Genesis 25-27

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 25

Abraham’s Sons by Keturah. ^1 [a](A)Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.^{[b] 3} Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.^{(B) 4} The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were descendants of Keturah.

⁵ Abraham gave everything that he owned to his son Isaac.^{[c] 6} To the sons of his concubines, however, he gave gifts while he was still living, as he sent them away eastward, to the land of Kedem,^[d] away from his son Isaac.

Death of Abraham. ⁷ The whole span of Abraham’s life was one hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life; and he was gathered to his people. ⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre,^{(C) 10} the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there he was buried next to his wife Sarah. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

Descendants of Ishmael. ^12 [e]These are the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham. ^13 (D)These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, listed in the order of their birth: Ishmael’s firstborn Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,^{(E) 14} Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael, their names by their villages and encampments; twelve chieftains of as many tribal groups.^(F)

¹⁷ The span of Ishmael’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. After he had breathed his last and died, he was gathered to his people. ¹⁸ The Ishmaelites ranged from Havilah, by Shur, which is on the border of Egypt, all the way to Asshur; and they pitched camp^[f] alongside their various kindred.^(G)

Birth of Esau and Jacob. ^19 [g]These are the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram^[h] and the sister of Laban the Aramean.^{(H) 21} Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The Lord heard his entreaty, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² But the children jostled each other in the womb so much that she exclaimed, “If it is like this,^[i] why go on living!” She went to consult the Lord, ²³ and the Lord answered her:

²⁴ When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.^{(J) 25} The first to emerge was reddish,^[k] and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ Next his brother came out, gripping Esau’s heel;^[l] so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.^(K)

²⁷ When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country; whereas Jacob was a simple^[m] man, who stayed among the tents.^{(L) 28} Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob. ²⁹ Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Let me gulp down some of that red stuff;^[n] I am famished.” That is why he was called Edom. ³¹ But Jacob replied, “First sell me your right as firstborn.”^{[o](M) 32} “Look,” said Esau, “I am on the point of dying. What good is the right as firstborn to me?” ³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first!” So he sold Jacob his right as firstborn under oath.^{(N) 34} Jacob then gave him some bread and the lentil stew; and Esau ate, drank, got up, and went his way. So Esau treated his right as firstborn with disdain.

Chapter 26

Isaac and Abimelech. ^1 [p](O)There was a famine in the land, distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham, and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.^{(P) 2} The Lord appeared to him and said: Do not go down to Egypt, but camp in this land wherever I tell you. ³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.^{(Q) 4} I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing—^{(R) 5} this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate, my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions.

^6 [q]So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, “She is my sister.” He was afraid that, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was beautiful. ⁸ But when they had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. ⁹ He called for Isaac and said: “She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “I thought I might lose my life on her account.” ¹⁰ “How could you have done this to us!” exclaimed Abimelech. “It would have taken very little for one of the people to lie with your wife, and so you would have brought guilt upon us!” ¹¹ Abimelech then commanded all the people: “Anyone who maltreats this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

^12 [r]Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the Lord blessed him, ^13 (S)he became richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy. ¹⁴ He acquired flocks and herds, and a great work force, and so the Philistines became envious of him. ^15 (T)The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham. ¹⁶ So Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; you have become far too numerous for us.” ¹⁷ Isaac left there and camped in the Wadi Gerar where he stayed. ¹⁸ Isaac reopened the wells which his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; he gave them names like those that his father had given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the wadi and reached spring water in their well, ²⁰ the shepherds of Gerar argued with Isaac’s shepherds, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So he named the well Esek,^[s] because they had quarreled there. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they argued over that one too; so he named it Sitnah.^{[t] 22} So he moved on from there and dug still another well, but over this one they did not argue. He named it Rehoboth,^[u] and said, “Because the Lord has now given us ample room, we shall flourish in the land.”

²³ From there Isaac went up to Beer-sheba. ²⁴ The same night the Lord appeared to him and said: I am the God of Abraham, your father. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of Abraham, my servant.^{(U) 25} So Isaac built an altar there and invoked the Lord by name. After he had pitched his tent there, Isaac’s servants began to dig a well nearby.

^26 (V)Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army. ²⁷ Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have driven me away from you?” ²⁸ They answered: “We clearly see that the Lord has been with you, so we thought: let there be a sworn agreement between our two sides—between you and us. Let us make a covenant with you: ²⁹ you shall do no harm to us, just as we have not maltreated you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. So now, may you be blessed by the Lord!” ³⁰ Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

³² That same day Isaac’s servants came and informed him about the well they had been digging; they told him, “We have reached water!” ³³ He called it Shibah;^[v] hence the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day. ^34 [w]When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.^{(W) 35} But they became a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27

Jacob’s Deception.^{[x] 1} When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” he replied. ² Isaac then said, “Now I have grown old. I do not know when I might die. ³ So now take your hunting gear—your quiver and bow—and go out into the open country to hunt some game for me. ⁴ Then prepare for me a dish in the way I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you^[y] before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So when Esau went out into the open country to hunt some game for his father,^{(X) 6} Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father tell your brother Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you with the Lord’s approval before I die.’ ⁸ Now, my son, obey me in what I am about to order you. ⁹ Go to the flock and get me two choice young goats so that with these I might prepare a dish for your father in the way he likes. ¹⁰ Then bring it to your father to eat, that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹ But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned!^{(Y) 12} Suppose my father feels me? He will think I am making fun of him, and I will bring on myself a curse instead of a blessing.” ¹³ His mother, however, replied: “Let any curse against you, my son, fall on me! Just obey me. Go and get me the young goats.”

¹⁴ So Jacob went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared a dish in the way his father liked. ¹⁵ Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear; ¹⁶ and with the goatskins she covered up his hands and the hairless part of his neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave her son Jacob the dish and the bread she had prepared.

¹⁸ Going to his father, Jacob said, “Father!” “Yes?” replied Isaac. “Which of my sons are you?” ¹⁹ Jacob answered his father: “I am Esau, your firstborn. I did as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” ²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How did you get it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “The Lord, your God, directed me.” ²¹ Isaac then said to Jacob, “Come closer, my son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When Isaac felt him, he said, “Although the voice is Jacob’s, the hands are Esau’s.” ²³ (He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.) ²⁴ Again Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And Jacob said, “I am.” ²⁵ Then Isaac said, “Serve me, my son, and let me eat of the game so that I may bless you.” Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate; he brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ Finally his father Isaac said to him, “Come closer, my son, and kiss me.” ²⁷ As Jacob went up to kiss him, Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he blessed him, saying,

³⁰ Jacob had scarcely left his father after Isaac had finished blessing him, when his brother Esau came back from his hunt. ³¹ Then he too prepared a dish, and bringing it to his father, he said, “Let my father sit up and eat some of his son’s game, that you may then give me your blessing.” ³² His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn son, Esau.” ³³ Isaac trembled greatly. “Who was it, then,” he asked, “that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all just before you came, and I blessed him. Now he is blessed!” ³⁴ As he heard his father’s words, Esau burst into loud, bitter sobbing and said, “Father, bless me too!” ³⁵ When Isaac said, “Your brother came here by a ruse and carried off your blessing,” ³⁶ Esau exclaimed, “He is well named Jacob, is he not! He has supplanted me^[z] twice! First he took away my right as firstborn, and now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not saved a blessing for me?”^{(AB) 37} Isaac replied to Esau: “I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kindred as his servants; besides, I have sustained him with grain and wine. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸ But Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” and Esau wept aloud.^{(AC) 39} His father Isaac said in response:

⁴¹ Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. Esau said to himself, “Let the time of mourning for my father come, so that I may kill my brother Jacob.”^{(AF) 42} When Rebekah got news of what her older son Esau had in mind, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him: “Listen! Your brother Esau intends to get his revenge by killing you. ⁴³ So now, my son, obey me: flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, ⁴⁴ and stay with him a while until your brother’s fury subsides— ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you in a single day?”

Jacob Sent to Laban. ⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac: “I am disgusted with life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman, a native of the land, like these women, why should I live?”^(AG)