Genesis 23
1 Sarah lived one hundred
twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah's life.
2 And Sarah died at
Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to
mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
3 Abraham rose up from
beside his dead, and said to the Hittites,
4 "I am a stranger and
an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so
that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
5 The Hittites answered
Abraham,
6"Hear us, my lord; you are
a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places;
none of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your
dead."
7 Abraham rose and bowed to
the Hittites, the people of the land.
8 He said to them, "If
you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and
entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar,
9 so that he may give me the
cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full
price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying
place."
10 Now Ephron was sitting
among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of
the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,
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 my people I give it to you; bury your dead."
12 Then Abraham bowed down
before the people of the land.
13 He said to Ephron in the
hearing of the people of the land, "If you only will listen to me! I will
give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead
there."
14 Ephron answered
Abraham
15 "My lord, listen to
me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between
you and me? Bury your dead."
16 Abraham agreed with
Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the
hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the
weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in
Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in
it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area,
passed
18 to Abraham as a
possession in the presence of the Hittites, in the presence of all who went in
at the gate of his city.
19 After this, Abraham
buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that
is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan
20 The field and the cave
that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham's possession as a burying
place.
Genesis 24
1 Now Abraham was old, well
advanced in years; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 Abraham said to his
servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, "Put
your hand under my thigh
3 and I will make you swear
by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my
son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,
4 but will go to my country and to
my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac."
5 The servant said to him,
"Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I
then take your son back to the land from which you came?"
6 Abraham said to him, "See
to it that you do not take my son back there.
7 The Lord, the God of
heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and
who spoke to me and swore to me, "To your offspring I will give this
land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son
from there.
8 But if the woman is not
willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you
must not take my son back there."
9 So the servant put his
hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this
matter.
10 Then the servant took ten
of his master's camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his
master; and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor.
11 He made the camels kneel
down outside the city by the well of water; it was toward evening, the time
when women go out to draw water.
12 And he said, "O
Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show
steadfast love to my master Abraham.
13 I am standing here by the
spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw
water.
14 Let the girl to whom I
shall say, "Please offer your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say,
"Drink, and I will water your camels'—let her be the one whom you have
appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast
love to my master."
15 Before he had finished
speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of
Nahor, Abraham's brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder.
16 The girl was very fair to
look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled
her jar, and came up.
17 Then the servant ran to
meet her and said, "Please let me sip a little water from your
jar."
18 "Drink, my
lord," she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.
19When she had finished giving
him a drink, she said, "I will draw for your camels also, until they have
finished drinking."
20 So she quickly emptied
her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all
his camels.
21 The man gazed at her in
silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
22 When the camels had
finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and
two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
23 and said, "Tell me
whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend
the night?"
24 She said to him, "I
am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."
25She added, "We have plenty
of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night."
26 The man bowed his head
and worshiped the Lord
27 and said, "Blessed
be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast
love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the
way to the house of my master's kin."
28 Then the girl ran and
told her mother's household about these things.
29 Rebekah had a brother
whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.
30 As soon as he had seen
the nose-ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and when he heard the
words of his sister Rebekah, "Thus the man spoke to me," he went to
the man; and there he was, standing by the camels at the spring.
31 He said, "Come in, O
blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside when I have prepared the house
and a place for the camels?"
32 So the man came into the
house; and Laban unloaded the camels, and gave him straw and fodder for the
camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with
him.
33 Then food was set before
him to eat; but he said, "I will not eat until I have told my
errand." He said, "Speak on."
34 So he said, "I am
Abraham's servant.
35 The Lord has greatly
blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds,
silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.
36 And Sarah my master's
wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he
has.
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;
38 but you shall go to my
father's house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.'
39 I said to my master,
"Perhaps the woman will not follow me.'
40 But he said to me,
"The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and make your
way successful. You shall get a wife for my son from my kindred, from my
father's house.
41 Then you will be free
from my oath, when you come to my kindred; even if they will not give her to
you, you will be free from my oath.'
42 "I came today to the
spring, and said, "O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will
only make successful the way I am going!
43 I am standing here by the
spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall
say, "Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,"
44 and who will say to me,
"Drink, and I will draw for your camels also"—let her be the woman
whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son.'
45 "Before I had
finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar
on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her,
"Please let me drink.'
46 She quickly let down her
jar from her shoulder, and said, "Drink, and I will also water your camels.'
So I drank, and she also watered the camels.
47 Then I asked her,
"Whose daughter are you?' She said, "The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's
son, whom Milcah bore to him.' So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets
on her arms.
48 Then I bowed my head and
worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had
led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master's kinsman for his
son.
49 Now then, if you will
deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I
may turn either to the right hand or to the left."
50 Then Laban and Bethuel
answered, "The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you anything
bad or good.
51 Look, Rebekah is before
you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord
has spoken."
52 When Abraham's servant
heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord.
53 And the servant brought
out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he
also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
54 Then he and the men who
were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they rose in
the morning, he said, "Send me back to my master."
55 Her brother and her
mother said, "Let the girl remain with us a while, at least ten days;
after that she may go."
56 But he said to them,
"Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey successful; let me go
that I may go to my master."
57 They said, "We will
call the girl, and ask her."
58 And they called Rebekah,
and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" She said, "I
will."
59 So they sent away their
sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham's servant and his men.
60 And they blessed Rebekah
and said to her, "May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may
your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes."
61 Then Rebekah and her
maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took
Rebekah, and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had come from
Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb.
63 Isaac went out in the
evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming.
64 And Rebekah looked up,
and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel,
65 and said to the servant,
"Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?" The
servant said, "It is my master." So she took her veil and covered
herself.
66 And the servant told
Isaac all the things that he had done.
67 Then Isaac brought her
into his mother Sarah's tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he
loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Genesis 25
1 Abraham took another wife,
whose name was Keturah.
2 She bore him Zimran,
Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
3 Jokshan was the father of
Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.
4 The sons of Midian were
Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of
Keturah.
5 Abraham gave all he had to
Isaac.
6 But to the sons of his
concubines Abraham gave gifts, while he was still living, and he sent them away
from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
7 This is the length of
Abraham's life, one hundred seventy-five years.
8 Abraham breathed his last
and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to
his people.
9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael
buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the
Hittite, east of Mamre,
10 the field that Abraham
purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with his wife
Sarah.
11 After the death of
Abraham God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.
12 These are the descendants
of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave-girl, bore to
Abraham.
13 These are the names of
the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn
of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14 Mishma, Dumah,
Massa,
15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur,
Naphish, and Kedemah.
16 These are the sons of
Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments,
twelve princes according to their tribes.
17 (This is the length of
the life of Ishmael, one hundred thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and
died, and was gathered to his people.)
18 They settled from Havilah
to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled down
alongside of all his people.
19 These are the descendants
of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham was the father of Isaac,
20and Isaac was forty years old
when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister
of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord
for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his
wife Rebekah conceived.
22 The children struggled
together within her; and she said, "If it is to be this way, why do I
live?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said to her,
"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be
divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the
younger."
24 When her time to give
birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.
25 The first came out red,
all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.
26 Afterward his brother
came out, with his hand gripping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was
sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up,
Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man,
living in tents.
28 Isaac loved Esau, because
he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was
cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.
30 Esau said to Jacob,
"Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!" (Therefore he
was called Edom. )
31 Jacob said, "First
sell me your birth right."
32 Esau said, "I am
about to die; of what use is a birth right to me?"
33 Jacob said, "Swear
to me first." So he swore to him, and sold his birth right to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau
bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus
Esau despised his birth right.
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