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.

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."

Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah appeared. She was a daughter of Milcah's son Bethuel. (Milcah was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.) She approached the well, carrying a jug on her shoulder.

Then Abraham's servant ran to meet her and asked her, "Please, let me have a sip of water from your jug."

She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and ran to the well to draw again until she had drawn enough water for all ten of the servant's camels.

The man stared at her in silence, waiting to see whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

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

"I am the daughter of Bethuel," she answered. "He's the son of Milcah and Nahor.

"Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hasn't held back his gracious love and faithfulness from my master! The LORD has led me to the house of my master's relatives!"

The young woman then ran ahead and informed her mother's household what had happened.

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!

"Come on," Laban said. "The LORD has blessed you! So why are you standing out here when I've prepared some space in the house and a place for the camels?"

So the servant went to the house and unbridled the camels. They provided straw and feed for the camels and water for washing his feet and those of the men with him.

"I'm Abraham's servant," he said.

"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.

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

"So I asked my master, "What if the woman won't come back with me?'

"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.

"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,

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.'

She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and told me, "Have a drink while I also water your camels.' So I drank, and she also gave my camels water to drink.

"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 I gave her a ring for her nose and bracelets for her wrists. I bowed down and worshipped the LORD, and I praised the LORD God of my master Abraham, who led me on the true way to request the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

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."

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."

When Abraham's servant heard what they had said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.

"Please don't delay me," the servant answered them. "The LORD has made my journey successful. Send me off so I can return to my master."

But they said, "We'll call the young lady and see what she has to say about this."

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you want to go with this man?" "I will go," she replied.

So they sent off their sister Rebekah, along with her personal assistant, Abraham's servant, and his men.

Then Rebekah and her young servant women got up, mounted their camels, and followed Abraham's servant, who took Rebekah and went on his way.

Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel

"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.

Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's sons were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites.

Midian's sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were Keturah's descendants.

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.

After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who continued to live near Beer-lahai-roi.

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

Here's a list of the names of Ishmael's sons, recorded by their names and descendants: Nebaioth was the firstborn, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

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.

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

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.

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

But Jacob insisted, "Swear it by an oath right now." So he swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

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.

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.

So Isaac lived in Gerar.

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."

After he had been there awhile, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

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.'"

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

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.

So Isaac moved from there and encamped in the Gerar Valley, where he settled.

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.

While Isaac's servants were digging in the valley, they discovered a well with flowing water.

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.

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

So Isaac held a festival for them, and they ate and drank.

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.

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

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.

so go find your weapons, take your bow and arrows, go outside, and hunt some game for me.

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."

"Bring me some game and then prepare some food for me so I can eat and bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.'

So now, my son, listen to what I have to say and pay attention to what I'm about to tell you.

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

So out he went, got them, and brought them to his mother, who then prepared some delicious food, just the way his father liked it.

who went to his father and said, "My father"" "It's me!" he replied. "Which one are you, my son?"

"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."

"How did you get it so quickly, my son?" Isaac asked. Jacob responded, ""because the LORD your God made me successful."

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.

"Come closer to me," Isaac replied, "so I can eat some of the game, my son, and then bless you." So Jacob came closer, and Isaac ate. Jacob also brought wine so his father could drink.

After this, Jacob's father Isaac told him, "Come closer and kiss me, my son."

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.

May people serve and bow before you; may you be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow before you; may anyone who curses you be cursed; and may anyone who blesses you be blessed."

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

prepared some delicious food, brought it to his father, and told him, "Can you get up now, father, so you may eat some of your son's game and then bless me?"

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."

Eventually, what Rebekah's older son Esau had been saying was reported to her, so she sent for her younger son Jacob and warned him, "Look! Your brother is planning to get even by killing you.

Son, you'd better do what I say! Get up, run off to my brother Laban in Haran,

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

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?"

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?"

Instead, get up, travel to Paddan-aram, and visit the household of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of Laban's daughters, since he's your mother's brother.

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