NLT One Year Bible - Flipbook - Page 43
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64When
Rebekah looked up and saw
Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her
camel. 65“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.
66Then the servant told Isaac everything
he had done.
67And Isaac brought Rebekah into his
mother Sarah’s tent, and she became his
wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a
special comfort to him after the death
of his mother.
25:1 Abraham married another wife,
whose name was Keturah. 2 She gave
birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was
the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s
descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. 4Midian’s sons
were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and
Eldaah. These were all descendants of
Abraham through Keturah.
5Abraham gave everything he owned
to his son Isaac. 6 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.
7Abraham lived for 175 years, 8 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. 9His
sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the
cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the
field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
10This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he
had buried his wife Sarah. 11After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac,
who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the
Negev.
12 This is the account of the family of
Ishmael, the son of Abraham through
Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant. 13Here is
a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was
Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel,
Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16These twelve sons of Ishmael
J A N U A R Y
1 1
became the founders of twelve tribes
named after them, listed according to
the places they settled and camped.
17 Ishmael lived for 137 years. Then he
breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. 18Ishmael’s descendants
occupied the region from Havilah to
Shur, which is east of Egypt in the direction of Asshur. There they lived in open
hostility toward all their relatives.*
19 This is the account of the family of
Isaac, the son of Abraham. 20When
Isaac was forty years old, he married
Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the
Aramean from Paddan-aram and the
sister of Laban the Aramean.
21Isaac 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. 22But the two children struggled with each other in her
womb. So she went to ask the Lord
about it. “Why is this happening to
me?” she asked.
23And 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.”
24And when the time came to give
birth, Rebekah discovered that she did
indeed have twins! 25 The first one was
very red at birth and covered with thick
hair like a fur coat. So they named him
Esau.* 26Then 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.
27As the boys grew up, Esau became a
skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman,
but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home. 28Isaac loved
Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild
game Esau brought home, but Rebekah
loved Jacob.
29 One day when Jacob was cooking
some stew, Esau arrived home from the
wilderness exhausted and hungry.
30Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give
