God continued to speak to Abraham, "You and your descendants who are born in the future are to keep my covenant that is, you and your descendants, generation after generation.

Here is my covenant that you are to observe, between me and you and your descendants: Every male among you is to be circumcised.

I will bless her. Furthermore, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her, so that nations, kings, and people will come from her."

So Abraham responded to God, "If only Ishmael would live in constant awareness that you're always with him!"

With that, God finished talking to Abraham, and ascended, leaving him.

Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the servants born in his house or purchased with his money every male among the men of his household and circumcised them that very day, just as God had spoken to him.

Both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that very day.

I'll bring some food for you, and after that you may continue your journey, since you have come to visit your servant." So they replied, "Okay! Do what you've proposed."

Then he took curds, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, placed the food in front of them, and stood near them under the tree while they ate.

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?"

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."

I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know."

Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there?

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?"

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.

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!"

"All right," the angel replied to Lot, "I'll agree with your request! I won't overthrow the town that you mentioned.

Hurry up and flee there, because I cannot do anything until you get to that town." Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.

overthrowing those cities, all of the plain, and everyone who lived in the cities. He also destroyed the plants that grew out of the ground.

And so it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out from the midst of the destruction when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

So they had their father drink wine that night, and the older one had sexual relations with her father, but he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

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.

That's how both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

Then God replied to him in the dream, "I know that you did this with pure intentions, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn't allow you to touch her.

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."

"I thought that there's no fear of God in this place," Abraham replied, "and that they would kill me because of my wife.

Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the very time that God had told him.

She also said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? Yet I have given birth to a son in my husband's old age!"

Then she went and sat by herself about a distance of a bowshot away, because she kept saying to herself, "I can't bear to watch the child die!" That's why she sat a short distance away, crying aloud and weeping.

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?"

But then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized.

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."

Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba, because the two of them swore an oath.

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."

"Don't lay your hand on the youth!" he said. "Don't do anything to him, because I've just demonstrated that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only unique one, from me."

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

and said, "I have taken an oath to swear by myself," declares the LORD, "that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique son,

Sarah lived for 127 years. That's how long Sarah's life was.

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.

and addressed them, "If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me and make a request of Zohar's son Ephron on my behalf.

Give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him, at the end of his field. He should sell it to me in your presence at full price for a burial site."

"No, sir. Listen to me! I'll give you the field, and I'll give you the cave that's in it. I give it to you publicly, in the sight of my people. Bury 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."

That's how Ephron's field in Machpelah, east of Mamre the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were within the boundaries of the field came to be deeded

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.

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.

That's when he prayed, "LORD God of my master Abraham, help me to succeed today. Please show your gracious love to my master Abraham.

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."

"The LORD has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become wealthy. He has provided him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, camels and donkeys.

My master's wife Sarah gave birth to my master's son in her old age, and Abraham has given him everything that belongs to him.

"So today I arrived at the spring and prayed, "LORD God of my master Abraham, if you wish to make the journey that I have traveled successful,

here I am standing by the spring. May it be that the young woman who comes out to draw water, from whom I request a little water from her jug to drink,

if she tells me to drink and also draws water for the camels, may she be the woman that the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'

"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 now, if you wish to show gracious love and truth toward my master, tell me so. But if not, tell me, so that I may go elsewhere."

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."

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

"That's my master," the servant told her. So she reached for a veil and covered herself. Then the servant informed Isaac about everything he had done.

Later, Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent that had belonged to his mother Sarah and married her. Isaac loved her, and that's how he was comforted following the loss of his mother.

His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field that used to belong to Zohar the Hittite's son Ephron.

This was the same field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites, where Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried.

His descendants settled from Havilah to Shur (that's near Egypt), all the way to Assyria, in defiance of all of his relatives.

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.

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

Later on, a famine swept through the land. This famine was different from the previous famine that had occurred earlier, during Abraham's lifetime. So Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.

That's when the LORD appeared to Isaac. "You are not to go down to Egypt," he said. "Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I'll tell you.

Remain in this land, and I'll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham.

Later on, the men of that place asked about his wife, so he replied, "She's my sister," because he was afraid to call her "my wife." He kept thinking, ""otherwise, the men around here will kill me on account of Rebekah, since she's very beautiful."

Isaac received a 100-fold return on what he planted that year in the land he received, because the LORD blessed him.

He owned so many sheep, cattle, and servants that the Philistines eventually became envious of him.

They filled in with sand all of the wells that Isaac's father Abraham's servants had dug during his lifetime.

Isaac re-excavated some wells that his father had first dug during his lifetime, because the Philistines had filled them with sand after Abraham's death. Isaac renamed those wells with the same names that his father had called them.

When his workers started digging another well, those herdsmen quarreled about that one, too, so Isaac named it Sitnah.

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."

"Why have you come to see me," Isaac asked them, "since you hate me so much that you sent me away from you?"

"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

That very same day, Isaac's servants arrived and reported to him about a well that they had just completed digging. "We've found water!" they said.

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.

Then prepare some food, just the way I like it, and bring it to me so that I can eat and bless you before I die."

Then you are to take it to your father so that he can eat and bless you before he dies."

My father might touch me and he'll realize that I'm deceiving him. Then, I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing."

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

Then she handed the delicious food and bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob,

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.

At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. "Who then," he asked, "hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I've blessed him? Indeed, he is blessed."

In response, Isaac told Esau, "Look! I've predicted that he's going to become your master, and I've assigned all his brothers to be his servants. What then can I do for you, my son?"

So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself, "The time to mourn for my father is very near. That's when I'm going to kill my brother Jacob."

After that happens and he has forgotten what you've done to him, I'll send for you so you can return from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful so that your descendants become a whole group of people.

May he give you and your descendants the blessings that he gave Abraham. May you possess the land where you have lived that God gave to Abraham."

Esau noticed that after Isaac had blessed Jacob as he was sending him off to Paddan-aram to marry a wife from there, he had instructed Jacob, "Don't marry a Canaanite woman."

Esau realized that Canaan women didn't please his father Isaac,

when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God's angels were ascending and descending on it.

When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that he had used for his pillow, set it up as a pillar, drenched it with oil,

Then he made this solemn vow: "If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I'm taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,