When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”

But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords!

He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.

Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth.

On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.”

Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”

Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless?

Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.

Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”

And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?”

Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.

and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.”

To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.”

Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised.

Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.”

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.

Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.

God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

Abraham said, “I swear it.”

And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.”

Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?”

He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.”

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

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

Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,

Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh,

The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?”

Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there!

He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham.

Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.”

She said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.

Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father’s house?”

She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”

Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.”

He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

And he said, “Come in, blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside since I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?”

But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have told my business.” And he said, “Speak on.”

So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.

I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’

He said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;

“So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go successful;

“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.

Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists.

Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.”

But her brother and her mother said, “Let the girl stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.”

He said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”

And they said, “We will call the girl and consult her wishes.”

Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.”

They blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister,
Become thousands of ten thousands,
And may your descendants possess
The gate of those who hate them.”

She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her veil and covered herself.

But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb;
And two peoples will be separated from your body;
And one people shall be stronger than the other;
And the older shall serve the younger.”

and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.

When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful.”

Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’”

Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.”

He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,
“I am the God of your father Abraham;
Do not fear, for I am with you.
I will bless you, and multiply your descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”

Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”

Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”

Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,

But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”

Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.”

Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.”

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”

So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.

Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”

So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed;

Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.”

Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.