Genesis 21-25

Genesis 21-25

The Birth of Isaac 21[1-7] Yahweh kept the promise and did everything that was told Abraham and Sarah. Sarah became pregnant, and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at the very time God had said it would. So Abraham named their son Isaac, and eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham cut the foreskin off him as God had told him. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. So Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet, I have given Abraham a son in his old age!” Hagar and Ishmael Are Sent Away [8-13] When Isaac grew up and was weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. But Sarah saw Ishmael, the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar, making fun of her son, Isaac. So she turned to Abraham and insisted, “Get rid of that slave-woman and her son. I don’t want him to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac!” This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. But God told Abraham, “Don’t be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be blessed. But I’ll also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he’s your son, too.” [14-20] So Abraham got up early the next morning, got some food and a jug of water ready, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered around in the countryside of Beersheba. When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush, then went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she prayed, as she began to cry. But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Go to him and comfort him, for I’ll make a great nation from his descendants.” Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her jug and gave the boy some water to drink. And God was with the boy as he grew up in the countryside. Ishmael became a skillful archer, and settled in the countryside of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt. Abraham’s Promise with Abimelech [22- 26] About this time, Abimelech came with Phicol, his army commander, to visit Abraham. “God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do,” Abimelech said. “Promise to me in God’s name that you’ll never deceive me, my children, or any of my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so now promise that you’ll be loyal to me and to this country where you are living as a foreigner.” So Abraham said, “Yes, I promise!” Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had taken by force from Abraham’s servants. But Abimelech answered, “This is the first I’ve heard of it. I have no idea who’s responsible. You’ve never complained about this before.” [27-34] So Abraham then gave some of his sheep, goats, and cattle to Abimelech, and they made an agreement. But Abraham also took seven additional female lambs and set them off by themselves. So Abimelech asked, “Why have you set these seven apart from the others?” So Abraham said, “Please accept these seven lambs to show your agreement that this well is mine.” Then he named the place Beersheba (which means “well of the promise”), because that was where they had made the promise. After making their promise at Beersheba, Abimelech left with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they went back home to the land of the Philistines. Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there worshiped Yahweh, the Eternal God. And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the Philistine’s country for a long time. God Tests the Faith of Abraham

22[1-5] Later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he said. “Here I am.” And God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I’ll show you.” So the next morning Abraham got up early. He took his donkey and two of his servants, along with his son, Isaac. Then he got some wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will go a little farther. We will worship there, and then we’ll come back.” [6-12] So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham said. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” “God will provide a sheep for the offering, my son,” Abraham answered, and they both walked on together. When they got to the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and put the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham lifted up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice, but the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” So Abraham said. “Here I am!” “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Don’t hurt him, for now I know that you truly fear God. You’ve not even kept your son, your only son from Me.” [13-19]Then Abraham looked up and saw a goat caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the goat and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. So Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “Yahweh will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of Yahweh it’ll be provided.” Then the angel of Yahweh called again to Abraham from heaven. “This is what Yahweh says: Because you’ve obeyed me and haven’t even kept your son, your only son, from Me, I promise by My own name that I’ll surely bless you. I’ll make your descendants more than you can count, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. Through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed because you’ve obeyed me.” [19-24] Then they went back to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham settled down to live. Soon after this, Abraham heard that Milcah, his brother Nahor’s wife, had borne Nahor eight sons. The oldest was named Uz, the next oldest was Buz, followed by Kemuel (the ancestor of the Arameans), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. (Bethuel had Rebekah.) In addition to these eight sons from Milcah, Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah. The Burial of Sarah 23[1-8] When Sarah was 127 years old, she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her. Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders, “Here I am a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.” The Hittites said to Abraham, “Listen, you are an honored prince among us. Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse you.” Then Abraham bowed low before the Hittites and said, “Since you are willing to help me in this way, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar to let me buy his cave at Machpelah, down at the end of his field. I’ll pay the full price in the presence of witnesses, so I’ll have a permanent burial place for my family.” [10-16] Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the Hittite elders of the town. “No,” he said to Abraham, “please listen to me. I’ll give you the field and the cave. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead.” Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land, and said to Ephron as everyone listened. “No, listen to me. I’ll buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.” So Ephron answered Abraham, please listen to me. The land is worth 400 silver dollars, but what’s that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.” So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and paid the amount he had suggested—400 silver dollars, weighed out with the Hittite elders witnessing the transaction. [17-20] So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all the surrounding land. It was sold to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron). So the land and the cave were sold by the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place. Abraham Finds a Wife for Isaac 24[1-4] Abraham was now a very old man, and Yahweh had blessed him in every way. One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, “Make me a promise by putting your hand under my thigh. Promise by Yahweh, the God of heaven and earth, that you’ll not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife for my son Isaac there.” [5-8] The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find a young woman who’s willing to go so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?” “No!” Abraham answered. “Never take my son there. Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. God will send an angel ahead of you, and make sure that you find a wife for my son. If she’s unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this promise to me. But never are you to take my son there.” [9-11] So the servant made a promise by putting his hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He promised to follow Abraham’s instructions. Then he loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant Aram-naharaim. There he went to the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor had settled. He made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town. It was evening, so the women were coming out to draw water. [12-14] “O God, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed. “Please give me success today, and show unending love to my master, Abraham. See, I’m standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. So I ask this. I’ll ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I’ll water your camels, too!’ then let her be the one you’ve chosen as Isaac’s wife. This is how I’ll know that you’ve shown unending love to my master.” [15-20] Before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah. Rebekah was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still unmarried. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again. Running over to her, the servant said, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.” So she answered “Yes, sir, have a drink.” Then she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink.” So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw water for all his camels. [21-27] So the servant quietly watched her, wondering whether or not Yahweh had given him success in his mission. Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists. “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “And please tell me, would your father have any room to put us up for the night?” So she said, “I am the daughter of Bethuel. My grandparents are Nahor and Milcah. Yes, we have plenty of straw and feed for the camels, and we have room for guests.” So the man bowed low and worshiped Yahweh. “Praise Yahweh, the God of my master, Abraham,” he said. “Yahweh has shown unending love and faithfulness to my master, for he has led me straight to my master’s relatives.” [28-31] Then the young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, who ran out to meet the man at the spring. He had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels. Laban said to him, “Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by Yahweh! Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels?” [32-49] So the man went home with Laban, and Laban unloaded the camels, gave him straw for their bedding, fed them, and provided water for the man and the camel drivers to wash their feet. Then food was served. But Abraham’s servant said, “I don’t want to eat until I have told you why I have come.” So Laban said “Go ahead, tell us.” So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. And Yahweh has greatly blessed my master; who is a wealthy man. Yahweh has given him flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many male and female servants and camels and donkeys. When Sarah, my master’s wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master’s son, and my master has given him everything he owns. And my master made me make a promise. He said, ‘Don’t let my son marry one of these local Canaanite women. Go to my father’s house, to my relatives instead, and find a wife there for my son.’ But I said to my master, ‘What if I can’t find a young woman who’s willing to go back with me?’ He responded, ‘Yahweh, in whose presence I have lived, will send an angel with you and will make you successful. Yes, you must find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family. Then you’ll have fulfilled your obligation. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her go with you, you’ll be free from my promise.’ So today when I came to the spring, I prayed this prayer: ‘O God, God of my master, Abraham, please give me success on this mission. See, I am standing here beside this spring. This is what I ask. When a young woman comes to draw water, I’ll say to her, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.” If she says, “Yes, have a drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels, too,” let her be the one you’ve chosen to be the wife of my master’s son.’ And before I had finished praying in my heart, I saw Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I’ll water your camels, too!’ So I drank, and then she watered the camels. Then I asked, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, and my grandparents are Nahor and Milcah.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I bowed low and worshiped Yahweh. I praised Yahweh, the God of my master, Abraham, because he had led me straight to my master’s niece to be his son’s wife. So tell me—will you or won’t you show unending love and faithfulness to my master? Please tell me yes or no, and then I’ll know what to do next.” [50-56] Then Laban and Bethuel said, “Yahweh has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we can say. Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master’s son, as Yahweh has led you.” So when Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshiped Yahweh. Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother. Then they ate their meal, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight. But early the next morning, Abraham’s servant said, “Send me back to my master.” So they said, “But we want Rebekah to stay with us at least ten days, then she can go.” But he said, “Don’t keep me. Yahweh has made me successful; now send me back so I can go back to my master.” [57-61] “Well,” they said, “we’ll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks.” So they called Rebekah. “Are you willing to go with this man?” they asked her. And she said, “Yes, I’ll go.” So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s servant and his men, along with the woman who had been Rebekah’s childhood nurse. They gave her this blessing as she left: “Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions! May your descendants be strong and conquer the cities of their enemies.” Then Rebekah and her servant girls mounted the camels and followed the man. So Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and went on his way. [62-67] Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had went back from Beer-lahai-roi. One evening as he was walking and thinking in the fields, he looked up and saw the camels coming. When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly jumped off from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” And he said, “It’s my master.” So Rebekah covered her face with her veil. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done. And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a special comfort to him after the death of his mother.

The Death of Abraham 25[1-6] Then Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were all descendants of Abraham through Keturah. Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac. [7-11] So Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He died and joined his ancestors. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he had buried his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev. The Descendants of Ishmael

[12-18] This is the story of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant, listed by their names and families: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped. Ishmael lived for 137 years. Then he died and joined his ancestors. Ishmael’s descendants occupied the area from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt in the direction of Asshur. There they lived in open hostility toward all their relatives. The Births of Esau and Jacob [19-23] This is the story of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban, who were Aramean. Isaac prayed to Yahweh on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. So Yahweh answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled with each other in her womb, so she went to ask Yahweh about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked. So Yahweh told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.” And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah did in fact have twins! The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair. So they named him Esau. Then the other twin was born with his hand holding Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. Esau Sells His Birthright [27-34] As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob. One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau got home from the countryside exhausted and hungry. So Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”) So Jacob said, “Yes, but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.” So Esau said, “Look, I’m dying of starvation! What good is my birthright to me now?” But Jacob said, “First you must promise that your birthright is mine.” So Esau made a promise, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. So Esau showed great disrespect for his rights as the firstborn.