The men asked him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" "There, in the tent," he replied.

That's why Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "After I'm so old and my husband is old, too, am I going to have sex?"

Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the time set for it, I will return to you about a year from now and Sarah will have a son."

Indeed, I've made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the LORD, and to do what is right and just, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised."

The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!

Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won't he?"

As soon as he finished talking to Abraham, the LORD left and Abraham returned to where he had been sitting.

They called out to Lot and asked, "Where are the men who came to visit you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!"

But they replied, "Get out of the way! This man came here as a foreigner, and now he's acting like a judge! So we're going to deal more harshly with you than with them." Then they pushed hard against the man (that is, against Lot), intending to break down the door.

because we're going to destroy it. Their outcry has come to the attention of the LORD, so he sent us here to destroy it!"

Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), "Get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

As dawn was breaking, the angels pressured Lot. "Get going!" they told him. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be engulfed by the devastation that's coming to this city."

Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it's a small one. Let me escape there! It's a small one, isn't it? That way I'll stay alive!"

But Lot's wife looked back as she lingered behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

One day the firstborn told the younger one, "Our father is old, and there's no man in the land to have sex with us, as everybody else throughout all the earth does.

The next day the firstborn told the younger one, "Look! I had sex with my father last night. Let's make him drink wine tonight again as well. Then you have sex with him, too. That way we'll preserve our father's lineage."

So they made their father drink wine that night as well, so he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab, and he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.

The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi, and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

Abraham traveled from there to the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar as an outsider,

because Abraham kept saying about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister," King Abimelech of Gerar summoned them and took Sarah into his household.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, "Pay attention! You're about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man's wife!"

Now then, return the man's wife. As a matter of fact, he's a prophet and can intercede for you so you'll live. But if you don't return her, be aware that you and all who are yours will certainly die."

Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great sin against me and my kingdom? You've done things to me that ought not to have been done."

Besides, she really is my sister she's my father's daughter, but not my mother's daughter so she could become my wife.

and said, "Look! My land is available to you, so settle wherever you please."

Abimelech also told Sarah, "Look! I am giving your brother 1,000 pieces of silver to vindicate you in the eyes of all who are with you. As a result, you will be completely vindicated."

The LORD came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.

On the eighth day after his son Isaac had been born, Abraham circumcised him, just as God had commanded him.

Nevertheless, I will make the slave girl's son into a nation, since he, too, is your offspring."

God heard the boy's voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. He asked her, "What's wrong with you, Hagar? Don't be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the youth where he is.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He settled in the wilderness and became an expert archer.

About that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, told Abraham, "God is with you in everything that you're doing.

Therefore swear an oath here by God that you won't deal falsely with me, my sons, or my descendants. Just as I've dealt graciously with you, won't you do so with me and with the land in which you live as a foreigner?"

so Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set aside?"

He replied, "You are to accept from me these seven ewe lambs as a witness that I have dug this well."

After this, Abraham resided as a foreigner in Philistine territory for a long period of time.

God said, "Please take your son, your unique son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you."

Abraham ordered his two servants, "Both of you are to stay here with the donkey. Now as for the youth and me, we'll go up there, we'll worship, and then we'll return to you."

Then Abraham looked up and behind him to see a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went over, grabbed the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

Abraham named that place, "The LORD Will Provide," as it is told this day, "On the LORD's mountain, he will provide."

I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies.

Uz is his firstborn, Buz is his brother, and Kemuel is the father of Aram,

She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, in Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

"Listen to us, sir. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial tombs. None of us would refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."

"Sir, listen to me! The land is worth 400 shekels of silver, but what's that between us? You may bury your dead."

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave at the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre (that is, in Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

And so the field with its cave was deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

as a promise to the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you won't acquire a wife for my son from the Canaanite women among whom I'm living.

Then Abraham's servant took ten camels from his master's herd of camels and left on his journey with all kinds of gifts from his master's inventory. Eventually, he traveled as far as Aram-naharaim, Nahor's home town.

As evening approached, he had the camels kneel outside the town at the water well, right about the time when women customarily went out to draw water.

I've stationed myself here by the spring as the women of the town come to draw water.

May it be that the young woman to whom I ask, "Please, lower your jug so that I may drink,' responds, "Have a drink, and I'll water your camels as well.' May she be the one whom you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This is how I'll know that you have shown your gracious love to my master."

"Drink, sir!" she replied as she quickly lowered her jug on her arm to offer him a drink.

He asked her, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

And yes," she continued, "we have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place to spend the night."

And so it was, as soon as he saw the nose ring and bracelets on his sister's wrists, and as soon as he heard what his sister Rebekah was saying about what the man had spoken to her, he went out to the man who was still standing by the camels at the spring!

"Abraham told me, "The LORD, who is with me wherever I go, will send his angel with you to make your journey successful. So you are to choose a wife for my son from my family, from my father's household.

"That's when I asked, "Whose daughter are you?' "She replied, "I'm the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore for him.'

So here's Rebekah she's right in front of you. Take her and go, so she can become a wife for your master's son, just as the LORD has decreed."

But her brother and mother said, "Let the young lady stay with us a few days at least ten and after that she may go."

As they were leaving, they all blessed Rebekah by saying, "Our sister, may you become the mother of tens of millions! May your descendants take over the city gates of those who hate them."

Later on, as Isaac was returning one evening from Beer-lahai-roi (he had been living in the Negev),

and asked the servant, "Who is that man coming in the field to meet us?"

Abraham had taken another wife whose name was Keturah.

Now this is what happened to Ishmael, whom Sarah's Egyptian servant Hagar bore for Abraham.

This is the account of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac.

But when the infants kept on wrestling each other inside her womb, she asked herself, "Why is this happening?" So she asked the LORD for an explanation.

The first son came out reddish his entire body was covered with hair so they named him Esau.

After that, his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

As 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.

Isaac loved Esau, because he loved to hunt, while Rebekah loved Jacob.

One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau happened to come in from being outdoors, and he was feeling famished.

Esau told Jacob, "Let me gobble down some of this red stuff, since I'm starving." (That's how Esau got his nickname "Edom".)

"Look! I'm about to die," Esau replied. "What good is this birthright to me?"

Then 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.

I'll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I'll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another.

So Abimelech called Isaac and confronted him. "She is definitely your wife!" he accused him, "So why did you claim, "She's my sister?'" Isaac responded, "Because I had thought ""otherwise, I'll die on account of her.'"

"What have you done to us?" Abimelech asked. "Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty."

So he issued this order to everyone: "Whoever touches this man or his wife is to be executed."

Then Abimelech ordered Isaac, "Move away from us! You've become more powerful than we are."

But the herdsmen who lived in Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen. "The water is ours," they said. As a result, Isaac named the well Esek, for they had fiercely disputed with him about it.

Then he left that area and dug still another well. Because they did not quarrel over that one, Isaac named it Rehoboth, because he used to say, "The LORD has enlarged the territory for us. We will prosper in the land."

"We've seen that the LORD is with you," they responded, "so we're proposing an agreement between us between us and you. Allow us to make a treaty with you

by which you'll agree not to do us any harm, just as we haven't harmed you, since we've done nothing but good for you after we sent you away in peace. As a result, you've been tremendously blessed by the LORD."

So Isaac named the well Shebah, which is why the city is named Beer-sheba to this day.

When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

Eventually, Isaac grew so old that he could not see. One day, he called his eldest son Esau. "My son," he called out to him.

Now Rebekah overheard Isaac while he was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out to the field to hunt and bring in some game,

Rebekah gave these instructions to her son Jacob: "Quick! Pay attention!" she said. "I heard your father talking to your brother Esau. He told him,

"But look!" Jacob pointed out to his mother Rebekah, "My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I'm smooth skinned.

Then Rebekah took some garments that belonged to her elder son Esau the best ones available and put them on her younger son Jacob.

"I'm Esau, your firstborn!" Jacob told his father. "I've done what you asked, so please sit up and eat what I caught, so you can bless me."

So Isaac told Jacob, "Come here, my son, so I can feel you and know for sure whether or not you're my son Esau."

So Jacob approached his father, who felt him and said, "It's Jacob's voice, but Esau's hands."

He didn't recognize Jacob, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau, so Isaac blessed him.

He asked, "Are you really my son Esau?" "I am," Jacob replied.

So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son's clothes, he blessed him and said, "How my son's scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed.

Just after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, Jacob's brother Esau returned from hunting,

But his father Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" "I'm Esau, your firstborn son," he answered.