Bible in 90 Days

Circumcision—Proof of the Agreement

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am God All-Powerful.^[a] Obey me and live the right way. ² If you do this, I will prepare an agreement between us. I will promise to make your people a great nation.”

³ Then Abram bowed down before God. God said to him, ⁴ “This is my part of our agreement: I will make you the father of many nations. ⁵ I will change your name from Abram^[b] to Abraham,^[c] because I am making you the father of many nations. ⁶ I will give you many descendants. New nations and kings will come from you. ⁷ And I will prepare an agreement between me and you. This agreement will also be for all your descendants. It will continue forever. I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. ⁸ And I will give this land to you and to all your descendants. I will give you the land you are traveling through—the land of Canaan. I will give you this land forever, and I will be your God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “Now, this is your part of the agreement: You and all your descendants will obey my agreement. ¹⁰ This is my agreement that all of you must obey. This is the agreement between me and you and all your descendants. Every male must be circumcised. ¹¹ You will cut the skin to show that you follow the agreement between me and you. ¹² When the baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. Every boy born among your people and every boy who is a slave of your people must be circumcised. ¹³ So every baby boy in your nation will be circumcised. Every boy who is born from your family or bought as a slave will be circumcised. ¹⁴ Abraham, this is the agreement between you and me: Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people^[d] because he has broken my agreement.”

Isaac—the Promised Son

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “I will give Sarai,^[e] your wife, a new name. Her new name will be Sarah.^{[f] 16} I will bless her. I will give her a son, and you will be the father. She will be the mother of many new nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, “I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child.”

¹⁸ Then Abraham said to God, “I hope Ishmael will live and serve you.”

¹⁹ God said, “No, I said that your wife Sarah will have a son. You will name him Isaac.^[g] I will make my agreement with him that will continue forever with all his descendants.

²⁰ “You mentioned Ishmael, and I heard you. I will bless him, and he will have many children. He will be the father of twelve great leaders. His family will become a great nation. ²¹ But I will make my agreement with Isaac, the son who Sarah will have. He will be born at this same time next year.”

²² After God finished talking with Abraham, God went up into heaven. ²³ Then Abraham gathered together Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house. He also gathered all the slaves he had bought. Every man and boy in Abraham’s house was gathered together, and they were all circumcised. Abraham circumcised them that day, just as God had told him to do.

²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵ And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁶ Abraham and his son were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ Also, on that day all the men in Abraham’s house were circumcised. All the slaves born in his house and all the slaves he had bought were circumcised.

The Three Visitors

18 Later, the Lord again appeared to Abraham near the oak trees of Mamre. It was the hottest part of the day, and Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent. ² He looked up and saw three men standing in front of him. When he saw the men, he ran to them and bowed before them. ³ Abraham said, “Sirs,^[h] please stay a while with me, your servant. ⁴ I will bring some water to wash your feet. You can rest under the trees. ⁵ I will get some food for you, and you can eat as much as you want. Then you can continue your journey.”

The three men said, “Do as you wish.”

⁶ Abraham hurried to the tent. He said to Sarah, “Quickly, prepare enough flour for three loaves of bread.” ⁷ Then Abraham ran to his cattle. He took his best young calf and gave it to the servant there. He told the servant to quickly kill the calf and prepare it for food. ⁸ Abraham brought the meat and some milk and cheese and set them down in front of the three men. Then he stood near the men, ready to serve them while they sat under the tree and ate.

⁹ Then the men said to Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

Abraham said, “She is there, in the tent.”

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will come again in the spring. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was listening in the tent and heard these things. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were very old. Sarah was past the right age for women to have children. ¹² So she laughed to herself and said, “I am old, and my husband is old. I am too old to have a baby.”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Sarah laughed and said she was too old to have a baby. ¹⁴ But is anything too hard for the Lord? I will come again in the spring, just as I said I would, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah said, “I didn’t laugh!” (She said this because she was afraid.)

Then the Lord said, “No, I know that is not true. You did laugh!”

¹⁶ Then the men got up to leave. They looked toward Sodom and began walking in that direction. Abraham walked with them to send them on their way.

Abraham’s Bargain With God

¹⁷ The Lord said to himself, “Should I tell Abraham what I am going to do now? ¹⁸ Abraham will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on earth will be blessed because of him. ¹⁹ I have made a special agreement with him. I did this so that he would command his children and his descendants to live the way the Lord wants them to. I did this so that they would live right and be fair. Then I, the Lord, can give him what I promised.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I have heard many times that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are very evil. ²¹ I will go and see if they are as bad as I have heard. Then I will know for sure.”

²² So the men turned and started walking toward Sodom while Abraham stood there before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham approached him and asked, “Will you destroy the good people while you are destroying those who are evil? ²⁴ What if there are fifty good people in that city? Will you still destroy it? Surely you will save the city for the fifty good people living there. ²⁵ Surely you would not destroy the city. You would not destroy fifty good people to kill those who are evil. If that happened, those who are good would be the same as those who are evil—both would be punished. As the judge of the whole world, surely you would do the right thing!”

²⁶ Then the Lord said, “If I find fifty good people in the city of Sodom, I will save the whole city.”

²⁷ Then Abraham said, “Compared to you, Lord, I am only dust and ashes. But let me bother you again and ask you this question. ²⁸ What if there are five less than fifty? Will you destroy a whole city because of just five people?”

The Lord said, “If I find forty-five good people there, I will not destroy the city.”

²⁹ Abraham spoke again. He said, “And if you find only forty good people there, will you destroy the city?”

The Lord said, “If I find forty good people, I will not destroy the city.”

³⁰ Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me, but let me ask you this. If only thirty good people are in the city, will you destroy it?”

The Lord said, “If I find thirty good people there, I will not destroy the city.”

³¹ Then Abraham said, “Lord, may I bother you again and ask, what if there are twenty good people?”

The Lord answered, “If I find twenty good people, I will not destroy the city.”

³² Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me, but let me bother you this one last time. If you find ten good people there, what will you do?”

The Lord said, “If I find ten good people in the city, I will not destroy it.”

³³ The Lord finished speaking to Abraham and left. Then Abraham went back home.

Lot’s Visitors

19 That evening the two angels came to the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting near the city gates and saw them. He got up and went to them. He bowed to show respect and said, “Sirs, please come to my house, and I will serve you. There you can wash your feet and stay the night. Then tomorrow you can continue your journey.”

The angels answered, “No, we will stay the night in the city square.”

³ But Lot continued to ask them to come to his house, so they agreed and went with him. Lot gave them something to drink. He baked some bread for them, and they ate it.

⁴ That evening, just before bedtime, men from every part of town came to Lot’s house. They stood around the house and called to Lot. They said, ⁵ “Where are the two men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us. We want to have sex with them.”

⁶ Lot went outside and closed the door behind him. ⁷ He said to the men, “No, my friends, I beg you, please don’t do this evil thing! ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man before. I will give my daughters to you. You can do anything you want with them. But please don’t do anything to these men. They have come to my house, and I must protect them.”^[i]

⁹ The men surrounding the house answered, “Get out of our way!” They said to themselves, “This man Lot came to our city as a visitor. Now he wants to tell us how we should live!” Then the men said to Lot, “We will do worse things to you than to them.” So the men started moving closer and closer to Lot. They were about to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the two men staying with Lot opened the door, pulled him back inside the house, and closed the door. ¹¹ Then they did something to the men outside the door—they caused all these evil men, young and old, to become blind. So the men trying to get in the house could not find the door.

The Escape From Sodom

¹² The two men said to Lot, “Are there any other people from your family living in this city? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any other people from your family here? If so, you should tell them to leave now. ¹³ We are going to destroy this city. The Lord heard how evil this city is, so he sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, the men who had married his other daughters. He said, “Hurry and leave this city! The Lord will soon destroy it!” But they thought he was joking.

¹⁵ The next morning at dawn, the angels were trying to make Lot hurry. They said, “This city will be punished, so take your wife and your two daughters who are still with you and leave this place. Then you will not be destroyed with the city.”

¹⁶ When Lot did not move fast enough, the two men grabbed his hand. They also took the hands of his wife and his two daughters. The two men led Lot and his family safely out of the city. The Lord was kind to Lot and his family. ¹⁷ So after the two men brought Lot and his family out of the city, one of the men said, “Now run to save your life! Don’t look back at the city, and don’t stop anywhere in the valley. Run until you are in the mountains. If you stop, you will be destroyed with the city!”

¹⁸ But Lot said to the two men, “Sirs, please don’t force me to run so far! ¹⁹ You have been very kind to me, your servant. You have been very kind to save me, but I cannot run all the way to the mountains. What if I am too slow and something happens? I will be killed! ²⁰ Look, there is a very small town near here. Let me run to that town. I can run there and be safe.”

²¹ The angel said to Lot, “Very well, I’ll let you do that. I will not destroy that town. ²² But run there quickly. I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar,^[j] because it is a small town.)

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

²³ Lot was entering the town as the sun came up, ²⁴ and the Lord began to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He caused fire and burning sulfur to fall from the sky. ²⁵ He destroyed the whole valley—all the cities, the people living in the cities, and all the plants in the valley.

²⁶ Lot’s wife was following behind him and looked back at the city. When she did, she became a block of salt.

²⁷ Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he stood before the Lord. ²⁸ Abraham looked down into the valley toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He saw clouds of smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹ God destroyed the cities in the valley, but he remembered what Abraham had said. So God sent Lot away from those cities before destroying them.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he and his two daughters went to live in the mountains in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Everywhere on the earth, men and women marry and have a family. But our father is old, and there are no men around here to give us children. ³² So let’s get our father drunk with wine. Then we can have sex with him. That way we can use our father to keep our family alive!”

³³ That night the two girls went to their father and got him drunk with wine. Then the older daughter went and had sexual relations with him. He did not even know when she came to bed or when she got up.

³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger daughter, “Last night I went to bed with my father. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you can go and have sex with him. In this way we can use our father to have children, and our family will not come to an end.” ³⁵ So that night the two girls got their father drunk with wine. Then the younger daughter went and had sexual relations with him. Again, Lot did not know when she came to bed or when she got up.

³⁶ Both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant. Their father was the father of their babies. ³⁷ The older daughter gave birth to a son. She named him Moab.^[k] Moab is the ancestor of all the Moabites living today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She named him Ben-Ammi.^[l] Ben-Ammi is the ancestor of all the Ammonites living today.

Abraham Goes to Gerar

20 Abraham left that place and traveled to the Negev. He settled in the city of Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. While in Gerar, ² Abraham told people that Sarah was his sister. King Abimelech of Gerar heard this. Abimelech wanted Sarah, so he sent some servants to take her. ³ But one night God spoke to Abimelech in a dream and said, “You will die. The woman you took is married.”

⁴ But Abimelech had not yet slept with Sarah, so he said, “Lord, I am not guilty. Would you kill an innocent man? ⁵ Abraham himself told me, ‘This woman is my sister,’ and she also said, ‘This man is my brother.’ I am innocent. I did not know what I was doing.”

⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in a dream, “Yes, I know that you are innocent and that you did not know what you were doing. I saved you. I did not allow you to sin against me. I was the one who did not allow you to sleep with her. ⁷ So give Abraham his wife again. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don’t give Sarah back to him, I promise that you will die. And all your family will die with you.”

⁸ So very early the next morning, Abimelech called all his servants and told them about the dream. The servants were very afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “Why have you done this to us? What wrong did I do to you? Why did you lie and say that she was your sister? You brought great trouble to my kingdom. You should not have done this to me. ¹⁰ What were you afraid of? Why did you do this to me?”

¹¹ Then Abraham said, “I thought no one in this place respected God. I thought someone would kill me to get Sarah. ¹² She is my wife, but she is also my sister. She is the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother. ¹³ God led me away from my father’s house. He led me to wander to many different places. When that happened, I told Sarah, ‘Do something for me. Wherever we go, tell people you are my sister.’”

¹⁴ So Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham. Abimelech also gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, and slaves. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Look all around you. This is my land. You may live any place you want.”

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Sarah, “I gave your brother Abraham 1000 pieces of silver. I did this to show that I am very sorry. I want everyone to see that I did the right thing.”

^17-18 The Lord made all the women in Abimelech’s family not able to have children. God did this because Abimelech had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife. But Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his servant girls.

Finally, a Baby for Sarah

21 The Lord came back to visit Sarah as he said he would, and he kept his promise to her. ² At exactly the time God said it would happen, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. ³ Abraham named his son Isaac.^{[m] 4} Abraham did what God commanded and circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old.

⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me happy, and everyone who hears about this will be happy with me. ⁷ No one thought that I, Sarah, would be able to have Abraham’s child. But I have given Abraham a son, even though he is old.”

Trouble at Home

⁸ Isaac continued to grow, and soon he was old enough to begin eating solid food. So Abraham gave a big party. ⁹ Sarah saw Hagar’s son playing. (Hagar was the Egyptian slave woman who gave birth to Abraham’s first son.) ¹⁰ Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. Send them away! When we die, our son Isaac will get everything we have. I don’t want that slave woman’s son sharing these things with my son Isaac!”

¹¹ This upset Abraham very much. He was worried about his son Ishmael. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Don’t worry about the boy and the slave woman. Do what Sarah wants. Your descendants will be those who come through Isaac. ¹³ But I will also bless the son of your slave woman. He is your son, so I will make a great nation from his family also.”

¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took some food and water and gave them to Hagar. She carried them and left with her boy. She left that place and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.

¹⁵ After some time, when all their drinking water was gone, Hagar put her son under a bush. ¹⁶ Then she walked a short distance away and sat down. She thought her son would die because there was no water. She did not want to watch him die. She sat there and began to cry.

¹⁷ God heard the boy crying, and God’s angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, “What is wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there. ¹⁸ Go help the boy. Hold his hand and lead him. I will make him the father of many people.”

¹⁹ Then God allowed Hagar to see a well of water. So she went to the well and filled her bag with water. Then she gave water to the boy to drink.

²⁰ God continued to be with the boy while he grew up. Ishmael lived in the desert and became a hunter. He learned to shoot a bow very well. ²¹ His mother found a wife for him in Egypt. They continued to live in the Paran desert.

Abraham’s Bargain With Abimelech

²² Then Abimelech and Phicol spoke with Abraham. Phicol was the commander of Abimelech’s army. They said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³ So make a promise to me here before God. Promise that you will be fair with me and with my children. Promise that you will be kind to me and this country where you have lived. Promise that you will be as kind to me as I have been to you.”

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I promise to treat you the same way you have treated me.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech because Abimelech’s servants had captured a well of water.

²⁶ But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who did this. You never told me about this before today!”

²⁷ So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement. Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle as proof of the agreement. ²⁸ Abraham also put seven^[n] female lambs in front of Abimelech.

²⁹ Abimelech asked Abraham, “Why did you put these seven female lambs by themselves?”

³⁰ Abraham answered, “When you accept these lambs from me, it will be proof that I dug this well.”

³¹ So after that, the well was called Beersheba.^[o] Abraham gave the well this name because it was the place where they made a promise to each other.

³² So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, his military commander, went back to the country of the Philistines.

³³ Abraham planted a special tree at Beersheba and prayed to the Lord, the God who lives forever. ³⁴ And Abraham lived as a stranger for a long time in the country of the Philistines.

Abraham, Kill Your Son

22 After these things God decided to test Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Yes!”

² Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain.”

³ In the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice. Then they went to the place where God told them to go. ⁴ After they traveled three days, Abraham looked up, and in the distance he saw the place where they were going. ⁵ Then he said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and put it on his son’s shoulder. Abraham took the special knife and fire. Then both he and his son went together to the place for worship.

⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”

Abraham answered, “Yes, son?”

Isaac said, “I see the wood and the fire. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself is providing the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”

So both Abraham and his son went together to that place. ⁹ When they came to the place where God told them to go, Abraham built an altar. He carefully laid the wood on the altar. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached for his knife to kill his son.

¹¹ But the angel of the Lord stopped him. The angel called from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “Yes?”

¹² The angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you do respect and obey God. I see that you are ready to kill your son, your only son, for me.”

¹³ Then Abraham noticed a ram whose horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and took the ram. He offered it, instead of his son, as a sacrifice to God. ¹⁴ So Abraham gave that place a name, “The Lord Provides.”^[p] Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord, he will give us what we need.”^[q]

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. ¹⁶ The angel said, “You were ready to kill your only son for me. Since you did this for me, I make you this promise: I, the Lord, promise that ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they will take from their enemies. ¹⁸ Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants. I will do this because you obeyed me.”

¹⁹ Then Abraham went back to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.

²⁰ After all these things happened, a message was sent to Abraham. It said, “Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now. ²¹ The first son is Uz. The second son is Buz. The third son is Kemuel, the father of Aram. ²² Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel was the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor was the father. Nahor was Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ Also Nahor had four other sons from his slave woman Reumah. The sons were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah Dies

23 Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ² She died in the city of Kiriath Arba (Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham was very sad and cried for her there. ³ Then he left his dead wife and went to talk to the Hittites. He said, ⁴ “I am only a foreigner staying in your country. I have no place to bury my wife. Please give me some land so that I can bury her.”

⁵ The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶ “Sir, you are a great leader^[r] among us. You can have the best place we have to bury your dead. You can have any of our burying places that you want. None of us will stop you from burying your wife there.”

⁷ Abraham got up and bowed to the people. ⁸ He said to them, “If you really want to help me bury my dead wife, speak to Ephron the son of Zohar for me. ⁹ I would like to buy the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to Ephron. It is at the end of his field. I will pay him the full price. I want all of you to be witnesses that I am buying it as a burial place.”

¹⁰ Ephron was sitting there among the people. He answered Abraham, ¹¹ “No, sir. Here in front of my people, I give you that land and the cave on it so that you can bury your wife.”

¹² Abraham bowed before the Hittites. ¹³ He said to Ephron before all the people, “But I want to give you the full price for the field. Accept my money, and I will bury my dead.”

¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵ “Sir, listen to me. Ten pounds^[s] of silver mean nothing to you or me. Take the land and bury your dead wife.”

¹⁶ Abraham understood that Ephron was telling him the price of the land.^[t] So Abraham paid him for the land. He weighed out ten pounds of silver for Ephron and gave it to the merchant.^[u]

^17-18 So the field of Ephron changed owners. This field was in Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham became the owner of the field, the cave in it, and all the trees in the field. Everyone in the city saw the agreement between Ephron and Abraham. ¹⁹ After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of that field near Mamre (Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ Abraham bought the field and the cave in it from the Hittites. So this became his property to be used as a burial place.

A Wife for Isaac

24 Abraham lived to be a very old man. The Lord blessed him and everything he did. ² Abraham’s oldest servant was in charge of everything he owned. Abraham called that servant to him and said, “Put your hand under my leg.^{[v] 3} Now I want you to make a promise to me. Promise to me before the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among these people, but don’t let him marry a Canaanite girl. ⁴ Go back to my country, to my own people, to find a wife for my son Isaac. Bring her here to him.”

⁵ The servant said to him, “Maybe this woman will not want to come back with me to this land. If that happens, should I take your son with me to your homeland?”

⁶ Abraham said to him, “No, don’t take my son to that place. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, brought me from my homeland to this place. That place was the home of my father and the home of my family, but he promised that this new land would belong to my family. May he send his angel before you so that you can choose a wife for my son. ⁸ If the girl refuses to come with you, you will be free from this promise. But you must not take my son back to that place.”

⁹ So the servant put his hand under his master’s leg and made the promise.

The Search Begins

¹⁰ The servant took ten of Abraham’s camels and left that place. The servant carried with him many different kinds of beautiful gifts. He went to Mesopotamia, to Nahor’s city. ¹¹ In the evening, when the women come out to get water, he went to the water well outside the city. He made the camels kneel down at the well.

¹² The servant said, “Lord, you are the God of my master Abraham. Please show your kindness to my master by helping me find a wife for his son Isaac. ¹³ Here I am, standing by this well of water, and the young women from the city are coming out to get water. ¹⁴ I will say to one of them, ‘Please put your jar down so that I can drink.’ Let her answer show whether she is the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. If she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give water to your camels,’ I will know that she is the right one. It will be proof that you have shown kindness to my master.”

A Wife Is Found

¹⁵ Before the servant finished praying, a young woman named Rebekah came to the well. She was the daughter of Bethuel. (Bethuel was the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham’s brother.) Rebekah came to the well with her water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ She was very pretty. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the well and filled her jar. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”

¹⁸ Rebekah quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and gave him a drink. She said, “Drink this, sir.” ¹⁹ As soon as she finished giving him something to drink, Rebekah said, “I will also pour some water for your camels.” ²⁰ So Rebekah quickly poured all the water from her jar into the drinking trough for the camels. Then she ran to the well to get more water, and she gave water to all the camels.

²¹ The servant quietly watched her. He wanted to be sure that the Lord had given him an answer and had made his trip successful. ²² After the camels finished drinking, he gave Rebekah a gold ring that weighed 1/4 ounce.^[w] He also gave her two gold arm bracelets that weighed 2 ounces^[x] each. ²³ The servant asked, “Who is your father? And is there a place in your father’s house for me and my men to sleep?”

²⁴ Rebekah answered, “My father is Bethuel, the son of Milcah and Nahor.” ²⁵ Then she said, “Yes, we have straw and other food for your camels and a place for you to sleep.”

²⁶ The servant bowed and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ He said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. The Lord has been kind and loyal to him by leading me to his own people.”

²⁸ Then Rebekah ran and told her family about all these things. ^29-30 She had a brother named Laban. She told him what the man had said to her. Laban was listening to her. And when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, he ran out to the well. There the man was, standing by the camels at the well. ³¹ Laban said, “Sir, you are welcome to come in!^[y] You don’t have to stand outside here. I have prepared a room for you to sleep in and a place for your camels.”

³² So Abraham’s servant went into the house. Laban unloaded his camels and gave them straw and feed. Then he gave Abraham’s servant water so that he and the men with him could wash their feet. ³³ Laban then gave him food to eat, but the servant refused to eat. He said, “I will not eat until I have told you why I came.”

So Laban said, “Then tell us.”

Bargaining for Rebekah

³⁴ The servant said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly blessed my master in everything. My master has become a great man. The Lord has given him many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. He has much silver and gold and many servants. He has many camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Sarah was my master’s wife. When she was very old, she gave birth to a son, and my master has given everything he owns to that son. ³⁷ My master forced me to make a promise to him. He said to me, ‘You must not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among these people, but I don’t want him to marry one of the Canaanite girls. ³⁸ So you must promise to go to my father’s country. Go to my family and choose a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I said to my master, ‘Maybe the woman will not come back to this place with me.’ ⁴⁰ But my master said to me, ‘I serve the Lord, and he will send his angel with you and help you. You will find a wife for my son among my people there. ⁴¹ But if you go to my father’s country, and they refuse to give you a wife for my son, you will be free from this promise.’

⁴² “Today I came to this well and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, please make my trip successful. ⁴³ I will stand by this well and wait for a young woman to come to get water. Then I will say, “Please give me water from your jar to drink.” ⁴⁴ The right woman will answer in a special way. She will say, “Drink this water, and I will also get water for your camels.” That way I will know that she is the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “Before I finished praying, Rebekah came out to the well to get water. She had her water jar on her shoulder as she went to get water from the well. I asked her to give me some water. ⁴⁶ She quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and poured me some water. Then she said, ‘Drink this, and I’ll get some water for your camels.’ So I drank the water, and she gave water to my camels. ⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ She answered, ‘My father is Bethuel the son of Milcah and Nahor.’ Then I gave her the ring and bracelets for her arms. ⁴⁸ I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. I thanked him for leading me straight to the granddaughter of my master’s brother. ⁴⁹ Now, tell me, will you be kind and loyal to my master and give him your daughter? Or will you refuse to give her to him? Tell me so that I will know what I should do.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “We see that this is from the Lord, so there is nothing we can say to change it. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah. Take her and go. Let her marry your master’s son. This is what the Lord wants.”

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard this, he bowed to the ground before the Lord. ⁵³ Then he gave Rebekah the gifts he brought. He gave her beautiful clothes and gold and silver jewelry. He also gave expensive gifts to her mother and brother. ⁵⁴ Then he and his men had something to eat and drink, and they spent the night there. Early the next morning they got up and the servant said, “Now we must go back to my master.”

⁵⁵ Rebekah’s mother and her brother said, “Let Rebekah stay with us for a short time. Let her stay with us ten days. After that she can go.”

⁵⁶ But the servant said to them, “Don’t make me wait. The Lord has made my trip successful. Now let me go back to my master.”

⁵⁷ Rebekah’s brother and mother said, “We will call Rebekah and ask her what she wants to do.” ⁵⁸ They called her and asked her, “Do you want to go with this man now?”

Rebekah said, “Yes, I will go.”

⁵⁹ So they allowed Rebekah to go with Abraham’s servant and his men. Her nurse also went with them. ⁶⁰ While Rebekah was leaving they said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her nurse got on the camels and followed the servant and his men. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶² Isaac had left Beer Lahai Roi and was now living in the Negev. ⁶³ One evening he went out to the field to think.^[z] He looked up and saw the camels coming from far away.

⁶⁴ Rebekah also looked and saw Isaac. Then she jumped down from the camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that young man walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “That is my master’s son.” So Rebekah covered her face with her veil.

⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. ⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought the girl into his mother’s tent. Rebekah became his wife that day. Isaac loved her very much. So he was comforted after his mother’s death.

Abraham’s Family

25 Abraham married again. His new wife was named Keturah. ² She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The people of Asshur,^[aa] Leum, and Letush were descendants of Dedan. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these sons came from the marriage of Abraham and Keturah. ^5-6 Before Abraham died, he gave some gifts to his sons who were from his slave women. He sent them to the East,^[ab] away from Isaac. Then Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.

⁷ Abraham lived to be 175 years old. ⁸ Then he grew weak and died. He had lived a long and satisfying life. He died and went to be with his people. ⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah. This cave is in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar. It was east of Mamre. ¹⁰ This is the same cave that Abraham bought from the Hittites. He was buried there with his wife Sarah. ¹¹ After Abraham died, God blessed Isaac. Isaac was living at Beer Lahai Roi.

¹² This is the list of Ishmael’s family. Ishmael was Abraham and Hagar’s son. (Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian maid.) ¹³ These are the names of Ishmael’s sons: The first son was Nebaioth; then Kedar was born, then Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These were the names of Ishmael’s sons. Each son had his own camp that became a small town. The twelve sons were leaders over their own people. ¹⁷ Ishmael lived to be 137 years old. Then he died and went to be with his people. ¹⁸ His descendants settled throughout the desert area from Havilah to Shur. This area begins near Egypt and goes toward Assyria. Ishmael’s people were often at war with^[ac] the other descendants of Abraham.

Isaac’s Family

¹⁹ This is the story of Isaac. Abraham had a son named Isaac. ²⁰ When Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah. Rebekah was from Paddan Aram. 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 he allowed Rebekah to become pregnant.

²² While Rebekah was pregnant, the babies inside her struggled with one another. She prayed to the Lord and said, “What is happening to me?” ²³ The Lord said to her,

²⁴ When the right time came, Rebekah gave birth to twins. ²⁵ The first baby was red. His skin was like a hairy robe. So he was named Esau.^{[ad] 26} When the second baby was born, he was holding tightly to Esau’s heel. So that baby was named Jacob.^[ae] Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born.

²⁷ The boys grew up. Esau became a skilled hunter, who loved to be out in the fields. But Jacob was a quiet man, who stayed at home. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau. He liked to eat the animals Esau killed. But Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹ One day Esau came back from hunting. He was tired and weak from hunger. Jacob was boiling a pot of beans. ³⁰ So Esau said to Jacob, “I am weak with hunger. Let me have some of that red soup.” (That is why people call him “Red.”^[af])

³¹ But Jacob said, “You must sell me your rights as the firstborn son.”

³² Esau said, “I am almost dead with hunger, so what good are these rights to me now?”

³³ But Jacob said, “First, promise me that you will give them to me.” So Esau made an oath to him and sold his rights as the firstborn son to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil^[ag] soup. Esau ate the food, had something to drink, and then left. So Esau showed that he did not care about his rights as the firstborn son.

Isaac Lies to Abimelech

26 Now there was a famine. This was like the famine that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines. ² The Lord spoke to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I commanded you to live in. ³ Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your family all these lands. I will do what I promised to Abraham your father. ⁴ I will make your family as many as the stars of heaven, and I will give all these lands to your family. Through your descendants^[ah] every nation on earth will be blessed. ⁵ I will do this because your father Abraham obeyed my words and did what I said. He obeyed my commands, my laws, and my rules.”

⁶ So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ His wife Rebekah was very beautiful. The men of that place asked Isaac about Rebekah. He said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to tell them Rebekah was his wife. He was afraid the men would kill him so that they could have her.

⁸ After Isaac had lived there a long time, Abimelech looked out of his window and saw Isaac and his wife enjoying one another. ⁹ Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “This woman is your wife. Why did you tell us that she was your sister?”

Isaac said to him, “I was afraid that you would kill me so that you could have her.”

¹⁰ Abimelech said, “You have done a bad thing to us. One of our men might have had sex with your wife. Then he would be guilty of a great sin.”

¹¹ So Abimelech gave a warning to all the people. He said, “No one must hurt this man or this woman. If anyone hurts them, they will be killed.”

Isaac Becomes Rich

¹² Isaac planted fields in that place, and that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much. ¹³ Isaac became rich. He gathered more and more wealth until he became a very rich man. ¹⁴ He had many flocks and herds of animals. He also had many slaves. All the Philistines were jealous of him. ¹⁵ So they destroyed all the wells that Isaac’s father Abraham and his servants had dug many years before. They filled them with sand. ¹⁶ Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become much more powerful than we are.”

¹⁷ So Isaac left that place and camped near the little river of Gerar. He stayed there and lived. ¹⁸ Long before this time, Abraham had dug many wells. After he died, the Philistines filled the wells with sand. So Isaac went back and dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them. ¹⁹ Isaac’s servants also dug a well near the little river and found fresh water.^{[ai] 20} But the men who herded sheep in the Valley of Gerar argued with Isaac’s servants. They said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Esek.^[aj] He gave it that name because it was the place where they had argued with him.

²¹ Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. But there was an argument over this well too. So Isaac named that well Sitnah.^[ak]

²² Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one came to argue about this well. So Isaac named it Rehoboth.^[al] He said, “Now the Lord has found a place for us. We will grow and be successful in this place.”

²³ From there Isaac went to Beersheba. ²⁴ The Lord spoke to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid. I am with you, and I will bless you. I will make your family great. I will do this because of my servant Abraham.” ²⁵ So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord in that place. He set up camp there, and his servants dug a well.

²⁶ Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. He brought with him Ahuzzath, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army.

²⁷ Isaac asked, “Why have you come to see me? You were not friendly to me before. You even forced me to leave your country.”

²⁸ They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. We think that we should make an agreement. We want you to make a promise to us. ²⁹ We did not hurt you; now you should promise not to hurt us. We sent you away, but we sent you away in peace. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you.”

³⁰ So Isaac gave a party for them. They all ate and drank. ³¹ Early the next morning each man made a promise and a vow. Then the men left in peace.

³² On that day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. The servants said, “We found water in that well.” ³³ So Isaac named it Shibah.^[am] And that city is still called Beersheba.^[an]

Esau’s Wives

³⁴ When Esau was 40 years old, he married two Hittite women. One was Judith the daughter of Beeri. The other was Basemath the daughter of Elon. ³⁵ These marriages made Isaac and Rebekah very unhappy.

Jacob Tricks Isaac

27 Isaac grew old, and his eyes became so weak that he could not see clearly. One day he called his older son Esau to him and said, “Son!”

Esau answered, “Here I am.”

² Isaac said, “I am old. Maybe I will die soon. ³ So take your bow and arrows and go hunting. Kill an animal for me to eat. ⁴ Prepare the food that I love. Bring it to me, and I will eat it. Then I will bless you before I die.” ⁵ So Esau went hunting.

Rebekah was listening when Isaac told this to his son Esau. ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen, I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. ⁷ Your father said, ‘Kill an animal for me to eat. Prepare the food for me, and I will eat it. Then, with the Lord as witness, I will bless you before I die.’ ⁸ So listen, son, and do what I tell you. ⁹ Go out to our goats and bring me two young ones. I will prepare them the way your father loves them. ¹⁰ Then you will carry the food to your father, and he will bless you before he dies.”

¹¹ But Jacob told his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man. I am not hairy like him. ¹² If my father touches me, he will know that I am not Esau. Then he will not bless me—he will curse me because I tried to trick him.”

¹³ So Rebekah said to him, “I will accept the blame if there is trouble. Do what I said. Go get the goats for me.”

¹⁴ So Jacob went out and got two goats and brought them to his mother. His mother cooked the goats in the special way that Isaac loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the clothes that her older son Esau loved to wear. She put these clothes on the younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ She took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob’s hands and on his neck. ¹⁷ Then she got the food she had cooked and gave it to Jacob.

¹⁸ Jacob went to his father and said, “Father.”

His father answered, “Yes, son. Who are you?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first son. I have done what you told me. Now sit up and eat the meat from the animals that I hunted for you. Then you can bless me.”

²⁰ But Isaac said to his son, “How have you hunted and killed the animals so quickly?”

Jacob answered, “Because the Lord your God allowed me to find the animals quickly.”

²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near to me so that I can feel you, my son. If I can feel you, I will know if you are really my son Esau.”

²² So Jacob went to Isaac his father. Isaac felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your arms are hairy like the arms of Esau.” ²³ Isaac did not know it was Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau’s. So Isaac blessed Jacob.

²⁴ Isaac said, “Are you really my son Esau?”

Jacob answered, “Yes, I am.”

The Blessing for Jacob

²⁵ Then Isaac said, “Bring me the food. I will eat it and bless you.” So Jacob gave him the food, and he ate it. Then Jacob gave him some wine, and he drank it.

²⁶ Then Isaac said to him. “Son, come near and kiss me.” ²⁷ So Jacob went to his father and kissed him. When Isaac smelled Esau’s clothes, he blessed him and said,

Esau’s “Blessing”

³⁰ Isaac finished blessing Jacob. Then, just as Jacob left his father Isaac, Esau came in from hunting. ³¹ Esau prepared the food in the special way his father loved. He brought it to his father and said, “Father, I am your son. Get up and eat the meat from the animals that I killed for you. Then you can bless me.”

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

He answered, “I am your son—your first son—Esau.”

³³ Then Isaac became so upset that he began to shake. He said, “Then who was it that cooked and brought me food before you came? I ate it all, and I blessed him. Now it is too late to take back my blessing.”

³⁴ When Esau heard his father’s words, he became very angry and bitter. He cried out and said to his father, “Then bless me also, father!”

³⁵ Isaac said, “Your brother tricked me! He came and took your blessing!”

³⁶ Esau said, “His name is Jacob.^[ao] That is the right name for him. He has tricked me twice. He took away my rights as the firstborn son. And now he has taken away my blessing.” Then Esau said, “Have you saved any blessing for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered, “I have already given Jacob the power to rule over you. And I said all his brothers would be his servants. I have given him the blessing for much grain and wine. There is nothing left to give you, my son.”

³⁸ But Esau continued to beg his father. “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me also, father!” Esau began to cry.

³⁹ Then Isaac said to him,

Jacob Leaves the Country

⁴¹ After that Esau hated Jacob because of this blessing. Esau said to himself, “My father will soon die, and after we are finished with that, I will kill Jacob.”

⁴² Rebekah heard about Esau’s plan to kill Jacob. She sent for Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is planning to kill you. ⁴³ So, son, do what I say. My brother Laban is living in Haran. Go to him and hide. ⁴⁴ Stay with him for a short time until your brother stops being angry. ⁴⁵ When your brother forgets what you did to him, I will send a servant to bring you back. I don’t want to lose both of my sons the same day.”

⁴⁶ Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “Your son Esau married Hittite women. I am very upset about this, because they are not our people. I’ll have nothing to live for if Jacob marries one of these women!”

28 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him. Then Isaac gave him a command and said, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman. ² So leave this place and go to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters. ³ I pray that God All-Powerful^[ap] will bless you and give you many children. I pray that you will become the father of a great nation ⁴ and that God will bless you and your children the same way he blessed Abraham. And I pray that you will own the land where you live. This is the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob to Rebekah’s brother in Paddan Aram. Jacob went to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Esau learned that his father Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. He also learned that Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. ⁷ Esau learned that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and went to Paddan Aram. ⁸ Esau saw from this that his father did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women. ⁹ Esau already had two wives, but he went to Abraham’s son Ishmael and married another woman, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Mahalath was Nebaioth’s sister.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. ¹¹ The sun had already set when he came to a good place to spend the night. He took a rock there and laid his head on it to sleep. ¹² Jacob had a dream. He dreamed there was a ladder that was on the ground and reached up into heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and down the ladder. ¹³ And then Jacob saw the Lord standing by the ladder. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I will give you the land that you are lying on now. I will give this land to you and to your children. ¹⁴ You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.

¹⁵ “I am with you, and I will protect you everywhere you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob woke up and said, “I know that the Lord is in this place, but I did not know he was here until I slept.”

¹⁷ Jacob was afraid and said, “This is a very great place. This is the house of God. This is the gate to heaven.”

¹⁸ Jacob got up very early in the morning. He took the rock he had slept on and set it up on its edge. Then he poured oil on the rock. In this way he made it a memorial to God. ¹⁹ The name of that place was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel.^[aq]