Genesis 25

• 1. Now Abraham married again. Keturah was his new wife,
• 2. and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
• 3. Jokshan's two sons were Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites.
• 4. Midian's sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were all descendants of Abraham through Keturah.
• 5. Abraham left everything he owned to his son Isaac.
• 6. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to the east, away from Isaac.
• 7. Abraham lived for 175 years,
• 8. and he died at a ripe old age, joining his ancestors in death.
• 9. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
• 10. This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites, where he had buried his wife Sarah.
• 11. After Abraham's death, God poured out rich blessings on Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahairoi in the Negev.
• 12. This is the history of the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian servant.
• 13. Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael's descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
• 14. Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
• 15. Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
• 16. These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes that bore their names, listed according to the places they settled and camped.
• 17. Ishmael finally died at the age of 137 and joined his ancestors in death.
• 18. Ishmael's descendants were scattered across the country from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt in the direction of Asshur. The clans descended from Ishmael camped close to one another.
• 19. This is the history of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
• 20. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban.
• 21. Isaac pleaded with the LORD to give Rebekah a child because she was childless. So the LORD answered Isaac's prayer, and his wife became pregnant with twins.
• 22. But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the LORD about it. "Why is this happening to me?" she asked.
• 23. And the LORD told her, "The sons in your womb will become two rival nations. One nation will be stronger than the other; the descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son."
• 24. And when the time came, the twins were born.
• 25. The first was very red at birth. He was covered with so much hair that one would think he was wearing a piece of clothing. So they called him Esau.
• 26. Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau's heel. So they called him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
• 27. As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open fields, while Jacob was the kind of person who liked to stay at home.
• 28. Isaac loved Esau in particular because of the wild game he brought home, but Rebekah favored Jacob.
• 29. One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home exhausted and hungry from a hunt.
• 30. Esau said to Jacob, "I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew you've made." (This was how Esau got his other name, Edom--"Red.")
• 31. Jacob replied, "All right, but trade me your birthright for it."
• 32. "Look, I'm dying of starvation!" said Esau. "What good is my birthright to me now?"
• 33. So Jacob insisted, "Well then, swear to me right now that it is mine." So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his younger brother.
• 34. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the fact that he had given up his birthright.

Genesis 26

• 1. Now a severe famine struck the land, as had happened before in Abraham's time. So Isaac moved to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lived.
• 2. The LORD appeared to him there and said, "Do not go to Egypt.
• 3. Do as I say, and stay here in this land. If you do, I will be with you and bless you. I will give all this land to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father.
• 4. I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
• 5. I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, regulations, and laws."
• 6. So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
• 7. And when the men there asked him about Rebekah, he said, "She is my sister." He was afraid to admit that she was his wife. He thought they would kill him to get her, because she was very beautiful.
• 8. But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah.
• 9. Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, "She is obviously your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me," Isaac replied.
• 10. "How could you treat us this way!" Abimelech exclaimed. "Someone might have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of great sin."
• 11. Then Abimelech made a public proclamation: "Anyone who harms this man or his wife will die!"
• 12. That year Isaac's crops were tremendous! He harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him.
• 13. He became a rich man, and his wealth only continued to grow.
• 14. He acquired large flocks of sheep and goats, great herds of cattle, and many servants. Soon the Philistines became jealous of him,
• 15. and they filled up all of Isaac's wells with earth. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.
• 16. And Abimelech asked Isaac to leave the country. "Go somewhere else," he said, "for you have become too rich and powerful for us."
• 17. So Isaac moved to the Gerar Valley and lived there instead.
• 18. He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham's death. Isaac renamed them, using the names Abraham had given them.
• 19. His shepherds also dug in the Gerar Valley and found a gushing spring.
• 20. But then the local shepherds came and claimed the spring. "This is our water," they said, and they argued over it with Isaac's herdsmen. So Isaac named the well "Argument," because they had argued about it with him.
• 21. Isaac's men then dug another well, but again there was a fight over it. So Isaac named it "Opposition."
• 22. Abandoning that one, he dug another well, and the local people finally left him alone. So Isaac called it "Room Enough," for he said, "At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be able to thrive."
• 23. From there Isaac moved to Beersheba,
• 24. where the LORD appeared to him on the night of his arrival. "I am the God of your father, Abraham," he said. "Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant."
• 25. Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. He set up his camp at that place, and his servants dug a well.
• 26. One day Isaac had visitors from Gerar. King Abimelech arrived with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander.
• 27. "Why have you come?" Isaac asked them. "This is obviously no friendly visit, since you sent me from your land in a most unfriendly way."
• 28. They replied, "We can plainly see that the LORD is with you. So we decided we should have a treaty, a covenant between us.
• 29. Swear that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the LORD has blessed you!"
• 30. So Isaac prepared a great feast for them, and they ate and drank in preparation for the treaty ceremony.
• 31. Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath of nonaggression. Then Isaac sent them home again in peace.
• 32. That very day Isaac's servants came and told him about a well they had dug. "We've found water!" they said.
• 33. So Isaac named the well "Oath," and from that time to this, the town that grew up there has been called Beersheba--"well of the oath."
• 34. At the age of forty, Esau married a young woman named Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite. He also married Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
• 35. But Esau's wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis 27

• 1. When Isaac was old and almost blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, "My son?Yes, Father?" Esau replied.
• 2. "I am an old man now," Isaac said, "and I expect every day to be my last.
• 3. Take your bow and a quiver full of arrows out into the open country, and hunt some wild game for me.
• 4. Prepare it just the way I like it so it's savory and good, and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die."
• 5. But Rebekah overheard the conversation. So when Esau left to hunt for the wild game,
• 6. she said to her son Jacob, "I overheard your father asking Esau
• 7. to prepare him a delicious meal of wild game. He wants to bless Esau in the LORD's presence before he dies.
• 8. Now, my son, do exactly as I tell you.
• 9. Go out to the flocks and bring me two fine young goats. I'll prepare your father's favorite dish from them.
• 10. Take the food to your father; then he can eat it and bless you instead of Esau before he dies."
• 11. "But Mother!" Jacob replied. "He won't be fooled that easily. Think how hairy Esau is and how smooth my skin is!
• 12. What if my father touches me? He'll see that I'm trying to trick him, and then he'll curse me instead of blessing me."
• 13. "Let the curse fall on me, dear son," said Rebekah. "Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats."
• 14. So Jacob followed his mother's instructions, bringing her the two goats. She took them and cooked a delicious meat dish, just the way Isaac liked it.
• 15. Then she took Esau's best clothes, which were there in the house, and dressed Jacob with them.
• 16. She made him a pair of gloves from the hairy skin of the young goats, and she fastened a strip of the goat's skin around his neck.
• 17. Then she gave him the meat dish, with its rich aroma, and some freshly baked bread.
• 18. Jacob carried the platter of food to his father and said, "My father?Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it--Esau or Jacob?"
• 19. Jacob replied, "It's Esau, your older son. I've done as you told me. Here is the wild game, cooked the way you like it. Sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing."
• 20. Isaac asked, "How were you able to find it so quickly, my son?Because the LORD your God put it in my path!" Jacob replied.
• 21. Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come over here. I want to touch you to make sure you really are Esau."
• 22. So Jacob went over to his father, and Isaac touched him. "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's," Isaac said to himself.
• 23. But he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy just like Esau's. So Isaac pronounced his blessing on Jacob.
• 24. "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked. "Yes, of course," Jacob replied.
• 25. Then Isaac said, "Now, my son, bring me the meat. I will eat it, and then I will give you my blessing." So Jacob took the food over to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said,
• 26. "Come here and kiss me, my son."
• 27. So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, "The smell of my son is the good smell of the open fields that the LORD has blessed.
• 28. May God always give you plenty of dew for healthy crops and good harvests of grain and wine.
• 29. May many nations become your servants. May you be the master of your brothers. May all your mother's sons bow low before you. All who curse you are cursed, and all who bless you are blessed."
• 30. As soon as Isaac had blessed Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunting trip.
• 31. Esau prepared his father's favorite meat dish and brought it to him. Then he said, "I'm back, Father, and I have the wild game. Sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing."
• 32. But Isaac asked him, "Who are you?Why, it's me, of course!" he replied. "It's Esau, your older son."
• 33. Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, "Then who was it that just served me wild game? I have already eaten it, and I blessed him with an irrevocable blessing before you came."
• 34. When Esau understood, he let out a loud and bitter cry. "O my father, bless me, too!" he begged.
• 35. But Isaac said, "Your brother was here, and he tricked me. He has carried away your blessing."
• 36. Esau said bitterly, "No wonder his name is Jacob, for he has deceived me twice, first taking my birthright and now stealing my blessing. Oh, haven't you saved even one blessing for me?"
• 37. Isaac said to Esau, "I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine--what is there left to give?"
• 38. Esau pleaded, "Not one blessing left for me? O my father, bless me, too!" Then Esau broke down and wept.
• 39. His father, Isaac, said to him, "You will live off the land and what it yields,
• 40. and you will live by your sword. You will serve your brother for a time, but then you will shake loose from him and be free."
• 41. Esau hated Jacob because he had stolen his blessing, and he said to himself, "My father will soon be dead and gone. Then I will kill Jacob."
• 42. But someone got wind of what Esau was planning and reported it to Rebekah. She sent for Jacob and told him, "Esau is threatening to kill you.
• 43. This is what you should do. Flee to your uncle Laban in Haran.
• 44. Stay there with him until your brother's fury is spent.
• 45. When he forgets what you have done, I will send for you. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"
• 46. Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I'm sick and tired of these local Hittite women. I'd rather die than see Jacob marry one of them."

New Living Translation: 9 of 324 days.