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Abraham had other sons
1 Abraham married another woman too. Her name was Keturah. 2 Abraham and Keturah had 6 sons together. Their names were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuwah.
3 After Jokshan grew up, he had 2 sons. Their names were Sheba and Dedan. The tribes that were from Dedan and his family were the Ashur mob, the Letush mob, and the Leyum mob.
4 After Midian grew up, he had 5 sons. Their names were Efah, Efer, Hanok, Abida, and Eldah.
All of those men were Keturah’s sons and grand-sons.
5 One day Abraham said, “After I die, I want my son Isaac to have everything that I own. He is the son of my 1st wife Sarah.” 6 But Abraham wanted to be good to his other sons too, those sons that he had with his other wives. So Abraham gave presents to those other sons. Then he sent them to go and live in a country to the east, a long way away from his son Isaac.
Abraham died
7-8 Abraham lived a long time, until he was a very old man. He lived until he was 175 years old. He had a good long life, then he breathed for the last time, and he died.
9-10 Then Abraham’s 2 oldest sons, Isaac and Ishmael, they took Abraham’s body to the cave at the place called Makpelah, to the east of the place called Mamreh. You see, a long time before that, Abraham bought that cave and the land around it from a man called Efron. Efron’s father was called Zohar, and they were from the Heth tribe. And Abraham put his wife Sarah’s body in that cave. So after Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael put his body in that cave, next to Sarah’s body.*
11 After that, Abraham’s son Isaac went to live near the water-hole called the water-hole that belongs to God, he is alive and sees me. And God kept on being good to Isaac.*
The story of Ishmael’s family
12 This is the story about Ishmael’s family. Ishmael was Abraham’s oldest son, and his mother’s name was Hagar. Hagar was from Egypt country, and she worked for Abraham’s wife Sarah.
13 Ishmael had 12 sons. His oldest son was called Nebayoth, and his next son was called Kedar, then Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Nafish, and Kedemah. 16 Later on, those 12 sons of Ishmael became the bosses of 12 tribes, and all those tribes lived in their own camps.
17 Ishmael lived until he was 137 years old. Then he breathed for the last time, and he died.
18 Ishmael’s sons and their tribes, they went and lived far away from their other relatives. They went and lived between the place called Havilah and the place called Shur, near Egypt country. Shur is also near the place called Ashur.
Isaac and Rebekah had 2 sons
19 This is the story about Abraham’s son Isaac and his family.
20 When Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah. Her family was from the Aram tribe, and they lived in Paddan Aram country. Her father’s name was Bethuel, and her brother’s name was Laban.
21 At first, after Isaac and Rebekah got married, they didn’t have any kids. Rebekah just couldn’t have a baby. So Isaac prayed strongly to God. He said, “Please let Rebekah have a baby.” God listened to Isaac, and God made 2 baby boys start growing inside Rebekah. 22 But while those babies were still inside her, they started to fight with each other. Rebekah felt them moving inside her, and she was worried about it. So she said to God, “Why is this happening to me?”
23 God said to Rebekah,
“There are 2 babies inside you. They will grow up and have kids, and their kids will become 2 nations.
Right from the start, those 2 nations will fight against each other.
One of those nations will be stronger than the other nation.
Yes, the younger son’s nation will be stronger, and his nation will be boss over the older son’s nation.”*
24 Later on, the time came for Rebekah to have her babies, and 2 boys were born. 25 The 1st baby that was born, his skin colour was a bit red. He also had hair all over his body, like an animal skin. Isaac and Rebekah named that baby Esau. 26 Straight away, the 2nd baby was born. And when that baby came out, he was holding the back of Esau’s foot. So Isaac and Rebekah named that baby Jacob. That name means he holds the back of the foot.
Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah had those 2 babies.
Esau let Jacob be the next leader for their family
27 Isaac and Rebekah’s sons grew up and became men. Their son Esau became a good hunter. He liked to go out bush and catch wild animals to eat. But their son Jacob was a quiet man, and he liked to stay at their camp.
28 Isaac loved to eat the wild animals that Esau caught. So Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob. But Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau.
29 One day, while Esau was out bush, Jacob cooked some soup with red beans in it. While Jacob was cooking that soup, Esau came back home, and he was really tired and hungry. 30-34 So Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me eat some of that red soup right now. I’m really tired and hungry.”*
Jacob said to Esau, “First, I want you to do something for me. You are the oldest son in our family. That means you are the most important son, and you will be the next leader for our family. But I want to be the most important son, instead of you. I want to be the next leader for our family. So you have to promise that you will let me be the most important son now, instead of you. Then you can eat some soup.”
Esau said, “Look, I’m so tired and hungry that I’m going to die. So it doesn’t matter if I stop being the next leader for our family. I just need some food right now.”
But Jacob said, “First, you have to make me that strong promise.” So Esau did what Jacob asked. He said to Jacob, “I promise that you can be the most important son in our family, instead of me, and you can be the next leader for our family.” Then Jacob gave Esau some of that soup with red beans in it, and some bread. Esau ate that red soup and bread, and then he got up and left.
That’s the story about how Esau let Jacob be the most important son. So Esau wasn’t the most important son any more, but he didn’t care.
Later on, people sometimes called Esau a different name. They called him Edom. That name means red, like that red soup.
* 25:9-10 Genesis 23:3-16 * 25:11 Genesis 16:14 * 25:23 Romans 9:12 * 25:30-34 Hebrews 12:16