Genesis 25

Abraham and Keturah

1Abraham again took a wife, and her name was #1 Chr. 1:32, 33Keturah. 2And #1 Chr. 1:32, 33she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

5And #Gen. 24:35, 36Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. 6But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he #Gen. 21:14sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to #Judg. 6:3the country of the east.

Abraham’s Death and Burial

7This is the sum of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years. 8Then Abraham breathed his last and #Gen. 15:15; 47:8, 9died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and #Gen. 25:17; 35:29; 49:29, 33was gathered to his people. 9And #Gen. 35:29; 50:13his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of #Gen. 23:9, 17; 49:30Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, 10#Gen. 23:3–16the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. #Gen. 49:31There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. 11And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at #Gen. 16:14Beer Lahai Roi.

The Families of Ishmael and Isaac

12Now this is the #Gen. 11:10, 27; 16:15genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant, bore to Abraham. 13And #1 Chr. 1:29–31these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, #Gen. 17:20twelve princes according to their nations. 17These were the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred and thirty-seven years; and #Gen. 25:8; 49:33he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18#Gen. 20:1; 1 Sam. 15:7(They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria.) He died #Gen. 16:12in the presence of all his brethren.

19This is the #Gen. 36:1, 9genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. #Matt. 1:2Abraham begot Isaac. 20Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, #Gen. 22:23; 24:15, 29, 67the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, #Gen. 24:29the sister of Laban the Syrian. 21Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; #1 Sam. 1:17; 1 Chr. 5:20; 2 Chr. 33:13; Ezra 8:23; Ps. 127:3and the Lord granted his plea, #Rom. 9:10–13and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” #1 Sam. 1:15; 9:9; 10:22So she went to inquire of the Lord.

23And the Lord said to her:

#Gen. 17:4–6, 16; 24:60; Num. 20:14; Deut. 2:4–8“Two nations are in your womb,

Two peoples shall be separated from your body;

One people shall be stronger than #2 Sam. 8:14the other,

#Gen. 27:29, 40; Mal. 1:2, 3; Rom. 9:12And the older shall serve the younger.”

24So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25And the first came out red. He was #Gen. 27:11, 16, 23like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26Afterward his brother came out, and #Hos. 12:3his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so #Gen. 27:36his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27So the boys grew. And Esau was #Gen. 27:3, 5a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was #Job 1:1, 8a mild man, #Heb. 11:9dwelling in tents. 28And Isaac loved Esau because he #Gen. 27:4, 19, 25, 31ate of his game, #Gen. 27:6–10but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

29Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

31But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”

32And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so #Matt. 16:26; Mark 8:36, 37what is this birthright to me?”

33Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”

So he swore to him, and #Heb. 12:16sold his birthright to Jacob. 34And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then #Eccl. 8:15; Is. 22:13; 1 Cor. 15:32he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau #Heb. 12:16, 17despised his birthright.

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Genesis 25: NKJV

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Genesis 25

Abraham had other sons

1Abraham married another woman too. Her name was Keturah. 2Abraham and Keturah had 6 sons together. Their names were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuwah.

3After 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.

4After 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.

5One 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.” 6But 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

7-8Abraham 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.

9-10Then 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.#Genesis 23:3-16

11After 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.#Genesis 16:14

The story of Ishmael’s family

12This 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.

13Ishmael had 12 sons. His oldest son was called Nebayoth, and his next son was called Kedar, then Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Nafish, and Kedemah. 16Later on, those 12 sons of Ishmael became the bosses of 12 tribes, and all those tribes lived in their own camps.

17Ishmael lived until he was 137 years old. Then he breathed for the last time, and he died.

18Ishmael’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

19This is the story about Abraham’s son Isaac and his family.

20When 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.

21At 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. 22But 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?”

23God 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.”#Romans 9:12

24Later on, the time came for Rebekah to have her babies, and 2 boys were born. 25The 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. 26Straight 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

27Isaac 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.

28Isaac loved to eat the wild animals that Esau caught. So Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob. But Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau.

29One 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. 30-34So Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me eat some of that red soup right now. I’m really tired and hungry.”#Hebrews 12:16

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.

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