Bible in 90 Days

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. ² I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will make your descendants very numerous.”

³ Abram fell on his face. God spoke with him. He said, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will not be Abram anymore, but your name will be Abraham,^[a] for I have made you the father of a large group of nations. ⁶ I will make you extremely fruitful, and I will produce nations from you. Kings will come out of you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you as an everlasting covenant throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ I will give the land where you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, to you and to your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”

⁹ God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, a covenant between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised by cutting the foreskin off your flesh. It will be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Every boy among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether he is born in your house or purchased with money^[b] from any foreigner who is not descended from you. ¹³ Every male who is born in your house or one who is purchased with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked on your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised by removing the foreskin from his flesh, that person must be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai anymore, but her name will be Sarah.^{[c] 16} I will bless her and even give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of many peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to someone who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh, let Ishmael live in your presence!”

¹⁹ But God said, “No, Sarah, your wife, will bear a son for you. You shall name him Isaac.^[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰ “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Yes, I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and will multiply him very greatly. He will become the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear for you at this set time next year.”

²² When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³ Abraham took his son Ishmael, along with every male in Abraham’s house, all those who were born in his house, and all those who were purchased with his money, and he circumcised them by cutting off the foreskin from their flesh. He did this on that very day, just as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the foreskin of his flesh was circumcised. ²⁵ Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when the foreskin of his flesh was circumcised. ²⁶ On the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised. ²⁷ All the men of his house, those born in the house as well as those purchased with money from a foreigner, were circumcised along with him.

Three Men Meet Abraham

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he was sitting by the door to his tent during the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up, and he saw three men standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground. ³ He said, “My lord,^[e] if I have now found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. ⁴ Now let me get a little water so that all of you can wash your feet and rest under the tree. ⁵ Let me get some bread so that you can refresh yourselves. After that you may go your way. That is why you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Yes, do as you have said.”

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly prepare twenty quarts^[f] of fine flour, knead it, and make some loaves of bread.” ⁷ Abraham ran to the herd, brought a good, tender calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took cheese curds, milk, and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them. He stood beside them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

He said, “She is over there in the tent.”

¹⁰ One of the men said, “I will certainly return to you when this season comes around next year. Then Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Sarah was listening to this from the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well into old age. Sarah was past the age for childbearing.^{[g] 12} Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, will I have pleasure, since my lord is also old?”

¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really give birth to a child though I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the set time next year I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied it and said, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid.

The Lord said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

¹⁶ The men got up from there and looked down toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have chosen him,^[h] so that he may command his children and his household who follow after him to keep the way of the Lord by carrying out righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may deliver to Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰ So the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very flagrant, ²¹ I will go down now and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.”

²² The two men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Abraham approached him and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep them away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ You would never do such a thing, killing the righteous along with the wicked, treating the righteous the same as the wicked. You would never do such a thing. The Judge of all the earth should do right, shouldn’t he?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people within the city of Sodom, then I will spare the entire place for their sake.”

²⁷ Abraham answered, “See now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it on myself to speak to my Lord. ²⁸ What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous? Will you destroy the entire city if the number is five short?”

He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹ He spoke to him yet again and said, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

³⁰ He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak again. What if thirty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ He said, “See now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord. What if there are twenty found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

³² He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

³³ As soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, the Lord went on his way, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot, who was sitting in the gatehouse of Sodom, saw them and got up to meet them. He bowed down with his face to the ground, ² and he said, “See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house and spend the night. Wash your feet, and you can get up early and go on your way.”

They said, “No, we will spend the night in the street.”

³ But he kept urging them, so they came with him and entered his house. He made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from all parts of town. ⁵ They called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.”^[i]

⁶ Lot went out to them and shut the door behind him. ⁷ He said, “Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ See now, I have two daughters who have not had relations with a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection^[j] of my roof.”

⁹ They said, “Get out of our way!” They also said, “This fellow came to live here as an alien, and now he appoints himself as a judge. Now we will treat you worse than them!” They kept pushing Lot back and were ready to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and grabbed Lot and pulled him into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ They struck the men who were pressing against the door of the house, both young and old, with blindness so that they wore themselves out trying to find the door.

¹² The men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, whoever you have in the city, get them out of this place, ¹³ for we are going to destroy this place, because the outcry against it has grown great before the Lord, so the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to his daughters in marriage. He said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is going to destroy the city.” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵ When the dawn came, the angels urged Lot, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that you will not be swept away by the guilt of the city.” ¹⁶ But Lot was taking too much time, so the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, because of the Lord’s compassion for him. They led him out and placed him outside of the city. ¹⁷ Then when they had taken them out, one of them said, “Run for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, so that you are not swept away!”

¹⁸ Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lord.^{[k] 19} See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great mercy by saving my life. I cannot flee to the mountains, or this disaster will stick with me, and I will die. ²⁰ Look, this city is close enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me flee there—isn’t it just a little one?—so that my life will be saved.”

²¹ The man said to him, “Very well, I have granted your request concerning this thing, so I will not overthrow the city that you have spoken about. ²² Hurry, flee there, because I cannot do anything until you get there.” So the city was named Zoar.^[l]

²³ The sun had risen over the land when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire out of the sky from the Lord. ²⁵ He overthrew those cities, as well as all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew in the soil.

²⁶ But Lot’s wife, who was behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain. As he looked, he saw that the smoke from the land was going up like the smoke from a kiln.

²⁹ And so when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and brought Lot out through the middle of the devastation, when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the mountains, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. His two daughters were with him. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come to us as normally takes place everywhere on earth. ³² Come on, let’s get our father to drink wine, and we will lie down with him, that we may preserve our father’s seed.”^{[m] 33} They got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn went and lay down with her father. He did not know it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴ Then the next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, last night I lay down with my father. Let us get him to drink wine again tonight. You go and lie down with him, so that we may preserve our father’s seed.” ³⁵ They got their father to drink wine that night also. Then the younger went and lay with him. He did not know it when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶ In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab.^[n] He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also gave birth to a son and called his name Ben Ammi.^[o] He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Abraham and Abimelek

20 Abraham traveled from there toward the Negev, and he lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a resident alien in Gerar. ² About his wife Sarah Abraham said, “She is my sister.” Abimelek king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Abimelek in a dream during the night and said to him, “Listen to me! You are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, because she has a husband.”

⁴ Now Abimelek had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? ⁵ Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? Even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a sincere heart and innocent hands.”

⁶ God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a sincere heart, so I also prevented you from sinning against me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, return the man’s wife. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you do not return her, know for sure that you will die, you along with all who are yours.”

⁸ Abimelek rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told them all these things. The men were terrified. ⁹ Then Abimelek summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought this great sin on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!” ¹⁰ Abimelek said to Abraham, “What did you see in us that made you do this?”

¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I said to myself, ‘Surely they do not fear God in this place. They will kill me to get my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ When God had me migrate from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness that you shall show to me: Everywhere that we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ Abimelek took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and he gave them to Abraham. He also returned Sarah, his wife, to him. ¹⁵ Abimelek said, “Look, my land is in front of you. Dwell wherever it pleases you.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces^[p] of silver. You see, it covers any offense in the eyes of everyone who is with you. In front of all of them you are vindicated.”

¹⁷ Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelek and his wife and his female servants, so that they were able to bear children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had closed up tight all the wombs of the household of Abimelek over the matter of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord visited^[q] Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. ² Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the set time which God had announced to him. ³ Abraham named the son who was born to him—the son whom Sarah had borne to him—^[r] Isaac.^{[s] 4} Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷ She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham, laughing at Isaac. ¹⁰ Therefore, she said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave girl^[t] and her son! For the son of this slave will not be heir with my son Isaac.”

¹¹ Abraham was very distressed because of his son. ¹² God said to Abraham, “Do not be so distressed because of the boy and because of your maid.^[u] Listen to everything that Sarah says to you, because the family line of your descendants^[v] will be traced through Isaac. ¹³ I will also make the son of the maid into a nation because he too is your offspring.”

¹⁴ Abraham got up early in the morning. He took bread and a waterskin, which he gave to Hagar, putting it over her shoulder. He sent her away with her child. She set out and wandered in the wilderness near Beersheba. ¹⁵ The water in the skin was used up, and she dragged the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ She went and sat down by herself, across from him, at a distance, about a bow shot away, because she said, “Do not let me see the death of the child.” She sat across from him and wept loudly.

¹⁷ God heard the boy’s voice, and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is. ¹⁸ Get up. Help the boy up, and take him by the hand, because I will make him into a great nation.”

¹⁹ God opened her eyes, and she saw a well with water in it. She went, filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ God was with the boy, and as he grew up, he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Abraham and Abimelek

²² At that time Abimelek and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham. He said, “God is with you in everything that you do. ²³ Now swear to me here by God that you will not deal treacherously with me, or with my son, or with my grandson. But just as I have been kind to you, you shall do the same for me and for the land in which you have lived as an alien.”

²⁴ Abraham said, “I will swear it.”

²⁵ Abraham complained to Abimelek because of a well which Abimelek’s servants had seized violently. ²⁶ Abimelek said, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I did not hear about it until today.”

²⁷ Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek. The two of them made a treaty.^{[w] 28} Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs from the flock.

²⁹ Abimelek said to Abraham, “Why have you set these seven ewe lambs by themselves?”

³⁰ He said, “You shall accept these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal testimony that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore, he called that place Beersheba,^[x] because they both took an oath there. ³² So they made a treaty at Beersheba. Then Abimelek got up with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he proclaimed^[y] the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. ³⁴ Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for a long time.^[z]

Abraham Offers Isaac

22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He called to him, “Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “I am here.”

² God said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there, the one to which I direct you.”

³ Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, along with Isaac his son. Abraham split the wood for the burnt offering. Then he set out to go to the place that God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵ Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go on over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it on Isaac his son. He took the firepot and the knife in his hand. The two of them went on together.

⁷ Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father?”

He said, “I am here, my son.”

He said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them went on together. ⁹ They came to the place that God had told him about. Abraham built the altar there. He arranged the wood, tied up Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹ The Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

Abraham said, “I am here.”

¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

¹³ Abraham looked around and saw that behind him there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord Will Provide.”^[aa] So it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

¹⁵ The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶ and said, “I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your descendants greatly, like the stars of the sky and like the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the city gates of their enemies. ¹⁸ In your seed^[ab] all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his young men, and they set out and traveled together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰ Some time after these things Abraham was told, “Listen. Milcah also has borne children for your brother Nahor. ²¹ They are Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight sons Milcah bore for Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Ma’akah.

The Death of Sarah

23 Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. That was the length of Sarah’s life. ² Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³ Then Abraham got up from beside his deceased wife. He went and spoke to the descendants of Heth.^[ac] He said, ⁴ “I am an alien who has settled among you. Let me have a piece of property for a burial place among you where I may bury my dead in their final resting place.”^{[ad] 5} The descendants of Heth answered Abraham, ⁶ “Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb from you. Bury your dead.”

⁷ Abraham stood up and bowed down to the people of the land, that is, to the descendants of Heth. ⁸ He said to them, “If you have agreed that I may bury my dead in their final resting place, then listen to me, and speak to Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf, ⁹ so that he gives me the Cave of Machpelah, which is at the end of the field that he owns. Let him give it to me for the full price so that I may own a burial site among you.”

¹⁰ Now Ephron was sitting among the descendants of Heth. Ephron the Hittite responded to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who were gathered at the city gate. He said, ¹¹ “No, my lord, listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

¹² Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. ¹³ He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land. He said, “No, but if you are willing, please listen to me. I will give the money^[ae] for the field. Accept it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴ Ephron responded to Abraham, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Go ahead, bury your dead.”

¹⁶ Abraham accepted Ephron’s offer, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the price that Ephron had quoted to him in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels^[af] of silver, according to the current standard of the merchants at that time.

¹⁷ So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, near Mamre—the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were within the boundaries of the field were deeded ¹⁸ to Abraham as his property. This was done in the presence of all the Hittites, who were assembled at the gate of the city. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave in the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ The field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the descendants of Heth as his property to be used as a burial site.

A Wife for Isaac

24 Abraham was very old, well into old age. The Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. ² Abraham said to his servant, the senior supervisor of his house, who was in charge of everything that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. ³ You must swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living. ⁴ Instead, you shall go to my country and to my relatives and acquire a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “What if the woman is not willing to follow me to this land? In that case, should I take your son back to the land that you came from?”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “Let me make it very clear to you that you are not to take my son back there again. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, took me away from my father’s house and from the land of my birth. He spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’^[ag] The Lord will send his angel ahead of you, so you shall find a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman is not willing to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But under no circumstances shall you take my son back there.”

⁹ The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰ The servant took ten of his master’s camels and set out. He took a variety of goods from his master with him. He set out and went to Mesopotamia^[ah] to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down by the well outside the city. It was evening, the time when women go out to draw water. ¹² He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Here I am, standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ Let this be the test: The young lady to whom I say, ‘Please let down your water jar, so that I may drink,’ will say, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ She will be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This is how I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had even finished speaking, out came Rebekah with her water jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ¹⁶ The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, who had never been intimate with any man. She went down to the spring, filled her water jar, and came up. ¹⁷ The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your water jar.”

¹⁸ She said, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly let down her water jar into her hands and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she was done giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ She hurried and emptied her water jar into the trough, ran to the well again to draw more water, and drew water for all his camels.

²¹ The man remained silent and watched her carefully to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not. ²² Then, when the camels were finished drinking, the man took a gold nose ring that weighed half a shekel and two gold bracelets that weighed ten shekels^[ai] for her wrists. ²³ Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room for us to stay in your father’s house?”

²⁴ She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ She also said to him, “We have both straw and enough feed and enough room for you to spend the night.”

²⁶ The man bowed his head and worshipped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and faithfulness toward my master. Indeed, the Lord has guided me to the house of my master’s relatives.”

²⁸ The young lady ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹ Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the spring to meet the man. ³⁰ When he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and after he heard the words from Rebekah his sister, who said, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to find the man. And there he was, standing next to the camels by the spring. ³¹ Laban said, “Come with me, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing outside when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?”

³² The man came to the house and unloaded the camels. Laban gave him straw and feed for the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have delivered my message.”

Laban said, “Tell us.”

³⁴ He said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. The Lord has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son for my master when she was old. My master has given him everything that he owns. ³⁷ My master made me take an oath. He said, ‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I am living. ³⁸ Instead, you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives and acquire a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ ⁴⁰ He said to me, ‘The Lord, in whose presence I walk, will send his angel with you and give your journey success, and you will acquire a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house. ⁴¹ But you will be released from my oath, if, when you have come to my relatives, they do not give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.’ ⁴² Today I came to the spring and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if you now will bless my journey with success, ⁴³ (here I am, standing by this spring of water) let this be the test: If the virgin who comes out to draw water (the one to whom I say, “Please give me a little water to drink from your water jar”) ⁴⁴ tells me, “Drink, and I will also draw water for your camels,” she will be the woman whom the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵ Before I had finished saying this to myself, out came Rebekah with her water jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ ⁴⁶ She hurried and lowered her water jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels a drink. ⁴⁷ I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore for him.’ I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. ⁴⁸ I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to find the daughter of my master’s brother as a wife for his son. ⁴⁹ Now if you will show mercy and faithfulness to my master here, tell me. If not, tell me, so that I may know whether to turn to the right or to the left.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “This matter has been determined by the Lord. We cannot say anything to you either bad or good. ⁵¹ Look, Rebekah is right here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”

⁵² So, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. ⁵³ The servant brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴ He and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. They got up in the morning, and he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”

⁵⁵ Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young lady stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she can go.”

⁵⁶ He said to them, “Do not hold me back, since the Lord has granted my journey success. Send me on my way so that I can go to my master.”

⁵⁷ They said, “We will call the young lady and ask her.” ⁵⁸ They called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want to go with this man?”

She said, “I do.”

⁵⁹ So they sent all of them on their way—their sister Rebekah with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. ⁶⁰ They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring take possession of the gates of those who hate them.”

⁶¹ Rebekah set out with her female attendants. They rode on the camels and followed the man. Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and set out on his journey.

⁶² Isaac had come from the direction of Be’er Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. ⁶³ In the evening Isaac had gone out into the field to meditate.^[aj] He looked up and saw that there were camels coming. ⁶⁴ Rebekah also looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped down from the camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that man who is walking through the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that he had done. ⁶⁷ Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took her as his wife. He loved her, and Isaac stopped mourning his mother’s death.

Abraham’s Death

25 Abraham had taken another wife. Her name was Keturah. ² She bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah for him. ³ Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Ashshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Elda’ah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.

⁵ Abraham left all that he had to Isaac. ⁶ To the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and during his lifetime he sent them away from Isaac his son to the territory that lay to the east.

⁷ The total days and years of Abraham’s life were one hundred seventy-five years. ⁸ Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man who lived 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, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre. ¹⁰ This was the field that Abraham had purchased from the descendants of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived near Be’er Lahai Roi.

The Descendants of Ishmael

¹² Now this is the account about the development of the family line of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, had borne to Abraham.

¹³ The following are the names of the sons of Ishmael and the tribes that came from them, arranged in the order of their birth:

The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebaioth. Then came Kedar, Adbe’el, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, arranged by their settlements and by their camps. They were twelve chiefs, each with his own tribe.

¹⁷ The total years of the life of Ishmael were one hundred thirty-seven years. When he breathed his last and died, he was gathered to his people. ¹⁸ His people lived between Havilah and Shur, east of Egypt, as you go toward Ashshur. He lived in hostility toward^[ak] all his relatives.

The Family of Isaac

¹⁹ This is the account about the development of the family of Isaac, Abraham’s son.

Abraham became the father of Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel, an Aramean from Paddan Aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²² The children fought with each other inside her. She said, “What is this? Why is this happening to me?” She went to inquire of the Lord.

²³ The Lord said to her:

²⁴ When it was time for her to give birth, it was true: There were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.^{[al] 26} After that, his brother came out, with his hand grabbing Esau’s heel. So he was named Jacob.^[am] Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

²⁷ The boys grew up. Esau was a skillful hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man, who stayed home among the tents. ²⁸ Now Isaac loved Esau more, because he ate Esau’s wild game. Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹ Once Jacob was cooking stew, and Esau came in from the field, and he was starving. ³⁰ Esau said to Jacob, “Come on, let me eat some of that red stew, that red stew there, because I am starving.” (That is why Esau was also called Edom.^[an])

³¹ Jacob said, “First, sell me your right as the firstborn.”

³² Esau said, “Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”

So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Jacob gave Esau bread and a stew made of lentils. Esau ate and drank, got up, and went on his way. So Esau treated his birthright as if it was worthless.

Isaac and Abimelek

26 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that had occurred during the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines at Gerar. ² The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. ³ Live in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the sky and will give all these lands to your descendants. In your seed^[ao] all the nations of the earth will be blessed, ⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁶ Isaac lived in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “The men of this place might kill me for Rebekah, since she is beautiful.” ⁸ When he had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines happened to look out a window, and there was Isaac caressing Rebekah, his wife.

⁹ Abimelek called Isaac and said, “It is obvious that she is your wife. So why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘If I do not, I will die because of her.’”

¹⁰ Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”

¹¹ Abimelek gave this command to all the people: “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² Isaac planted grain in that land, and in the same year he reaped one hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man kept growing wealthier and wealthier until he became very great. ¹⁴ He possessed flocks and herds and a large household, so the Philistines were envious of him.

¹⁵ Now the Philistines had blocked all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. ¹⁶ Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us, for you are much more powerful than we are.”^[ap]

¹⁷ So Isaac departed from there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

¹⁸ Isaac dug again the wells that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had blocked them after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names that his father had given them. ¹⁹ Isaac’s servants dug in the valley along the stream bed and found a well there that provided a steady flow of water. ²⁰ But the herdsmen of Gerar started a dispute with Isaac’s herdsmen. They said, “The water belongs to us.” He named the well Esek,^[aq] because they argued with him. ²¹ They dug another well, but they started a dispute over that one also. He named it Sitnah.^{[ar] 22} He left that place and dug another well. They did not start a dispute over that one, so he called it Rehoboth.^[as] He said, “Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

²³ He traveled from there to Beersheba. ²⁴ The Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

²⁵ He built an altar there and proclaimed^[at] the name of the Lord. He pitched his tent there. Isaac’s servants dug a well there.

²⁶ Then Abimelek came from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the commander of his army. ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

²⁸ They said, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, yes, between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you, ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing but good for you, and we have sent you away in peace.’ Now you are blessed by the Lord.”

³⁰ He made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹ They got up the next morning and exchanged their oaths. Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him peacefully. ³² It so happened that on the same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a well that they had dug. They said to him, “We have found water.” ³³ He called it Shibah.^[au] Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba^[av] to this day.

Esau and Jacob

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took two wives: Judith, the daughter of Be’eri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵ They were a source of bitterness for Isaac and Rebekah.

27 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could hardly see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son?”

He said to him, “I am here.”

² Isaac said, “Look, I am very old, and I do not know when I am going to die. ³ So please take your gear, your quiver, and your bow, and go out to the open country, and get some wild game for me. ⁴ Make me tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me, so that I may eat and I may bless you with all my soul before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah had been listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. After Esau went to the open country to hunt for game and to bring it back, ⁶ Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son and said, “Listen, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother and tell him, ⁷ ‘Bring me some wild game and make tasty food for me, that I may eat and give you a blessing from the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ Therefore, my son, obey my voice and do what I am commanding you. ⁹ Go now to the flock, and get me two of the best young goats. I will make them into tasty food for your father, the kind he loves. ¹⁰ You will bring it to your father, so that he can eat it and bless you before his death.”

¹¹ Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “But Esau my brother is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. ¹² What if my father touches me? I will be exposed to him as a deceiver, and I will bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.”

¹³ His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice, and go get them for me.”

¹⁴ He went and got them and brought them to his mother. His mother made tasty food, the kind his father loved. ¹⁵ Rebekah took the good clothing of Esau, her older son, which was with her in the house, and put it on Jacob, her younger son. ¹⁶ She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and forearms and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She put the tasty food and the bread that she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸ He came to his father and said, “My father?”

He said, “I am here. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please get up, and sit here and eat some of my wild game, so that you may bless me with all your soul.”

²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?”

He said, “Because the Lord your God gave me success.”

²¹ Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob went close to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. That was why he blessed him. ²⁴ But he asked again, “Are you really my son Esau?”

He said, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat some of my son’s wild game, so that I may bless you.”

Jacob brought it to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank. ²⁶ His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ He came near and kissed him. He smelled his clothing, so he blessed him and said:

³⁰ As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ He also prepared tasty food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat his son’s wild game, so that you may bless me with all your soul.”

³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?”

He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³ Isaac trembled violently and said, “Then who was it that hunted wild game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him. And, yes, he will be blessed.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he let out a very loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father.”

³⁵ He said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶ Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has tripped me up these two times. He took away my birthright. And look, now he has taken away my blessing.” He also asked, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau, “You see, I have made him your lord, and I have given all his brothers to him as servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me—me too, my father.” And Esau wept loudly.

³⁹ Isaac his father answered him,

⁴¹ Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² The words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself in regard to you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice. Get up. Flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran. ⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and get you from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?”

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, these daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?”

Jacob’s Flight to Laban

28 So Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ² Get up. Go to Paddan Aram,^[aw] to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ³ May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you may become a community of peoples. ⁴ May he give you and your descendants along with you the blessing he gave to Abraham, so that you may inherit the land where you have been living as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Esau observed that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him, he had commanded him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” ⁷ When he saw that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan Aram, ⁸ Esau realized that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac, his father. ⁹ So Esau went to Ishmael, and he took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, in addition to the wives that he already had.

¹⁰ Jacob set out from Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. ¹¹ He came to a certain place and decided to spend the night there, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from that place, put it under his head, and lay down to sleep in that place. ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. There were angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There at the top stood the Lord, who said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I give to you and to your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed^[ax] all the families of the earth will be blessed. ¹⁵ Now, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back again into this land. Indeed, I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you.”

¹⁶ Jacob woke up from his sleep, and he said, “Certainly the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid^[ay] and he said, “How awe- inspiring is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate to heaven.”

¹⁸ Jacob got up early in the morning. He took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a sacred memorial stone and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He named that place Bethel. (Before this, the name of the city had been Luz.)