25
Abraham married Keturah
1 Some time after Sarah died, Abraham married another woman and her name was Keturah. 2 Abraham and Keturah had 6 sons together and their names were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Later on, Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan, and when Dedan grew up, he had 3 sons. From these 3 sons came the Assyrian, Letush and Leum people. 4 Midian had 5 sons, and they were named Efah, Effer, Hanock, Abida, and Elday-ah. All these people came from Abraham and Keturah.
5-6 Before he died, Abraham was very kind to the sons he had with Hagar and Keturah and gave them a lot of presents. But he sent them away to live in country to the East. He did not want them to live close to Isaac. And so, when Abraham died, Isaac got everything that belonged to his father.
Abraham died
7-8 Abraham was 175 years old when he died and he was buried just like his old father's before him. He had lived a long time and had a good life. 9-10 His 2 sons, Isaac and Ishmael took Abraham's body and put it in the same cave where Abraham buried his wife Sarah. It was called Mack-pelah and was near Mamre. Abraham had paid Efron for that land. Efron's father was named Zoar the Hittite. +
11 Isaac lived near Beer La-hai Roy after Abraham died and it was there that God was good to Isaac.
This is Ishmael's Story
12 Many years before, Sarah had an Egyptian woman that worked for her. Her name was Hagar. When Sarah found that she could not have a baby, she gave Hagar to be like a wife for Abraham.+ Sarah did this so that Hagar and Abraham could have a baby together. Hagar did have a son and Abraham named him Ishmael. Later on, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away from his camp. But God had promised Hagar that Ishmael would have a big family.
This is the family that came from Ishmael
13-15 This is a list of Ishmael's sons. Nebay-oth, was the oldest, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Nafish, and Kedemah was the youngest. 16 Each of the 12 sons was the leader of his own tribe and they all lived in their own country.
17 Ishmael died when he was 137 years old.
18 The tribes that came from Ishmael lived in a big area that went from Havilah to Shur. Shur is near the Egyptian border, on the west side of Assyria. And what the angel said to Hagar years before at the waterhole, came true. Ishmael's mob did fight with each other all the time.
This is Isaac's story
19 This is the story of Abraham's son named Isaac.
20 Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. She came from Abraham's country and was the daughter of Bethuel who lived in Harran. Her brother's name was Laban and he was called The Aramean.
21 Isaac and Rebekah were married for 20 years and they still did not have any children and so Isaac prayed for her. God heard his prayer and later on Rebekah knew she was going to have a baby. 22 But she was going to have twins and they started to fight each other even before they were born. Rebekah was upset and said to herself, “Why is this happening to me?” Then she prayed to the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,
“There are 2 boys inside you.
One day, they will be 2 nations.
And they will be against each other all the time.
One nation will be stronger than the other,
and the boy that is born second
will be the boss over the boy that is born first.”+
24-25 On the day the twins were born, the first one was all red and had hair all over his body like a coat, and so they named him Esau. 26 When the second baby was born, he was holding his brother's foot so they named him Jacob. Jacob means Tricky One in their language. Isaac was 60 years old when his sons were born.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a very good hunter. He loved being out in the bush, but Jacob was a quiet man who liked to stay around his parent's camp. 28 Isaac loved to eat the bush food that Esau took home and so Esau was Isaac's favourite son, but Rebekah loved Jacob the best.
Esau gave up his place in the family
29-30 One day, Esau came home after hunting, and he was really hungry. He found Jacob cooking some stew and said, “I am really hungry, give me some of that red stew.” And that is why people named him Edom. It means Red.
31 Jacob answered, “I will give you the stew, if you give me your place in the family. That means that I will be like the oldest son and will get more than you, when our father dies.”
32 Esau said, “I am so hungry that I feel like I am going to die. I am not worried about getting my father's things after he dies.”
33 But Jacob said, “First, you have to make a strong promise to me.” And so Esau promised that Jacob would be the leader of the family after Isaac died. It was like Esau sold his place in the family for a bowl of stew. 34 Jacob gave Esau some bread and stew with vegetables in it. Esau ate and drank and then he went away. In this way, Esau showed that he did not care about being the next leader of the family after Isaac died. +
+ 25:9-10 Genesis 23:3-20; 49:29-30 + 25:12 Genesis 16:1-4; Genesis 30:4-5,9 + 25:23 Romans 9:10-12 + 25:34 Hebrews 12:16