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Genesis 24

Isaac and Rebekah.^*

1Abraham was old, having seen many days, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

2^a Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all his possessions: “Put your hand under my thigh,^*

3and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,^b

4but that you will go to my own land and to my relatives to get a wife for my son Isaac.”

5The servant asked him: “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

6Abraham told him, “Never take my son back there for any reason!

7The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, and who confirmed by oath the promise he made to me, ‘I will give this land to your descendants’—he will send his angel before you, and you will get a wife for my son there.^c

8If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath to me. But never take my son back there!”

9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him concerning this matter.

10The servant then took ten of his master’s camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the city of Nahor^* in Aram Naharaim.

11Near evening, at the time when women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city.

12Then he said: “LORD, God of my master Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me^* today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham.

13While I stand here at the spring and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water,

14if I say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jug, that I may drink,’ and she answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels, too,’ then she is the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I will know that you have dealt graciously with my master.”

15^d He had scarcely finished speaking when Rebekah—who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—came out with a jug on her shoulder.

16The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man. She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came up,

17the servant ran toward her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.”

18“Drink, sir,” she replied, and quickly lowering the jug into her hand, she gave him a drink.

19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels, too, until they have finished drinking.”

20With that, she quickly emptied her jug into the drinking trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, until she had drawn enough for all the camels.

21The man watched her the whole time, silently waiting to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose-ring weighing half a shekel, and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels for her wrists.

23Then he asked her: “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. And is there a place in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

24She answered: “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.

25We have plenty of straw and fodder,” she added, “and also a place to spend the night.”

26The man then knelt and bowed down to the LORD,

27saying: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not let his kindness and fidelity toward my master fail. As for me, the LORD has led me straight to the house of my master’s brother.”

28Then the young woman ran off and told her mother’s household what had happened.

29^e Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring.

30^* When he saw the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms and when he heard Rebekah repeating what the man had said to her, he went to him while he was standing by the camels at the spring.

31He said: “Come, blessed of the LORD! Why are you standing outside when I have made the house ready, as well as a place for the camels?”

32The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

33But when food was set before him, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my story.” “Go ahead,” they replied.

34“I am Abraham’s servant,” he began.

35“The LORD has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

36My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

37My master put me under oath, saying: ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live;

38instead, you must go to my father’s house, to my own family, to get a wife for my son.’

39When I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’

40he replied: ‘The LORD, in whose presence I have always walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey successful, and so you will get a wife for my son from my own family and my father’s house.^f

41Then you will be freed from my curse. If you go to my family and they refuse you, then, too, you will be free from my curse.’^*

42“When I came to the spring today, I said: ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, please make successful the journey I am on.

43While I stand here at the spring, if I say to a young woman who comes out to draw water, ‘Please give me a little water from your jug,’

44and she answers, ‘Drink, and I will draw water for your camels, too—then she is the woman whom the LORD has decided upon for my master’s son.’

45“I had scarcely finished saying this to myself when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. After she went down to the spring and drew water, I said to her, ‘Please let me have a drink.’

46She quickly lowered the jug she was carrying and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels, too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

47When I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ she answered, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, borne to Nahor by Milcah.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

48Then I knelt and bowed down to the LORD, blessing the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son.

49Now, if you will act with kindness and fidelity toward my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that too. I can then proceed accordingly.”

50^g Laban and Bethuel said in reply: “This thing comes from the LORD; we can say nothing to you either for or against it.

51Here is Rebekah, right in front of you; take her and go, that she may become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has said.”

52When Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.

53Then he brought out objects of silver and gold and clothing and presented them to Rebekah; he also gave costly presents to her brother and mother.

54After he and the men with him had eaten and drunk, they spent the night there.

When they got up the next morning, he said, “Allow me to return to my master.”^h

55Her brother and mother replied, “Let the young woman stay with us a short while, say ten days; after that she may go.”

56But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the LORD has made my journey successful; let me go back to my master.”

57They answered, “Let us call the young woman and see what she herself has to say about it.”

58So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” She answered, “I will.”^*

59At this they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.

60They blessed Rebekah and said:

“Sister, may you grow

into thousands of myriads;

And may your descendants gain possession

of the gates of their enemies!”ⁱ

61Then Rebekah and her attendants started out; they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.

62Meanwhile Isaac had gone from Beer-lahai-roi and was living in the region of the Negeb.^j

63One day toward evening he went out to walk in the field, and caught sight of camels approaching.

64Rebekah, too, caught sight of Isaac, and got down from her camel.

65She asked the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking through the fields toward us?” “That is my master,” replied the servant. Then she took her veil and covered herself.

66The servant recounted to Isaac all the things he had done.

67Then Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of his mother Sarah. He took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her and found solace after the death of his mother.

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Genesis 25

Abraham’s Sons by Keturah.

1^{* a} Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.

2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.^*

3Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.^b

4The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were descendants of Keturah.

5Abraham gave everything that he owned to his son Isaac.^*

6To the sons of his concubines, however, he gave gifts while he was still living, as he sent them away eastward, to the land of Kedem,^* away from his son Isaac.

Death of Abraham.

7The whole span of Abraham’s life was one hundred and seventy-five years.

8Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life; and he was gathered to his people.

9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre,^c

10the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there he was buried next to his wife Sarah.

11After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.

Descendants of Ishmael.

12^* These are the descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to Abraham.

13^d These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, listed in the order of their birth: Ishmael’s firstborn Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,^e

14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

16These are the sons of Ishmael, their names by their villages and encampments; twelve chieftains of as many tribal groups.^f

17The span of Ishmael’s life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. After he had breathed his last and died, he was gathered to his people.

18The Ishmaelites ranged from Havilah, by Shur, which is on the border of Egypt, all the way to Asshur; and they pitched camp^* alongside their various kindred.^g

Birth of Esau and Jacob.

19^* These are the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac.

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

21Isaac entreated the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The LORD heard his entreaty, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

22But the children jostled each other in the womb so much that she exclaimed, “If it is like this,^* why go on living!” She went to consult the LORD,

23and the LORD answered her:

Two nations are in your womb,

two peoples are separating while still within you;

But one will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.^{* i}

24When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.^j

25The first to emerge was reddish,^* and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.

26Next his brother came out, gripping Esau’s heel;^* so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.^k

27When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country; whereas Jacob was a simple^* man, who stayed among the tents.^l

28Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob.

29Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

30He said to Jacob, “Let me gulp down some of that red stuff;^* I am famished.” That is why he was called Edom.

31But Jacob replied, “First sell me your right as firstborn.”^{* m}

32“Look,” said Esau, “I am on the point of dying. What good is the right as firstborn to me?”

33But Jacob said, “Swear to me first!” So he sold Jacob his right as firstborn under oath.ⁿ

34Jacob then gave him some bread and the lentil stew; and Esau ate, drank, got up, and went his way. So Esau treated his right as firstborn with disdain.

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Genesis 26

Isaac and Abimelech.

1^{* a} There was a famine in the land, distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham, and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.^b

2The LORD appeared to him and said: Do not go down to Egypt, but camp in this land wherever I tell you.

3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.^c

4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing—^d

5this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate, my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions.

6^* So Isaac settled in Gerar.

7When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, “She is my sister.” He was afraid that, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was beautiful.

8But when they had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.

9He called for Isaac and said: “She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “I thought I might lose my life on her account.”

10“How could you have done this to us!” exclaimed Abimelech. “It would have taken very little for one of the people to lie with your wife, and so you would have brought guilt upon us!”

11Abimelech then commanded all the people: “Anyone who maltreats this man or his wife shall be put to death.”

12^* Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the LORD blessed him,

13^e he became richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy.

14He acquired flocks and herds, and a great work force, and so the Philistines became envious of him.

15^f The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

16So Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; you have become far too numerous for us.”

17Isaac left there and camped in the Wadi Gerar where he stayed.

18Isaac reopened the wells which his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; he gave them names like those that his father had given them.

19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the wadi and reached spring water in their well,

20the shepherds of Gerar argued with Isaac’s shepherds, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So he named the well Esek,^* because they had quarreled there.

21Then they dug another well, and they argued over that one too; so he named it Sitnah.^*

22So he moved on from there and dug still another well, but over this one they did not argue. He named it Rehoboth,^* and said, “Because the LORD has now given us ample room, we shall flourish in the land.”

23From there Isaac went up to Beer-sheba.

24The same 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 for the sake of Abraham, my servant.^g

25So Isaac built an altar there and invoked the LORD by name. After he had pitched his tent there, Isaac’s servants began to dig a well nearby.

26^h Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army.

27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have driven me away from you?”

28They answered: “We clearly see that the LORD has been with you, so we thought: let there be a sworn agreement between our two sides—between you and us. Let us make a covenant with you:

29you shall do no harm to us, just as we have not maltreated you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. So now, may you be blessed by the LORD!”

30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

31Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

32That same day Isaac’s servants came and informed him about the well they had been digging; they told him, “We have reached water!”

33He called it Shibah;^* hence the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.

34^* When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.ⁱ

35But they became a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

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Mark 4:26-35

Seed Grows of Itself.

26He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God;^* it is as if a man were to scatter seed^j on the land

27and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.

28Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

29And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

The Mustard Seed.

30^k He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?

31It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

32^* But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

33With many such parables^l he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.

34Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

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