Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.

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

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”

When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked about: and behold, there was a ram caught by the horns in a thicket. And he went and took the ram and offered him up for a sacrifice in the stead of his son.

So Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went with him to Beersheba; and Abraham settled in Beersheba.

Now Ephron was present there among the sons of Heth; so within the hearing of all the sons of Heth and all who were entering the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, saying,

and said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, “Please listen to me. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there.

But shalt go unto my country and to my kindred, and there take a wife unto my son Isaac."

Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there.

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there.”

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder.

“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

And she said to him, There is straw, and also much provender with us; also room to lodge.

As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.

So the man came in towards the house, and ungirded the camels, - and there was given him straw and fodder for the camels, and water for bathing his own feet and the feet of the men who were with him;

And there was set meat before him to eat; but he said, I will not eat until I have made known my business. And he said, Speak on.

Instead, you are to go to my father's household, to my relatives, and choose a wife for my son there.'

“Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her: Please let me have a drink.

After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight. When they got up in the morning, he said, "Let me leave now so I can return to my master."

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

This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

These 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.

And the LORD said unto her, "There are two manner of people in thy womb, and two nations shall spring out of thy bowels, and the one nation shall be mightier than the other and the eldest shall be servant unto the younger."

When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with the red the red thing there, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom.

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

And there will be to him possession of flocks, and possession of oxen, and service of many; and the Philistines will envy him.

So Isaac left there, camped in the Valley of Gerar, and lived there.

Then Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.

But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.

Then they made another water-hole, and there was a fight about that, so he gave it the name of Sitnah.

He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Open Spaces and said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

From there he went up to Beer-sheba,

So he built an altar there, called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there.

They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you:

Go now to the flock, and bring me from there two good kids of the goats. And I will make them delicious things for your father, such as he loves.

Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them.

and stay there with him a few days until your brother's fury subsides.

until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”

Rebekah also told herself, "Heth's daughters are making me tired of living. If Jacob marries one of Heth's daughters, and she turns out to be just like these other local women, what kind of life would there be left for me?"

Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. And take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.”

He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.

He dreamed that there was a ladder (stairway) placed on the earth, and the top of it reached [out of sight] toward heaven; and [he saw] the angels of God ascending and descending on it [going to and from heaven].

Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on.

And Jacob will awake from his sleep, and he will say, surely there is Jehovah in this place and I knew not

He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well. A large stone covered the opening of the well.

When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep. The stone was then placed back on the well’s opening.

And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well; and behold, there comes Rachel his daughter with the sheep.

When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?”

And Rachel seeth that she hath not borne to Jacob, and Rachel is envious of her sister, and saith unto Jacob, 'Give me sons, and if there is none -- I die.'

And she said, Behold, there is my maid, Bilhah: go in to her, in order that she may bear on my knees, and I may also be built up by her.

I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown lambs among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my wages.

but when the flock was sickly, he did not put the branches there; so the sicker [animals] were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.

And the man will break forth greatly, greatly; and there will be to him many sheep and maids, and servants, and camels and asses.

There he said to them, "I can tell that your father's attitude toward me has changed, but the God of my father has been with me.

I the God of the house of God, where thou didst anoint there a pillar; where thou didst vow to me there a vow: now arise, go forth from this land, and turn back to the land of thy kindred.

And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too.

So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there; and he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's.

And she said to her father, "Let there not be anger in the eyes of my lord, for I am not able to rise before you, for the way of women [is] with me. And he searched carefully and did not find the idols.

There I was—the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound.

If thou oppress my daughters, or if thou take wives besides my daughters, - there may be no man with us - see! God, be witness betwixt me, and thee!

So Jacob made an oath by his father's Fear, offered sacrifices there on the mountain, and called on his relatives to eat some food. So they ate the food and spent the night on the mountain.

When, Jacob, had gone on his way, there met him, messengers of God.

And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

And there will be to me ox and ass, sheep and servant, and maid; and I shall send to announce to my lord to find grace in thine eyes.

You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'"

He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau:

He entrusted them into the care of his servants, one herd at a time. Then he told his servants, "Go in front of me, making sure there's plenty of space between herds."

then you are to reply, "We're from your servant Jacob. The herds are a gift. He's sending them to my master, Esau. Look! There he is, coming along behind us.'"

And Jacob was left alone, - and there wrestled a man with him, until the uprisings of the dawn.

Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

But He answered, “Why do you ask My name?” And He blessed him there.

When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah's children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups.

And he lift up his eyes and saw the wives and their children, and said, "What are these which thou there hast?" And he said, "They are the children which God hath given thy servant."

And Esau will say, There is much to me, my brother; what is to thee shall be to thee.

But Jacob said, My lord may see that the children are only small, and there are young ones in my flocks and herds: one day's over-driving will be the destruction of all the flock.

Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But Jacob said, “What need is there [for it]? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

but Jacob set out for Succoth, built a house there, and constructed some cattle shelters. He named the place Succoth.

And he will buy a part of the field where he spread there his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred lambs.

And he set up an altar there and called it “God, the God of Israel.”

Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you; do trade and get property there.

So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men there.

Then Jacob’s [other] sons came upon those who were killed and looted the town, because their sister had been defiled and disgraced.

God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Jacob built an altar there and called the place God of Bethel because it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

Rebekah's nurse Deborah died and was buried there, under the oak tree that was below Beth-el. That's why the place was named Allon-bacuth.

And Jacob will call the name of the place which God spake with him there, The House of God.

And they will remove from the House of God; and there will be yet a measure of land to come to Ephrath: and Rachel will bring forth, and she will be hard in bringing forth.

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Now Jacob had twelve sons—

And Jacob will go to Isaak his father to Mamra, the city of Arba (this Hebron), where Abraham sojourned there, and Isaak.

And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned a king over the children of Israel.

There reigned in Edom, Bela, son of Beor, - and the name of his city, was Dinhabah.