A promised boy, a ram on the mount, a grave, and a birthright.

Genesis 21

Isaac is born and circumcised on the eighth day, Hagar and Ishmael are sent out and met by God at a well, and Abraham covenants at Beersheba.

¹Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. ²Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. ⁶Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”

¹¹The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. ¹²God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac. ¹³I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.” ¹⁴Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵The water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. ¹⁷God heard the voice of the boy.

The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

²²At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. ²³Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”

²⁴Abraham said, “I will swear.” ²⁵Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. ²⁶Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear of it until today.”

²⁷Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. ²⁸Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs, which you have set by themselves, mean?”

³⁰He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” ³¹Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there. ³²So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. ³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. ³⁴Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.

Genesis 22

God commands Abraham to offer Isaac in the land of Moriah, stays the knife, and provides a ram, swearing blessing because Abraham obeyed.

¹After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

He said, “Here I am.”

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

³Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey; and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. ⁵Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there. We will worship, and come back to you.” ⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. ⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?”

He said, “Here I am, my son.”

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

⁸Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together. ⁹They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. ¹⁰Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.

¹¹Yahweh’s angel called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He said, “Here I am.”

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

¹³Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”

¹⁵Yahweh’s angel called to Abraham a second time out of the sky, ¹⁶and said, “‘I have sworn by myself,’ says Yahweh, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies. ¹⁸All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.’”

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰After these things, Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Genesis 23

Sarah dies, and Abraham buys the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite with weighed silver so that he owns a grave in the land.

¹Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length of Sarah’s life. ²Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. ³Abraham rose up from before his dead and spoke to the children of Heth, saying, ⁴“I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵The children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶“Hear 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 from you his tomb. Bury your dead.”

⁷Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the children of Heth. ⁸He talked with them, saying, “If you agree that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, ⁹that he may sell me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full price let him sell it to me among you as a possession for a burial place.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Heth. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, ¹¹“No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

¹²Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. ¹³He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, “But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵“My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? Therefore bury your dead.”

¹⁶Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the current merchants’ standard.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded ¹⁸to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. ²⁰The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham by the children of Heth as a possession for a burial place.

Genesis 24

Abraham's servant is led to Rebekah at the well, she chooses to go with him, and Isaac is comforted after his mother's death.

¹Abraham was old, and well advanced in age. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things. ²Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh. ³I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. ⁴But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?”

⁶Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again. ⁷Yahweh, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring—he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath to me. Only you shall not bring my son there again.”

⁹The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and departed, having a variety of good things of his master’s with him. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. ¹²He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin. No man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up. ¹⁷The servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher.”

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

²¹The man looked steadfastly at her, remaining silent, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not. ²²As the camels had finished drinking, the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, ²³and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?”

²⁴She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵She said moreover to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge in.”

²⁶The man bowed his head, and worshiped Yahweh. ²⁷He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”

²⁸The young lady ran, and told her mother’s house about these words. ²⁹Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. ³⁰When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹He said, “Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.”

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

Laban said, “Speak on.”

³⁴He said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. Yahweh has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. He has given all that he has to him. ³⁷My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’ ⁴⁰He said to me, ‘Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you, and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my relatives, and of my father’s house. ⁴¹Then you will be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don’t give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.’ ⁴²I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now you do prosper my way which I go— ⁴³behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” ⁴⁴then she tells me, “Drink, and I will also draw for your camels,”—let her be the woman whom Yahweh has appointed for my master’s son.’ ⁴⁵Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶She hurried and let down her pitcher 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. ⁴⁷I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her hands. ⁴⁸I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. ⁴⁹Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Yahweh has spoken.”

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Yahweh. ⁵³The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. ⁵⁴They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

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

⁵⁶He said to them, “Don’t hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

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

She said, “I will go.”

⁵⁹They sent away Rebekah, their sister, with her nurse, Abraham’s servant, and his men. ⁶⁰They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”

⁶¹Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way. ⁶²Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. ⁶³Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel. ⁶⁵She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.”

She took her veil, and covered herself. ⁶⁶The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Genesis 25

Abraham dies and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael, the twins are born after struggle in the womb, and Esau sells his birthright for a meal.

¹Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. ²She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. ⁵Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, ⁶but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Abraham’s concubines. While he still lived, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country. ⁷These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. ⁸Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre, ¹⁰the field which Abraham purchased from the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife. ¹¹After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.

¹²Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations. ¹⁷These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. ¹⁸They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.

¹⁹This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham became the father of Isaac. ²⁰Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. ²¹Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²²The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it is like this, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Yahweh. ²³Yahweh said to her,

²⁴When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. ²⁶After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. ²⁸Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ³⁰Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

³¹Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”

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

³³Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”

He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.