Genesis 22-25

Genesis 22

¹Now after these things, God put Abraham to the test, and said to him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I.

²And he said to him, Take your son, your dearly loved only son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and give him as a burned offering on one of the mountains of which I will give you knowledge.

³And Abraham got up early in the morning, and made ready his ass, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac, his son, and after the wood for the burned offering had been cut, he went on his way to the place of which God had given him word.

⁴And on the third day, Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw the place a long way off.

⁵Then he said to his young men, Keep here with the ass; and I and the boy will go on and give worship and come back again to you.

⁶And Abraham put the wood for the burned offering on his son's back, and he himself took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them went on together.

⁷Then Isaac said to Abraham, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, We have wood and fire here, but where is the lamb for the burned offering?

⁸And Abraham said, God himself will give the lamb for the burned offering: so they went on together.

⁹And they came to the place of which God had given him knowledge; and there Abraham made the altar and put the wood in place on it, and having made tight the bands round Isaac his son, he put him on the wood on the altar.

¹⁰And stretching out his hand, Abraham took the knife to put his son to death.

¹¹But the voice of the angel of the Lord came from heaven, saying, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

¹²And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.

¹³And lifting up his eyes, Abraham saw a sheep fixed by its horns in the brushwood: and Abraham took the sheep and made a burned offering of it in place of his son.

¹⁴And Abraham gave that place the name Yahweh-yireh: as it is said to this day, In the mountain the Lord is seen.

¹⁵And the voice of the angel of the Lord came to Abraham a second time from heaven,

¹⁶Saying, I have taken an oath by my name, says the Lord, because you have done this and have not kept back from me your dearly loved only son,

¹⁷That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them;

¹⁸And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.

¹⁹Then Abraham went back to his young men and they went together to Beer-sheba, the place where Abraham was living.

²⁰After these things, Abraham had news that Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, had given birth to children;

²¹Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram,

²²And Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.

²³Bethuel was the father of Rebekah: these eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.

²⁴And his servant Reumah gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Genesis 23

¹Now the years of Sarah's life were a hundred and twenty-seven.

²And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan: and Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah.

³And Abraham came from his dead and said to the children of Heth,

⁴I am living among you as one from a strange country: give me some land here as my property, so that I may put my dead to rest.

⁵And in answer the children of Heth said to Abraham,

⁶My lord, truly you are a great chief among us; take the best of our resting-places for your dead; not one of us will keep back from you a place where you may put your dead to rest.

⁷And Abraham got up and gave honour to the children of Heth, the people of that land.

⁸And he said to them, If you will let me put my dead to rest here, make a request for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar,

⁹That he will give me the hollow in the rock named Machpelah, which is his property at the end of his field; let him give it to me for its full price as a resting-place for my dead among you.

¹⁰Now Ephron was seated among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite gave Abraham his answer in the hearing of the children of Heth, and of all those who came into his town, saying,

¹¹No, my lord, I will give you the field with the hollow in the rock; before all the children of my people will I give it to you for a resting-place for your dead.

¹²And Abraham went down on his face before the people of the land.

¹³And Abraham said to Ephron, in the hearing of the people of the land, If only you will give ear to me, I will give you the price of the field; take it, and let me put my dead to rest there.

¹⁴So Ephron said to Abraham,

¹⁵My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there.

¹⁶And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.

¹⁷So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, with the hollow in the rock and all the trees in the field and round it,

¹⁸Became the property of Abraham before the eyes of the children of Heth and of all who came into the town.

¹⁹Then Abraham put Sarah his wife to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, that is, Hebron in the land of Canaan.

²⁰And the field and the hollow rock were handed over to Abraham as his property by the children of Heth.

Genesis 24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Genesis 25

¹And Abraham took another wife named Keturah.

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

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

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

⁵Now Abraham gave all his property to Isaac;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁴And Mishma and Dumah and Massa,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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