Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

²But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

³And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

⁴And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”

⁵And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

⁷And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

⁸But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.

¹¹And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

¹³Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.

¹⁴But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

¹⁵As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.

¹⁶And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

¹Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.

²And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

⁷The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.

⁸And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”

¹⁰The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”

¹¹And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction.

¹²He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

¹³So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,

²that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”

³Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,

⁴“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

⁸And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

¹²He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,

¹³both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

¹⁹God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

²²When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.

²⁷And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

¹And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.

²He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth

³and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.

⁴Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree,

⁵while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”

⁶And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly.

⁸Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.”

¹⁰The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.

¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.

¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”

¹³The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’

¹⁴Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.

¹⁷The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,

¹⁸seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

¹⁹For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,

²¹I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

²²So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.

²³Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?

²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

²⁶And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.

²⁸Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”

³⁰Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

³¹He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”

³²Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

³³And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

¹The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth

²and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.”

³But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

⁵And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”

⁶Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him,

⁷and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.

⁸Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

⁹But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.

¹⁰But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.

¹¹And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.

¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

¹⁷And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.

¹⁹Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.

²⁰Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there — is it not a little one? — and my life will be saved!”

²¹He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

²²Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

²⁸And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

³⁰Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.

³¹And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.

³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”

³³So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”

³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

³⁷The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

¹From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.

²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

³But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.”

⁴Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?

⁵Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

⁷Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.

⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”

¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?”

¹¹Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’

¹²Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

¹³And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.

¹⁵And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”

¹⁶To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”

¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.

¹⁸For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

¹The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.

²And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.

³Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.

⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”

⁷And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.

¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

¹¹And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

¹³And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.

¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

¹⁸Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.

²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.

²³Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized,

²⁶Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.

²⁸Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.

²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”

³⁰He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”

³¹Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.

³²So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

³⁴And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

¹After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

²He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

⁵Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.

⁷And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

⁹When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

¹²He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven

¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,

¹⁸and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

²¹Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”

²³(Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

²⁴Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

¹Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

²And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,

⁴“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵The Hittites answered Abraham,

⁶“Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.”

⁷Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land.

⁸And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,

⁹that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,

¹¹“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

¹³And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham,

¹⁵“My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

¹⁶Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over

¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

²⁰The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

¹Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

²And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh,

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

⁴but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there.

⁷The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

⁸But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.”

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

¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.

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

¹²And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.

¹³Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.

¹⁴Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ — let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

¹⁵Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.

¹⁶The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.

¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”

¹⁸She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.

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

²⁰So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.

²¹The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.

²²When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,

²³and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?”

²⁴She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”

²⁵She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.”

²⁶The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD

²⁷and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.”

²⁸Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things.

²⁹Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring.

³⁰As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

³¹He said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

³²So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”

³⁴So he said, “I am Abraham's servant.

³⁵The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.

³⁶And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has.

³⁷My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,

³⁸but you shall go to my father's house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’

³⁹I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’

⁴⁰But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's house.

⁴¹Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“I came today to the spring and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go,

⁴³behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,”

⁴⁴and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master's son.’

⁴⁵“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

⁴⁶She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.

⁴⁷Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms.

⁴⁸Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son.

⁴⁹Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good.

⁵¹Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has spoken.”

⁵²When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD.

⁵³And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.

⁵⁴And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.”

⁵⁵Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.”

⁵⁶But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.”

⁵⁸And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”

⁵⁹So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men.

⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!”

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

⁶²Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb.

⁶³And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.

⁶⁴And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel

⁶⁵and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.

⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

¹Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.

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

³Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

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

⁵Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.

⁶But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

⁷These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years.

⁸Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.

⁹Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,

¹⁰the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.

¹¹After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

¹²These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.

¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

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

¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes.

¹⁷(These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.)

¹⁸They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen.

¹⁹These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac,

²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.

²¹And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

²²The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

²³And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

²⁴When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.

²⁵The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau.

²⁶Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.

²⁸Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.

³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom. )

³¹Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.”

³²Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

³³Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

¹Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

²And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.

³Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

⁴I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

⁵because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar.

⁷When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.

⁸When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.

⁹So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”

¹⁰Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

¹¹So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹²And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him,

¹³and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

¹⁴He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.

¹⁵(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

¹⁶And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

¹⁷So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.

¹⁸And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

¹⁹But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,

²⁰the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.

²²And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

²³From there he went up to Beersheba.

²⁴And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.”

²⁵So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.

²⁶When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army,

²⁷Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

²⁸They said, “We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

²⁹that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.”

³⁰So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

³¹In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

³²That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.”

³³He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,

³⁵and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

¹When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.”

²He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.

³Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me,

⁴and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,

⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,

⁷‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.’

⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.

⁹Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.

¹⁰And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”

¹¹But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

¹²Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”

¹³His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

¹⁴So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.

¹⁵Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

¹⁶And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

²⁰But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the LORD your God granted me success.”

²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

²²So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

²³And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.

²⁴He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”

²⁵Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed!

²⁸May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.

²⁹Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

³¹He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me.”

³²His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

³³Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

³⁴As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

³⁵But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.”

³⁶Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

³⁷Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

³⁹Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high.

⁴⁰By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴²But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.

⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran

⁴⁴and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away —

⁴⁵until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

¹Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

²Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

³God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.

⁴May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”

⁵Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”

⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

⁸So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,

⁹Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.

¹¹And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

¹²And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

¹³And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.

¹⁴Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

¹⁵Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁶Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

²¹so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God,

²²and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”