Bible in 90 Days

Chapter 17

The Covenant and Its Sign.^{[a] 1} When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty.^[b] Walk before me and be blameless. ² I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you greatly.”

³ Abram immediately fell down upon his face. God said to him, ⁴ “On my part, behold, my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. ⁵ You will no longer be called Abram, but Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.^{[c] 6} I will make you very, very fruitful. I will make nations come from you, and you shall give birth to kings. ⁷ I will establish my covenant with you for all generations. It will be an eternal covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ I will give you and your descendants after you this land where you are now an alien. All of the land of Canaan shall be your eternal possession. I will be your God.”

⁹ God said to Abraham, “On your part, you must observe my covenant, you and your descendants after you, for all time. ¹⁰ This is my covenant that you must observe, a covenant between me and your descendants after you: every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall circumcise the flesh of the male member. This shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Whenever baby boys are eight days old, they will be circumcised, whether they are your own children or the children of those whom you bought and who are foreigners and not of your bloodline. ¹³ You must circumcise those who are born in your house and those who are bought by you. Thus, my covenant will be marked in your flesh as an eternal covenant. ¹⁴ The male who is not circumcised, the one whose flesh of his member is not circumcised, is to be cut off from his people. He will have violated my covenant.”

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, she will no longer be called Sarai, but rather Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and I will give you and her a son. I will bless her so that she shall become the mother of nations; kings of peoples shall descend from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham bowed down to the earth and laughed^[d] when he thought, “Shall a man who is one hundred years old have a son? And Sarah, who is ninety years old, can she give birth?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live in your presence!”

¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an eternal covenant, that I will be his God and the God of his descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and very, very numerous. Twelve princes shall come from him and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. Sarah shall give birth to him by this time next year.” ²² God thus finished speaking to Abraham, and rising into the heavens, he left him.

²³ Abraham therefore took Ishmael his son and all those born into his house and all those whom he had bought—all the males belonging to the household of Abraham—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, as the Lord had commanded him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised. ²⁵ Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised that same day. ²⁷ And all the men of his household, those born in his house and those foreigners bought with money, were circumcised with him.

Chapter 18

God Becomes a Guest.^{[e] 1} The Lord appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. ² He looked up and saw three men standing nearby. As soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them from the entrance of his tent and bowed down to the ground, ³ saying, “My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not pass on without stopping to visit your servant. ⁴ Let some water be brought so that you may wash your feet. Make yourselves comfortable under this tree. ⁵ Let me go and prepare a bit of food that you may refresh yourselves. Afterward, you can go on your way. It is for this that you have come to visit your servant.”

They answered, “Do as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, take three seahs^[f] of fine flour, knead it, and make it into rolls.”

⁷ He ran to the herd, took a choice calf, and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it. ⁸ He then took curds^[g] and milk, as well as the veal that had been prepared, and he placed them before his guests. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They then said, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He answered, “She is in the tent.” ¹⁰ The Lord^[h] said, “I will return this way a year from now, and by that time Sarah, your wife, will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, just behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. Sarah no longer had her monthly periods. ¹² Sarah therefore laughed to herself and said, “After I am withered and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³ But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why is Sarah laughing and saying, ‘Can I really give birth now that I am so old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything impossible to the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time, one year from now, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied laughing, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

¹⁶ The “Friend” of God.^[i] The men rose up and went along to look down upon Sodom from on high while Abraham accompanied them to show them the way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, “Should I keep hidden from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ for Abraham shall become a great and powerful nation and all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him? ¹⁹ I chose him so that he would instruct his sons and his family after him to observe the ways of the Lord and to act with justice and righteousness so that the Lord might fulfill what he has promised to Abraham.”

²⁰ Therefore, the Lord said, “The cry against Sodom and Gomorrah is too great and their sin is very grave. ²¹ I am going to descend to see if they have really done all the evil that has cried out to me. I want to know this!”

²² While the two men departed and journeyed toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Abraham approached him and said to him, “Is it true that you will destroy the just along with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really destroy it? Will you not spare it for the sake of the fifty righteous people that you found there? ²⁵ Far be it from you to make the righteous die along with the wicked, so that the righteous would have the same fate as the wicked. Far be it from you! Is it possible that the judge of the whole earth does not practice justice?” ²⁶ The Lord answered, “If I find fifty righteous people living in the city of Sodom, for their sake I will spare the city.”

²⁷ Abraham spoke again, “Look how I dare to speak with my Lord, I who am dust and ashes. ²⁸ What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous people, will you destroy the entire city because of those five?”

He answered, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹ Abraham spoke again and said, “What if you find forty there?” He answered, “I will not do it, for the sake of those forty.” ³⁰ And again he said, “Let my Lord not grow impatient with me if I continue to speak; what if thirty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ Once again he said, “Look how I dare to talk to my Lord! What if you find twenty there?” He said, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of those twenty.”

³² Yet again he said, “My Lord, do not grow impatient if I speak still another time; what if ten are found there?” He answered, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of the ten.” ³³ When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he went on his way, and Abraham returned to his tent.

Chapter 19

Revelation of God the Judge.^{[j] 1} The two angels arrived in Sodom toward the evening. Lot was seated at the gate to Sodom. As soon as he saw them, Lot got up and went over to them and bowed down to the ground. ² He said, “My lords, come to the house of your servant. Pass the night, wash your feet, and then, in the morning, you can go on your way.”

They answered, “No, we will spend the night in the town square.”

³ But he insisted so much that they went with him to his house. He prepared a banquet for them, making unleavened bread,^[k] and they ate their meal. ⁴ But before they went to bed, the men of the city, the inhabitants of Sodom, gathered around the house, the young and the old, all of them without exception. ⁵ They called out to Lot and said, “Where are those men who are staying with you tonight? Make them come out to us so that we can know them!”^[l]

⁶ Lot went out to them at the door and, after closing the door behind himself, ⁷ said, “No, my brothers, do not do this evil thing! ⁸ Listen, I have two daughters who have not yet known a man; let me bring them outside and you can do whatever you want with them. Just do not do anything to these men, for they have entered under the shelter of my roof.”

⁹ But they answered, “Move out of the way. This one has come into our midst as a foreigner and he would dare to judge us! Now we are going to treat you even worse than them.” And they so violently pushed against Lot that they almost broke open the door. ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot inside the house, closing the door. ¹¹ They struck all of those who were standing outside the door with blindness so that none of them could find the door.

¹² The men then said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Your sons-in-law, your sons, and your daughters, and anyone that you have in the city, bring them out of this place ¹³ for we are ready to destroy this place. The complaint raised against them before the Lord is great, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ Lot left to speak to his sons-in-law, the men who were to marry his daughters, and he said, “Get up, let us go from this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵ As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “Get up, take your wife and the two daughters who are here and leave before you are caught up in the punishment of this city.”

¹⁶ Lot hesitated, but the men took him by the hand, along with his wife and his two daughters. They showed him the mercy of the Lord by bringing him out and leading him out of the city. ¹⁷ After they had led him out, one of them said, “Flee for your life. Do not look back and do not stop while you are still in the valley. Flee to the mountains lest you be swept away.”

¹⁸ But Lot replied, “No, my lord! ¹⁹ Look, your servant has found favor in your sight, and now you have shown even greater mercy to me by saving my life. Yet, I will not be able to flee to the mountains to keep the disaster from overtaking me. I will die. ²⁰ Look at this city ahead. It is close enough for me to reach, and it is so small! Let me flee there. It is such a small place. That way my life will be saved.”

²¹ He answered, “Behold, I will grant you even this, that I will not destroy the city of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, flee there because I cannot do anything until you have arrived.” For this reason the city is called Zoar.

²³ The sun was rising when Lot arrived in Zoar. ²⁴ The Lord then rained sulfur and fire from the heavens upon Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁵ He destroyed these cities and the entire valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and even the plants in the soil. ²⁶ But the wife of Lot looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham went out early in the morning to the place where he had been with the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down from the height on Sodom and Gomorrah and the entire extension of the valley, and he saw smoke rising out of the earth, like the smoke coming out of a furnace.

²⁹ Thus God, who destroyed the cities of the valley, remembered Abraham and had Lot flee from the disaster, while he destroyed the cities in which Lot had been living.

³⁰ Degeneration of Lot’s Children.^[m] Lot then left Zoar and went to live in the mountains together with his two daughters, for they were afraid to stay in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ The older one said to the younger one, “Our father is getting old and there is no one in this territory to marry us as happens all over the earth. ³² Come, we will give wine to our father and then lie with him; thus we will provide descendants for our father.”

³³ That night they gave wine to their father, and the older sister laid with her father. He did not realize what was happening, not even when she lay down or when she got out of bed. ³⁴ The next day the older sister said to the younger, “Behold, yesterday I slept with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight as well and you can sleep with him. Thus, we will provide descendants for our father.” ³⁵ That night as well they made their father drink wine, and the younger sister slept with him. He did not realize what had happened, not even when she lay down or when she got out of bed.

³⁶ Thus, the two daughters of Lot conceived children for their father. ³⁷ The older sister gave birth to a son whom she called Moab, “from my father.” He is the forefather of the present-day Moabites. ³⁸ The younger sister also gave birth to a son, and she called him Ben Ammi, “son of my people.” He is the forefather of the present-day Ammonites.

Chapter 20

God Corrects His Faithful Ones.^{[n] 1} Abraham broke camp and traveled into the Negeb, settling between Kedesh and Shur. He was dwelling in Gerar. ² Abraham had said that Sarah, his wife, was his sister. Therefore, Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent to take Sarah for himself.

³ But God visited Abimelech during the night in a dream and said to him, “Behold, you are about to die because the woman you have taken belongs to her husband.”

⁴ Abimelech, who had not yet approached her, said, “My Lord, would you destroy an innocent nation? ⁵ Did he not tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And did she not also say, ‘He is my brother’? I did this with a pure conscience and in all innocence.”

⁶ God answered him in the dream, “I know that you acted with a good conscience when you did this. I prevented you from sinning against me. That is why I kept you from touching her. ⁷ Now give the woman back to this man. He is a prophet. He will intercede for you, and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you and everyone with you will die.”

⁸ Abimelech got up early in the morning and summoned all his servants to whom he recounted all these things. The men were terrified. ⁹ Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and told him, “What have you done to us? What did I do to you that you have subjected me and my kingdom to such a great sin? You have done things to me that you really should not have done.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What were you afraid of that you acted this way?”

¹¹ Abraham answered, “I said to myself, ‘Certainly there will be no fear of God^[o] in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she is really my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ When God made me wander from my father’s homeland, I said to her, ‘Please do me this favor. Wherever we go, say that I am your brother.’ ”

¹⁴ Abimelech took flocks and herds, male and female slaves, and he gave them to Abraham, and he also gave back his wife Sarah. ¹⁵ Furthermore, Abimelech said, “Look around at my land; go and live wherever you please!”

¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given two thousand shekels of silver to your brother. May that repay you for what has happened to you. Thus, your honor will be totally preserved.”

¹⁷ Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his maidservants so that they could once more have children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had rendered all the women in the household of Abimelech sterile because of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

Chapter 21

The Promised Son.^{[p] 1} The Lord visited Sarah, as he had said he would. The Lord fulfilled what he had promised to Sarah. ² Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time that the Lord had established. ³ Abraham named the son whom Sarah bore Isaac. ⁴ Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him to do. ⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has given me a reason to laugh out loud. All will smile because of me.” ⁷ She then said, “Who would have ever said to Abraham, ‘Sarah will nurse sons’? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Ishmael Is Sent Away.^{[q] 8} Isaac grew and was weaned. On the day that he was weaned, Abraham threw a great banquet. ⁹ But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the one whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with^[r] her son Isaac. ¹⁰ She said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away, for the son of this slave must not be an heir together with my son Isaac.”

¹¹ This greatly distressed Abraham for he was concerned for his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not let this matter with your son and the slave woman distress you. Listen to what Sarah tells you. Listen to her voice, for it is through Isaac that descendants will bear your name. ¹³ But I will also make the son of the slave woman become a great nation, for he is your son.”

¹⁴ Abraham arose early in the morning and gave Hagar bread and a skin of water, placing them on her back. He entrusted the child to her and sent her away. They left and wandered in the desert of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵ When they used up all the water in the skin, she placed the child under a bush ¹⁶ and went and sat down opposite him, about the distance of a bowshot. She said, “I do not want to see the child die.” She sat opposite him and began to sob.

¹⁷ But God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called upon Hagar from the heavens and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not fear because God has heard the voice of the child from where he lies. ¹⁸ Get up, take the child, and hold him by the hand because I will make a great nation of him.”

¹⁹ God opened her eyes, and she was able to see a spring of water. She went over to it and filled the skin and gave the child some water to drink.

²⁰ God was with the child, and he grew and lived in the desert and became an archer. ²¹ He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother found him a wife in the land of Egypt.

²² First Link with the Promised Land.^[s] At that time, Abimelech along with Phicol, the commander of his army, came and said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. ²³ Therefore, swear by God that you will not act deceitfully with me or with my sons or my descendants. As I have been friendly to you, so too, you will be friendly with me and with the land in which you have dwelt as a guest.”

²⁴ Abraham answered, “I swear it.”

²⁵ But Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that the servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing. You never told me about this and I did not hear about it until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Abraham set apart seven fat lambs. ²⁹ Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of the seven lambs that you have set aside?”

³⁰ He answered, “Please take these seven lambs from me, and let them be a sign to you that I dug this well.” ³¹ Because of this the place is called Beer-sheba (the well of the seven), for they both swore an oath there. ³² After the covenant had been concluded at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. ³⁴ Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines for many years.

Chapter 22

Sacrifice of the Son.^{[t] 1} Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am!”

² God said, “Take your son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah^[u] and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you.”

³ Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled a donkey, and took two servants and his son Isaac with him. He also took the wood for the burnt offering and set out toward the place about which God had spoken. ⁴ On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw that place from a distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there. We will worship and then we will return to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it upon his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the knife. They then set out together. ⁷ Isaac turned to his father Abraham and said, “My father!”

He answered, “Here I am, my son.”

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

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son!” And the two of them went on together.

⁹ They then arrived at the place of which God had spoken. There Abraham built an altar and piled up the wood. He tied up his son Isaac and placed him upon the altar so that he was lying upon the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called out from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”

He answered, “Here I am.”

¹² The angel said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy! Do not harm him in any way! Now I know that you fear God and you have not even withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and saw a ram that had its horns caught in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴ Abraham called that place, “The Lord will provide,” for he said, “On the mountain the Lord provided.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called Abraham from heaven again ¹⁶ and said, “I swear by my own self, thus says the Lord: because you have done this and did not withhold your son from me, your only son, ¹⁷ I will bless you with every blessing and I will make your descendants very numerous, like the stars of the heavens or the sand on the shore of the sea. Your descendants shall take possession of the cities of your enemies. ¹⁸ All the nations of the earth shall be blessed through your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.”

¹⁹ Abraham returned to his servants, and together they set out toward Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his dwelling.

²⁰ Children of Abraham’s Brother.^[v] Afterward, Abraham received this news: “Behold, Milcah has borne sons to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah gave birth to these eight sons for Nahor, the brother of Abraham. ²⁴ His concubine, Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Chapter 23

Tomb of the Patriarch.^{[w] 1} Sarah lived to be one hundred and twenty-seven years old. ² She died at Kiriath-arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and he wept for her.

³ Abraham then left the body of his loved one and said to the Hittites, ⁴ “I am a foreigner and I sojourn among you. Sell me a piece of land here for a grave. In that way I can carry the body there and bury it.”

⁵ The Hittites answered, ⁶ “Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God living in our midst. Bury your dead one in the best of our tombs. No one among us will prevent you from burying your dead in your tomb.”

⁷ Then Abraham got up and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites, ⁸ and said to them, “If it is your will that I take my deceased and bury her, listen to me and convince Ephron, the son of Zohar, ⁹ to give me the cave of Machpelah, which is found at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me at its full price so that it may be my burial place in your land.”

¹⁰ Now Ephron was seated among the Hittites. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites at the entrance to the gate of the city. He said, ¹¹ “Hear me, my lord. I will give you the field along with the cave. In the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

¹² Abraham bowed down to him before the people of the land. ¹³ He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land and said, “If only you would please listen to me, I will pay you for the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”

¹⁴ Ephron said to Abraham, ¹⁵ “Hear me, my lord. A field with a value of four hundred silver shekels,^[x] what is that between me and you? Bury your dead there.”

¹⁶ Abraham accepted Ephron’s terms. He paid Ephron the price that had been mentioned in the hearing of the Hittites, namely, four hundred silver shekels of the current market weight.

¹⁷ The field of Ephron was at Machpelah facing Mamre. The field and the cave found there and all the trees in the field and within the boundaries of the field, ¹⁸ all these became the property of Abraham in the presence of the Hittites at the entrance to the gate of the city. ¹⁹ Afterward, 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 passed from the Hittites to Abraham as his burial plot.

Chapter 24

The Marriage of Isaac.^{[y] 1} Abraham was now old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. ² Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who supervised his property, “Place your hand under my thigh^{[z] 3} and swear to the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom we live. ⁴ Rather, go to my homeland, to my family, and choose a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵ The servant asked him, “If the woman does not wish to follow me to this land, should I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶ Abraham answered him, “Never take my son back there! ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, who called me out from the house of my father and the land of my birth, spoke to me and promised, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He himself will send an angel before you so that you can find a wife for my son. ⁸ If the woman does not wish to follow you, you will be absolved of the oath you have made to me. Only, you must not take my son back there.” ⁹ The servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and he swore an oath to him concerning these things.

¹⁰ The servant took ten of his master’s camels along with all kinds of different precious objects and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim,^[aa] to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ He rested the camels outside of the city, near the well, at evening time when the women would go out to draw water.

¹² He said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, grant me success today and be gracious to my master Abraham! ¹³ Behold, I am in front of the well and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ That young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jug and let me drink,’ and she responds, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels some water too,’ let her be the one you have chosen for Isaac, your servant. By this I will know that you have acted kindly to my master.”

¹⁵ He barely finished speaking when Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with a jug on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young woman was very pretty and a virgin, never having slept with a man. She went down to the well and filled her jug and came back up.

¹⁷ The servant hurried up to her and said, “Please give me some of the water from your jug.”

¹⁸ She answered, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly lowered the jug unto her hand and gave him some water to drink.

¹⁹ When she had finished letting him drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels as well, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ She quickly emptied her jug in the water trough and ran off to draw more water from the well until all the camels had drunk from it. ²¹ The man watched in silence to see whether or not the Lord would grant success to this quest.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, he took a gold ring weighing half a shekel and fastened it to her nose, and he placed upon her wrists two golden bracelets that weighed ten shekels. ²³ Then he said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me. Do you have room in your house for us to pass the night?”

²⁴ She answered, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son whom Milcah bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ She added, “We have plenty of hay and forage and also a place where you can sleep tonight.”

²⁶ The man knelt and bowed down to the Lord ²⁷ and said, “Blessed be the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who has not ceased being generous and faithful to my master. As for me, the Lord has guided me along the way to the house of the brother of my master.”

²⁸ The young woman ran and reported all these things to her mother’s household. ²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban rushed out to the man at the well. ³⁰ In fact, as soon as he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on the wrists of his sister and heard what Rebekah, his sister, said, “This is what that man told me,” he went to the man who was still standing alongside the camels at the well. ³¹ He said, “Come, blessed one of the Lord! Why are you still standing out here when I have already prepared the house for you and a place for your camels?”

³² The man went into the house while his camels were unloaded and given hay and forage. Water was brought to wash his feet and those of his men. ³³ Then food was placed in front of him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I must say.”

They answered, “Of course!”

³⁴ He said, “I am the servant of Abraham. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become powerful. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Sarah, the wife of my master, gave birth to a son when he was already old, and he has given all his possessions to him. ³⁷ My master has made me swear an oath. He said, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites among whom we live. ³⁸ You must go to the house of my father, to my kin, to take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ I said to my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’

⁴⁰ “He answered, ‘The Lord, in whose presence I walk, will send an angel with you and will assure the success of your journey. In this way, you will be able to take a wife for my son from my kin and the house of my father. ⁴¹ By going to my kin you will have fulfilled your oath. If they do not give her to you, you will have fulfilled your oath.’

⁴² “And so today I arrived at the well and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you are going to grant success to this journey I am making, ⁴³ since I am standing near the well, grant that when a young woman comes out to draw water and to whom I say, “Give me a little water from your jar to drink,” ⁴⁴ and she answers, “Drink some, and I will draw water for your camels,” this will be the wife that the Lord has chosen for the son of my master.’

⁴⁵ “I had not even finished thinking this when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. She went to the well and drew water. When I said to her, ‘Please give me some to drink,’ ⁴⁶ she immediately lowered the jug and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels water to drink as well.’ I drank and she even gave my camels water to drink.

⁴⁷ “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’

“She answered, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah who bore a son to Nahor.’

“I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. ⁴⁸ Then I knelt and bowed down to the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me along the right path to find the daughter of the brother of my master to be the wife of my master’s son. ⁴⁹ Now, if you intend to act kindly and loyally toward my master, let me know. If not, let me know as well, so that I may search elsewhere.”

⁵⁰ Laban and Bethuel then answered, “This is from the Lord; there is nothing we can say. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah; take her and go so that she may be the wife of the son of your master, just as the Lord has instructed you.”

⁵² When the servant of Abraham heard these words, he fell down to the earth before the Lord. ⁵³ The servant then brought out silver and gold ornaments and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He gave precious gifts to her brother and mother as well. ⁵⁴ He and his men then ate and drank and slept the night. When he rose in the morning, he said, “Let me go to my master.”

⁵⁵ But the brother and mother said, “Let the girl remain with us for a little time, ten days or so, and afterward you can go on your way.”

⁵⁶ He answered them, “Do not delay me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Let me leave and go to my master.”

⁵⁷ They therefore said, “Let us call the girl and ask her.” ⁵⁸ So they called Rebekah and said to her, “Do you wish to leave with this man?”

She answered, “I do.”

⁵⁹ They therefore allowed Rebekah and her nurse to leave with Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰ They blessed Rebekah and told her,

⁶¹ Thus, Rebekah and her nurse got up, mounted their camels, and followed the servant. He took Rebekah with him and left.

⁶² Meanwhile Isaac was returning from the well of Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the territory of the Negeb. ⁶³ Isaac went out toward evening. He was looking out over the countryside when he saw camels arriving. ⁶⁴ Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac, and she got down off her camel. ⁶⁵ She said to the servant, “Who is that man who is coming through the fields toward us?”

The servant answered, “It is my master.”

She took her veil^[ab] and covered herself. ⁶⁶ The servant told Isaac everything that had happened. ⁶⁷ Isaac then brought Rebekah into the tent that had been his mother’s. He married Rebekah and loved her. So Isaac found comfort after the death of his mother.

Chapter 25

Other Children of Abraham.^{[ac] 1} Abraham took another wife named Keturah. ² She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan was the father of the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were the sons of Keturah.

⁵ Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac. ⁶ As for the sons of the concubines whom Abraham had, he gave them gifts and, while he was still alive, sent them far away from his son Isaac eastward, to live in the east country.

Death of Abraham.^{[ad] 7} Abraham lived for one hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age after a full life; and he was reunited with his ancestors. ⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, near Mamre. ¹⁰ This was the field that he had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried near his wife Sarah. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived near the Beer-lahai-roi.

¹² Descendants and Death of Ishmael.^[ae] These are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave.

¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in order of birth. The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebaioth. He then had Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These are the Ishmaelites and these are their names by their towns and their camps. They were twelve princes, each a prince of his own tribe. ¹⁷ Ishmael lived for one hundred and seven years. He then died and was reunited with his ancestors. ¹⁸ They lived between Havilah and Shur (which lies on the side of the border of Egypt in the direction of Asshur), and each of them held his own^[af] against all his kin.

Jacob, the Sinner Who Redeems Himself^[ag]

Abraham was the father of Isaac. ²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, since she was barren. The Lord heard him, and thus his wife became pregnant. ²² The sons fought with each other in the womb, and she exclaimed, “If this is so, why go on living?” She went to consult the Lord. ²³ The Lord answered her,

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The firstborn was red and totally covered with hair. So he was named Esau. ²⁶ Immediately afterward, his brother was born, holding on to the heel of Esau. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

²⁷ The children grew up, and Esau became an expert hunter, a man who lived in the open country. Jacob, on the other hand, was a quiet man, who stayed among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac loved Esau, for he enjoyed the taste of wild game, while Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹ One day Jacob cooked a lentil stew. Esau came in from the countryside and he was exhausted. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Let me eat a little of that red soup, for I am famished.” (This is why he was also called Edom.^[ai])

³¹ Jacob said, “First sell me your rights as firstborn.”

³² Esau answered, “I am about to die; what good will my rights as firstborn be?” ³³ Jacob told him, “Swear it right now.” He swore an oath and sold his rights as firstborn to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil soup. He ate and drank. Then he got up and left. This is how Esau despised his birthright.

Chapter 26

Isaac Inherits the Blessing.^{[aj] 1} A second famine came upon the land (after the first famine in the days of Abraham). Isaac traveled to Gerar to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines. ² The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down into Egypt; live in the land to which I will direct you. ³ Remain in that land for a while and I will be with you and bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your descendants and fulfill the promise I made to Abraham your father. ⁴ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the heavens and I will give them all these lands. All the nations on the earth will be blessed through your descendants, ⁵ for Abraham listened to my voice and observed that which I ordered: my commandments, my ordinances and my laws.” ⁶ Isaac thus dwelt in Gerar.

⁷ The men of that place asked him about his wife, and he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking that the men of that place would kill him because Rebekah was very beautiful.

⁸ He had been there for quite some time when Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, came to the window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹ Abimelech called to Isaac and said, “Surely, she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might be killed on her account!”

¹⁰ Abimelech continued, “What have you done to us? It would have been easy for one of the people to lie with your wife and that would have brought sin upon us.”

¹¹ Hence, Abimelech gave this order to all the people, “Whoever touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”

¹² Isaac planted a crop in a land and that year he reaped a hundredfold. The Lord had thus blessed him. ¹³ He became important and continued to prosper until he was very rich. ¹⁴ He possessed great flocks and herds and slaves, and the Philistines began to become jealous of him.

¹⁵ The Dispute over Wells. The Philistines stopped up and filled in with dirt all the wells that the servants of his father had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much mightier than we are.”

¹⁷ Isaac went away from there, and camped in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there. ¹⁸ Isaac returned to dig wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug and that the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names as his father had given them.

¹⁹ The servants of Isaac dug in the valley and found a well of living waters. ²⁰ But the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Isaac saying, “The water is ours!” He therefore called the well Esek^[ak] because they had quarreled with him. ²¹ They dug another well, but they quarreled over this one as well, and he called it Sitnah.^{[al] 22} He thus moved away from there and dug another well over which they did not quarrel. He called it Rehoboth^[am] and said, “Now the Lord has given us room so that we might prosper in the land.”

²³ From there he went to Beer-sheba. ²⁴ That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of Abraham, your father. Do not fear for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants on account of Abraham, my servant.”

²⁵ He built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.

²⁶ The Covenant with Abimelech. Abimelech traveled from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol, the commander of his army, to see Isaac. ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, for you hate me and have sent me away from your midst?”

²⁸ They answered him, “We have seen that the Lord is with you and we have said, ‘Let there be an oath between us, between you and us. Let us make a covenant with you ²⁹ that you will not do anything against us, as we have not molested you but were always good to you and let you go away in peace.’ You are now a man blessed by the Lord.”

³⁰ He prepared a meal for them and they ate and drank. ³¹ Rising early in the morning, they swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac bade them farewell, and they went away in peace.

³² That very day the servants of Isaac arrived and informed him about the well that they had dug saying, “We have found water.” ³³ He called the well Shibah.^[an] This is the city called Beer-sheba today.

³⁴ Esau’s Hittite Wives.^[ao] When Esau was forty years old he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵ They were a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27

Jacob Supplants His Brother.^{[ap] 1} Isaac had grown old, and his eyes had failed so much that he could no longer see. He called his older son, Esau, and said to him, “My son.”

He answered, “Here I am.”

² He continued, “See, I am old and do not know when I will die. ³ Take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out into the countryside and hunt for some wild game for me. ⁴ Then prepare me a plate of delicious meat and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah overheard Isaac speaking to his son Esau. When Esau went out into the countryside to hunt game and to bring it home, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I have heard your father speaking to your brother Esau. ⁷ He said, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a plate to eat it so that I may give you the Lord’s blessing before I die.’ ⁸ Now, my son, obey my instructions: ⁹ Go immediately to the flock and take two choice kids. I will prepare them to make a plate for your father just the way he likes it. ¹⁰ Then you can carry it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”

¹¹ Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “You know that my brother Esau is hairy, while my skin is smooth. ¹² My father might touch me and realize that I am playing a trick on him and place a curse on me instead of a blessing.”

¹³ But his mother said, “Let that curse fall on me, my son! Only obey me and go and bring the kid goats.”

¹⁴ He went to get them and brought them back to his mother, and his mother prepared them to make a meal the way his father liked it. ¹⁵ Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son, Esau, which were in the house with her. She put them on her younger son, Jacob. ¹⁶ She put the skins of the kid goats on the smooth parts of his arms and neck. ¹⁷ Then she gave the meal that she had prepared to her son Jacob.

¹⁸ He went to his father and said, “My father.” He answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done everything you ordered. Please get up, sit down, and eat the game so that you may bless me.”

²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How did you prepare it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “The Lord placed the game right in front of me.”

²¹ Then Isaac said, “Draw near and let me touch you, my son, so that I may know if you are really my son Esau or not.”

²² Jacob drew near, and Isaac, his father, touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the arms are the arms of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him, because his arms were hairy like the arms of his brother Esau, and he blessed him. ²⁴ Then he said to him one more time, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”

²⁵ He said, “Bring me the game to eat, my son, so that I can bless you.”

Jacob served him the meal and Isaac ate; and he brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac told him, “Draw near and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷ He drew near and kissed him. Isaac smelled the scent of his clothes and he blessed him, saying,

³⁰ Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just left his father, when Esau, his brother, arrived from the hunt. ³¹ He also prepared a meal and brought it to his father and said to him, “Rise, my father, and eat the wild game of your son, so that you may bless me.”

³² His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”

He answered, “I am your firstborn son, Esau.”

³³ Isaac was seized by a violent trembling and said, “Then who was it who prepared the wild game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you arrived, and I blessed him; and the blessing will remain with him.”

³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he shrieked and let out a bitter cry. He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father.” ³⁵ He answered, “Your brother came here with trickery and received your blessing.”

³⁶ He then said, “He has been well named Jacob,^[aq] for he has supplanted me twice. He already took away my birthright and now he has taken my blessing.” He added, “Do you not have a blessing left for me?”

³⁷ Isaac answered Esau and said, “Behold, I have made him your lord and I have given him his brothers as his servants. He is to be maintained with grain and wine. What can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸ Esau told his father, “Do you only have one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” But Isaac was silent, and Esau cried out aloud.

³⁹ Finally Isaac spoke and said,

⁴¹ Jacob Flees to Mesopotamia.^[ar] Esau hated Jacob on account of the blessing that his father had given him. Esau thought, “The time to mourn my father is drawing near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴² When Rebekah was told what Esau, her older son, had said, she called Jacob, her younger son, and said, “Esau your brother wants to get even with you by killing you. ⁴³ So obey me, my son. Rise, and flee to Haran, to my brother Laban. ⁴⁴ Remain with him for some time, till your brother’s anger has calmed. ⁴⁵ When the fury of your brother is soothed and he has forgotten what you did to him, I will send for you to bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of the two of you in a single day?”

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I despise my life because of those Hittite women. If Jacob were to take a wife from among the Hittites, from among the daughters of the land, what good would life be to me?”

Chapter 28

¹ Isaac called to Jacob and blessed him and gave him this command: “You must not take a wife from among the daughters of Canaan. ² Up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, the father of your mother, and take a wife from there, from among the daughters of Laban, the brother of your mother. ³ May God Almighty bless you; may he make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you become a multitude of people. ⁴ May he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land in which you have dwelt as an alien, the land that God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Thus, Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, and the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that when he had blessed him, he had commanded him, “You must not take a wife from among the Canaanites.” ⁷ Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan-aram. ⁸ Esau then understood that Isaac disapproved of the daughters of Canaan. ⁹ He therefore went to Ishmael and, besides the wives he already had, he took as wife Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael and the sister of Nebaioth.

¹⁰ Jacob’s Dream at Bethel.^[as] Jacob left from Beer-sheba and traveled toward Haran. ¹¹ He came upon a certain place and spent the night there for the sun was setting. He took a stone and used it as a pillow and slept in that place. ¹² He had a dream. There was a ladder resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending upon it.

¹³ And the Lord stood before him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying shall be given to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth and shall extend to the west and the east, the north and the south. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed through you and through your descendants. ¹⁵ I am with you and I will protect you wherever you go. I will make you return to this country, for I will not abandon you without having done all that I have promised you.”

¹⁶ Jacob woke from sleep and said, “Truly, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ He was filled with fear and said, “How terrible this place is! This is truly the house of God, this is the gate to heaven.”

¹⁸ In the morning Jacob arose early, took the rock that he had used as a pillow, and erected it as a pillar pouring oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He named the place Bethel,^[at] although the city had previously been called Luz.