32 So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and ^kgave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to ^lwash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”

34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master’s wife ^mbore a son to my master when she was old, and ⁿto him he has given all that he has. 37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell, 38 but you shall go to my father’s house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’ 39 I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ 40 But he said to me, ‘The Lord, ^obefore whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s house. 41 Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

42 “I came today to the spring and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go, 43 behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44 and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

45 “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ^pring on her nose and the ^qbracelets on her arms. 48 Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way¹ to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49 Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot ^rspeak to you bad or good. 51 Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”

52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. 53 And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. 54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, ^s“Send me away to my master.” 55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.” 56 But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” 57 They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.” 58 And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” 59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and ^ther nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

61 Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

62 Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. 63 And Isaac went out to ^vmeditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and ^whe loved her. So Isaac was ^xcomforted after ^yhis mother’s death.

Abraham’s Death and His Descendants

1 ^zAbraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 ^aAbraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he ^bsent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

7 These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and ^cdied in a good old age, an ^dold man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9 Isaac and Ishmael ^ehis sons buried him ^fin the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, 10 the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. 11 After the death of Abraham, ^gGod blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

12 These are the generations of ^hIshmael, Abraham’s son, ⁱwhom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, ^jtwelve princes according to their tribes. 17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) 18 They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. ^kHe settled³ over against all his kinsmen.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob

19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the ^lAramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was ^mbarren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children ⁿstruggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?”⁴ So she went to ^oinquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her,

24 ^sWhen her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a ^thairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 ^uAfterward his brother came out ^vwith his hand holding Esau’s heel, ^wso his name was called Jacob.⁶ Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a ^xskillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac ^yloved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

29 ^zOnce when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.⁷) 31 ^aJacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

God’s Promise to Isaac

1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides ^bthe former famine that was in the days of Abraham. ^cAnd Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord ^dappeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ^edwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 ^fSojourn in this land, and ^gI will be with you and will ^hbless you, ⁱfor to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^jthe oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring ^kas the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And ^lin your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

6 ^mSo Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, ⁿ“She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should ^okill me because of Rebekah,” because she was ^pattractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac ^qlaughing with⁸ Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and ^ryou would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became ^srich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells ^tthat his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for ^uyou are much mightier than we.”

17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 ^vAnd Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And ^whe gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar ^xquarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,⁹ because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.¹⁰ 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,¹¹ saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be ^yfruitful in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, ^z“I am the God of Abraham your father. ^aFear not, for I am with you and will bless you and ^bmultiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he ^cbuilt an altar there and ^dcalled upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, ^e“We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the ^fblessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and ^gexchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah;^{12 h}therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34 ⁱWhen Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and ^jthey made life ^kbitter¹³ for Isaac and Rebekah.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

1 ^bIn those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 “I have ^ccompassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ^date and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.¹

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

11 ^eThe Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ^f“Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to ^gthis generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

14 ^hNow they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; ⁱbeware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”² 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? ^jDo you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts ^khardened? 18 ^lHaving eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, ^mhow many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, ⁿhow many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”