Month: June 2025

One day, King Abimelech came from Gearar with his advisor, Ahuzath and also Phicol, his army commander. “Why have you come here?” Isaac asked. “You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off you land.”

They replied, “We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant. Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled 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!”

So Isaac prepared a covenant feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together. Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath not to interfere with each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left them in peace.

That very day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the new well they had dug. “We’ve found water!” they exclaimed. So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means “well of oath”).

At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith , the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah. (vv. 26-35, NLT)

A severe famine now struck the land, and as happened before in Abraham’s time. So Isaac mored to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines lived.

The Lord appeared to Issac and said “Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all thee lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, you father. I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants and all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to Me and obeyed all My commandments, decrees, and instructions.” So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.” But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and say Isaac caressing Rebekah.

Immediately, Ambimeleh called for Isaac and exclaimed, “She is obviously you wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister?’

“Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me,” Isaac replied.

“How could you do this to us?” Abimelech exclaimed. “One of our people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of a great sin.:

Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone woh touches this man or his wife will be put to death!” (vv. 1-11, NLT)

As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperarament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating wild game Esau bought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red”.)

“All right, ” Jacob replied, “but give me your rights as the firstborn son.”

“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”

But Jacob said, “You must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn. (vv. 27-34, NLT)

This is the account of the family of Issac, the son of Abraham. When Isaac was 40 years old; he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Armean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban and Aramean.

Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.

And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.”

And then the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! The first one was veery red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esaus. The other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. (vv. 19-26, NLT)

Abraham married another wife, whose name wa Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Suan. Jokshan was the father of Sheva and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the Ashuerites, Letushites, and Leummites. Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were all the descendants of Abraham through Keturah.

Abraham gave everything he owned to his son, Isaac. But before he died, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them off to a land in the east, away from Isaac.

Abraham lived to 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephon son of Zohar the Hittite. This was the field that Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he buried his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in Negev. (vv 1-11, NLT)

Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing to say. Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes. Let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord directed.” (vv. 50-51, NLT)

So they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s servant and his men. The woman who had been Rebekah’s childhood nurse went along with her. They6 gve her this blessing as she parted:

“Our sister, nay you become the mother of many millions! May you descendants be strong and conquer the cities of their enemies.” (vv. 59-60, NLT)

“Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant.

And he replied, “It is my master.” So Rebekah covered her face with her veil. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.

And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother, Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. he loved her deeply and she was special comfort to him after the death of his mother. (vv 65-67, NLT)

The young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban ,who rant out. to meet the man at the spring. (vv. 28-29, NLT)

So the man went home with Laban, and Laban unloaded the camels, gave him straw for their bedding, fed them, and provided water for the man and the camel drivers to wash their feet. Then food was served. But Abraham’s servant said, “I don’t want to eat until I have told you why. have come.”

“All right,” Laban said, “tell us.”

“I am Abraham’s servant,” he explained.

“And the Lord has greatly blessed my master; he has become a wealthy man. The Lord has given him flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, a fortune in slver and gold, and many. male and female camels and donkeys.”

“When Sarah, my master’s wife, was very old, she gave birth to a son, and my master has given him everything he owns. And my master made me take an oath. He said, “Do not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. Go instead to my father’s house, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son.” (vv. 32-38, NLT)

“O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed [Abraham’s servant]. “Please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham. I am standing here besides this spring, and the young women of the town are coming to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’-let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that You have shown unfailing love to my master.”

Before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebecca coming out with her jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah. Rebecca was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug and came up again. Running over to her, the servant said, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.”

“Yes, my lord,” she answered, “have a drink.” And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink. When she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink.” So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering through and ran back to the well to draw water for all his camels. (vv. 12-20, NLT)

When Sarah was 127 years old, she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham wept for her.

Then leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders. “Here I am , a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.”

The Hittites replied to Abraham, “Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince among us. Chooses the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one will refuse to help you in this way.” (vv 1-6, NLT)

So Abraham bought the pof of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the land itself, and the cave that was in it, and al the surrounding trees. It was transferred to Abraham’s as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there isn Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron. So the field and the cave were transferred fro the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place. (vv. 17-20, NLT)

When they arrived at the place where God had told them to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son , Issac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called on him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am !”

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yire) (which means ” the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of Lord it will be provided.” (vv. 9-14, NLT)