Abraham Names Isaac to be His Heir

1Abraham had taken another wife whose name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. 4Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah’s descendants.

5Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac. 6While he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to his concubinesa and sent them to the east country in order to keep them away from his son Isaac.

7Abraham lived for 175 years,b 8then passed away, dying at a ripe old age, having lived a full life, and joined his ancestors.c 9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field that used to belong to Zohar the Hittite’s son Ephron. 10This was the same field that Abraham had bought from the son of Heth, where Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. 11After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who continued to live near Beer-lahai-roi.

A Summary of Ishmael’s Life

12Now this is what happened to Ishmael, whom Sarah’s Egyptian servant Hagar bore for Abraham. 13Here’s a list of the names of Ishmael’s sons, recorded by their names and descendants: Nebaioth was the firstborn, followed byd Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16These were Ishmael’s children, listed by their names according to their villages and their camps. There were a total of twelve tribal chiefs, according to their clans. 17Ishmael livede for 137 years, then he took his last breath, died, and joined his ancestors.f 18His descendantsg settled from Havilah to Shur (that’s near Egypt), all the way to Assyria, in defianceh of all of his relatives.

The Births of Esau and Jacob

19This is the account of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham fathered Isaac. 20Isaac was forty years old when he marriedi Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Arameanj from Paddan-aramk and sister of Laban the Aramean.l 21Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was unable to conceive children, and the LORD responded to him—his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

22But when the infantsm kept on wrestling each other inside her womb,n she asked herself, “Why is this happening?”o So she asked the LORD for an explanation.p

23“Two nationsq are in your womb,” the LORD responded, “and two separate people will emerge. One people will be the stronger, and the older one will serve the younger.”

24Sure enough, when her due date arrived, she delivered twin sons.r 25The first son came out reddish—his entire body was covered with hair—so they named him Esau.s 26After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, so they named him Jacob.t Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

27As the boys were growing up, Esau became skilled at hunting and was a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was the quiet type who tended to stay indoors. 28Isaac loved Esau, because he loved to hunt, while Rebekah loved Jacob. 29One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished.

30Esau told Jacob, “Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I’m starving.” (That’s how Esau got his nickname “Edom”.)u

31But Jacob responded, “Sell me your birthright. Do it now.”v

32“Look! I’m about to die,” Esau replied. “What good is this birthright to me?”

33But Jacob insisted, “Swear it by an oath right now.” So he swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34Then Jacob gave Esau some of his food, along with some boiled stew. So Esau ate, drank, got up, and left, after having belittled his own birthright.