Abraham married another
wife, whose name was Keturah. She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan,
Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s
descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites. Midian’s sons
were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were all descendants of
Abraham through Keturah.
Abraham gave everything
he owned to his son Isaac. 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.
Abraham lived for 175
years, 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. His sons
Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field
of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. This was the field Abraham had
purchased from the Hittites and where he had buried his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s
death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
This is the account of
the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian
servant. Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants:
The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma,
Dumah, Massa,Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
These twelve sons
of Ishmael 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. Ishmael’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.
This is the account of
the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham. When Isaac was forty years old, he
married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the
sister of Laban the Aramean.
Isaac 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. But 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.
And
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.”
And when the time came to
give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! The first
one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they
named him Esau. Then 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.
As the boys grew up, Esau
became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet
temperament, preferring to stay at home. Isaac loved Esau because he
enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
One day when Jacob was
cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and
hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!”
(This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)
“All right,” Jacob
replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
“Look, I’m dying of
starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
But Jacob said, “First
you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby
selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau some
bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed
contempt for his rights as the firstborn.
~ Source : Genesis 25:1-34 [Holy Bible -NLT] taken from
https://www.biblegateway.com
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