Genesis 25

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 sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushim and the Leummim.-

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

⁵ Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac.

⁶ To the sons of his concubines Abraham gave presents, and during his lifetime he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the east country.

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

⁸ Then Abraham breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, an old man who had lived his full span of years; and he was gathered to his people.

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

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

¹¹ After Abraham’s death God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived near the well of Lahai Roi.

¹² These are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant.

¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael in the order of their birth: 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. The number of years Ishmael lived was one hundred and thirty-seven.

¹⁷ Then he breathed his last, died, and was gathered to his people.

¹⁸ He lived in the territory stretching from Havilah to Shur, which is to the east of Egypt, on the way to Assyria. He set himself to defy his brothers.

¹⁹ This is the story of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of 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 struggled with one another inside her, and she said, ‘If this is the way of it, why go on living?’ So she went to consult Yahweh,[*a]

²³ and he said to her: ‘There are two nations in your womb, your issue will be two rival peoples. One nation shall have the mastery of the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.'[*b]

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

²⁵ The first to be born was red, and as though he were completely wrapped in 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.[*c] 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, Jacob had made a soup, and Esau returned from the countryside exhausted.

³⁰ Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat the red soup, that red soup there; I am exhausted’-hence the name given to him, Edom.

³¹ Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright,[*d] then’.

³² Esau said, ‘Here I am, at death’s door; what use will my birthright be 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 bread and lentil soup, and after eating and drinking he got up and went. That was all Esau cared for his birthright.