Genesis - The Old Testament

¹ Abraham married another wife whose name was Keturah;

² and she bore him Zimram, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushim and the Leummim.

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

⁵ Abraham left all his possessions to Isaac.

⁶ To the sons of his concubines Abraham made grants during his lifetime, sending them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the Land of the East.

⁷ The number of years Abraham lived was a hundred and seventy-five.

⁸ When Abraham had breathed his last, dying at a happy ripe age, old and full of years, he was gathered to his people.

⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah facing Mamre, in the field of Ephron the Hittite son of Zohar.

¹⁰ This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites, and Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there.

¹¹ After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac settled near the well of Lahai Roi.

¹² These are the descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian slave-girl.

¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael by name and line: Ishmael's first-born was Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.

¹⁶ These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, according to their settlements and encampments, twelve chiefs of as many tribes.

¹⁷ The number of years Ishmael lived was one hundred and thirty-seven. When he breathed his last and died, he was gathered to his people.

¹⁸ He lived in the territory stretching from Havilah-by-Shur just outside Egypt on the way to Assyria, and he held his own against all his kinsmen.

¹⁹ This is the story of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac.

²⁰ Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-Aram, and sister of Laban the Aramaean.

²¹ Isaac prayed to Yahweh on behalf of his wife, for she was barren. Yahweh heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

²² But the children inside her struggled so much that she said, 'If this is the way of it, why go on living?' So she went to consult Yahweh,

²³ and Yahweh said to her: There are two nations in your womb, your issue will be two rival peoples. One nation will have the mastery of the other, and the elder will serve the younger.

²⁴ When the time came for her confinement, there were indeed twins in her womb.

²⁵ The first to be born was red, altogether like a hairy cloak; so they named him Esau.

²⁶ Then his brother was born, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old at the time of their birth.

²⁷ When the boys grew up Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the open country. Jacob on the other hand was a quiet man, staying at home among the tents.

²⁸ Isaac preferred Esau, for he had a taste for wild game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob.

²⁹ Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau returned from the countryside exhausted.

³⁰ Esau said to Jacob, 'Give me a mouthful of that red stuff there; I am exhausted' -- hence the name given to him, Edom.

³¹ Jacob said, 'First, give me your birthright in exchange.'

³² Esau said, 'Here I am, at death's door; what use is a birthright to me?'

³³ Then Jacob said, 'First give me your oath'; he gave him his oath and sold his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave him some bread and lentil stew; he ate, drank, got up and went away. That was all Esau cared about his birthright.