped up by the Philistines; and he gave them the names which his father had given them.

¹⁹Now Isaac's servants made holes in the valley, and came to a spring of flowing water.

²⁰But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.

²¹Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.

²²Then he went away from there, and made another water-hole, about which there was no fighting: so he gave it the name of Rehoboth, for he said, Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will have fruit in this land.

²³And from there he went on to Beer-sheba.

²⁴That night the Lord came to him in a vision, and said, I am the God of your father Abraham: have no fear for I am with you, blessing you, and your seed will be increased because of my servant Abraham.

²⁵Then he made an altar there, and gave worship to the name of the Lord, and he put up his tents there, and there his servants made a water-hole.

²⁶And Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the captain of his army.

²⁷And Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that in your hate for me you sent me away from you?

²⁸And they said, We saw clearly that the Lord was with you: so we said, Let there be an oath between us and you, and let us make an agreement with you;

²⁹That you will do us no damage, even as we put no hand on you, and did you nothing but good, and sent you away in peace: and now the blessing of the Lord is on you.

³⁰Then he made a feast for them, and they all had food and drink.

³¹And early in the morning they took an oath one to the other: then Isaac sent them away and they went on their way in peace.

³²And that day Isaac's servants came to him and gave him word of the water-hole which they had made, and said to him, We have come to water.

³³And he gave it the name of Shibah: so the name of that town is Beer-sheba to this day.

³⁴And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

³⁵And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.

Genesis 27

¹Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I.

²And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time:

³So take your arrows and your bow and go out to the field and get meat for me;

⁴And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me.

⁵Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat.

⁶And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing,

⁷Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death.

⁸Now, my son, do what I say.

⁹Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste:

¹⁰And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death.

¹¹And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth:

¹²If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing.

¹³And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me.

¹⁴So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste.

¹⁵And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son:

¹⁶And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck:

¹⁷And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready.

¹⁸And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son?

¹⁹And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

²⁰And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way.

²¹And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not.

²²And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

²³And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.

²⁴And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am.

²⁵And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink.

²⁶And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss.

²⁷And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come:

²⁸May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure:

²⁹Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.

³⁰And when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field.

³¹And he made ready a meal, good to the taste, and took it to his father, and said to him, Let my father get up and take of his son's meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

³²And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your oldest son, Esau.

³³And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be?

³⁴And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father!

³⁵And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing.

³⁶And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me?

³⁷And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son?

³⁸And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping.

³⁹Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be:

⁴⁰By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.

⁴¹So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death.

⁴²Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death.

⁴³So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban;

⁴⁴And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away;

⁴⁵Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day?

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?