Genesis 22–31

Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” So Abraham rose early, saddled his donkey, took two servants and Isaac his son, split the wood, and set out. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He told the servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then return to you.” Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb.”

When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac. As he reached out to slay his son, the angel of the LORD called from heaven, “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket, and he offered it instead. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide.

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time and declared, “By Myself I have sworn, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Then Abraham returned to Beersheba. Later he was told that Nahor had children, including Bethuel, the father of Rebekah.

Sarah lived 127 years. She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Abraham went to mourn for her and weep over her. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead and said to the Hittites, “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site so that I can bury my dead.” The Hittites answered with respect, and Abraham bowed before them as he sought the cave of Machpelah from Ephron son of Zohar.

Ephron first offered the field and cave freely, but Abraham insisted on paying the full price. He weighed out four hundred shekels of silver, and the field with its cave and trees was deeded over to Abraham as his burial possession in the presence of all the Hittites. After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre in the land of Canaan.

By now Abraham was old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. Abraham said to the servant in charge of his household, “Swear to me that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant asked what to do if the woman refused to come, but Abraham said, “The LORD will send His angel before you.” So the servant departed with ten camels and prayed at the spring, asking that the chosen woman would offer water both to him and his camels.

Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar. She was very beautiful, a virgin, and she gave him water to drink and also drew for all his camels. The man gazed silently to see whether the LORD had made his journey successful. He then gave her a gold ring and bracelets, and Rebekah told him she was the granddaughter of Nahor. So the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD.

Laban and Bethuel heard the servant’s account. He retold Abraham’s charge, his prayer, and Rebekah’s response at the well. They answered, “This is from the LORD.” Rebekah agreed to go at once. They blessed her, saying, “May you become thousands upon thousands.” Then Rebekah and her maids set out with Abraham’s servant.

Isaac was dwelling in the Negev when he went out to meditate in the field toward evening. He looked up and saw camels approaching. Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, dismounted, and asked the servant, “Who is that man?” The servant replied, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. Then Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of his mother Sarah; he married her, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Abraham took another wife named Keturah and had additional sons. But Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac, while to the sons of his concubines he gave gifts and sent them eastward away from Isaac. Abraham lived 175 years and was buried by Isaac and Ishmael in the cave of Machpelah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.

These are the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar. They became twelve rulers according to their tribes and settled from Havilah to Shur near the border of Egypt. Ishmael lived 137 years and died.

This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless, and the LORD granted his prayer. Rebekah became pregnant, but the children struggled within her, and the LORD said, “Two nations are in your womb… the older shall serve the younger.” When the time came, Esau emerged first, red and hairy, and afterward Jacob was born grasping Esau’s heel.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter and man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once, when Esau came in from the field exhausted, Jacob offered him stew in exchange for his birthright. So Esau swore the oath and sold his birthright to Jacob for bread and lentil stew. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine in Abraham’s time, and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Stay in the land where I tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and confirm the oath I swore to Abraham.” So Isaac settled in Gerar.

When the men of that place asked about his wife, Isaac said, “She is my sister,” because he feared for his life on account of Rebekah’s beauty. But Abimelech eventually saw Isaac caressing Rebekah and rebuked him. Nevertheless, Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold, and the LORD blessed him until the Philistines envied him and asked him to move away.

Isaac moved away and reopened the wells his father’s servants had dug, naming them by the same names Abraham had given. His servants dug wells in the valley, but the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled over them, so Isaac named one Esek and another Sitnah. Then they dug another well, and there was no dispute over it; so he named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has made room for us.” Later at Beersheba the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” Then Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD.

Then Abimelech came to Isaac with his adviser and commander and said, “We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you.” So they made a covenant with Isaac. But when Esau was forty years old, he married Judith and Basemath, who brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called Esau and asked him to prepare savory food so that he might bless him before he died. Rebekah overheard and instructed Jacob to bring two young goats so that she could prepare the food Isaac loved. She then clothed Jacob in Esau’s garments and covered his hands and neck with goatskins.

Jacob went to his father and said, “I am Esau your firstborn.” Isaac hesitated, but after touching him and smelling his garments, he blessed him, saying, “May God give you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth… Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers.”

As soon as Jacob left, Esau returned and discovered what had happened. He cried out bitterly, and Isaac trembled violently, realizing that Jacob had already been blessed. Esau received only a lesser blessing and was told that he would live by the sword and serve his brother, though later he would break the yoke from his neck.

Esau held a grudge against Jacob and planned to kill him after Isaac’s death. Rebekah told Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran until Esau’s anger subsided. She also told Isaac that Jacob should not marry a Hittite woman.

So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman but to go to Paddan-aram and take a wife from the daughters of Laban. Isaac gave him the blessing of Abraham, that he might inherit the land. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and that the Canaanite women displeased his parents, he went to Ishmael and took Mahalath as an additional wife.

Jacob departed from Beersheba and headed toward Haran. He stopped for the night, put a stone under his head, and dreamed of a ladder set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and angels ascending and descending on it. The LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” Jacob awoke and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place.”

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head, set it up as a pillar, poured oil on top, and called that place Bethel. Then Jacob made a vow, saying that if God would be with him, give him bread and clothing, and bring him back safely, then the LORD would be his God, and he would give a tenth of all he received.

Jacob came to the land of the people of the east and met shepherds at a well. Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, and Jacob rolled away the stone from the well and watered the flock. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud. He stayed with Laban for a month.

Laban agreed that Jacob should work seven years for Rachel. But on the wedding night Laban gave him Leah instead. Jacob served another seven years for Rachel, whom he loved more than Leah.

When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. Leah bore Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, saying finally, “This time I will praise the LORD.”

Rachel envied Leah because she had no children and gave Bilhah to Jacob; Leah later gave Zilpah. Through Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah, sons and a daughter were born to Jacob, including Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah, and finally Joseph, after God remembered Rachel and opened her womb.

After Joseph was born, Jacob asked Laban to let him return home. But Laban said, “I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.” They agreed that Jacob’s wages would be the speckled and spotted animals, while Laban separated such animals to limit Jacob’s gain.

Jacob took fresh branches, peeled white stripes on them, and set them before the stronger animals at the watering troughs. Thus the stronger flocks became Jacob’s, and he grew exceedingly prosperous with large flocks, servants, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, and he saw that Laban’s attitude had changed. Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field and told them that the God of his father had been with him, despite Laban’s repeated deception. Rachel and Leah answered that they had no further inheritance in their father’s house and agreed to do whatever God had told Jacob.

So Jacob put his children and wives on camels and fled with all his possessions toward Gilead. Laban pursued him after learning that Rachel had stolen her father’s household idols. But God came to Laban in a dream and warned him not to say anything harmful to Jacob. Laban searched the tents but did not find the idols because Rachel had hidden them in the camel’s saddle.

Then Jacob rebuked Laban for twenty years of hardship and changing wages. Laban answered, but they made a covenant together at Galeed and Mizpah. Laban kissed his grandchildren and daughters and returned home.