Genesis 25

Abraham took another wife. Her name was Keturah.

1Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

NoteSarah has died (chapter 23) and Isaac is already married (chapter 24), so this marriage comes late in Abraham's life. Verse 6 calls Keturah and Hagar "concubines," which places her below Sarah in household rank.

2She gave birth to his sons Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

2And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

NoteThese names function in Genesis as ancestors of peoples, not just individuals. Midian in particular is the ancestor of the Midianites, a trading and herding people of the northern Arabian desert who appear repeatedly later in the Bible.

3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.

3And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

NoteThe Hebrew forms behind "Asshurim, Letushim, Leummim" are plurals, the way a people or tribe is named rather than a single man, closer to "the Asshurites, the Letushites, the Leummites."

4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All of these were the descendants of Keturah.

4And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

5Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.

5And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.

6But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward, to the country in the east.

6But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

NoteA concubine was a secondary wife, recognized and living in the household but of lower legal standing than a full wife; her sons did not share the main inheritance. Giving them gifts and sending them away was the recognized way of settling a claim: they receive something, but the estate itself passes undivided to Isaac. "The east country" means the desert lands east and southeast of Canaan, toward Arabia.

7Abraham lived a total of 175 years.

7And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.

8Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man who had lived a full life, and he was gathered to his people.

8Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Note"Gathered to his people" is a set phrase for dying and joining one's ancestors. It is distinct from being buried (the phrase is used of people who died far from the family tomb) and the Hebrew Bible says nothing more specific here about what that joining involves.

9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre.

9And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;

NoteMachpelah is the burial cave near Hebron that Abraham bought in chapter 23. Burial in a family tomb, with kin laid in the same place across generations, was the normal expectation; being buried elsewhere was a misfortune. Note that Ishmael, sent away in chapter 21, returns for the burial.

10This was the field Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth. Abraham was buried there, and so was his wife Sarah.

10The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

Note"The sons of Heth" is the older way of saying the Hittites, the local people from whom Abraham bought the field. The purchase mattered because it was legally witnessed, making this the one piece of Canaan Abraham owned outright.

11After Abraham died, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived near the well called Lahai-roi.

11And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.

NoteLahai-roi means roughly "the Living One who sees me." It is the well in the southern desert where Hagar was met by the angel of the LORD in chapter 16 and where she gave God that name.

12This is the family record of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.

12Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:

Note"Family record" translates a recurring Hebrew heading (toledot, "generations" in older versions) that Genesis uses to divide the book into sections. Each one closes off one branch of the family before the story follows the other: Ishmael's line is set out here so that the narrative can leave it and follow Isaac's.

13These are the names of Ishmael's sons, listed by name in the order they were born: Nebajoth, Ishmael's firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

13And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

NoteSeveral of these names are known outside the Bible as North Arabian tribes and oasis settlements, Kedar, Dumah and Tema appear in Assyrian records and in later Arabian history. The list is a map of desert peoples as much as a family tree.

14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

14And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

15Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

15Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

16These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names, listed by their villages and their camps: twelve princes, one for each of their tribes.

16These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.

Note"Princes" here means tribal chiefs, heads of independent clans, not royalty ruling a kingdom. Twelve of them matches the twelve tribes that later descend from Jacob, and fulfills the promise made about Ishmael in Genesis 17:20. "Villages and camps" (KJV "towns and castles") distinguishes settled sites from the fortified encampments of people who moved with their herds.

17Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people.

17And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.

18His descendants lived in the land from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt, on the way toward Assyria. And he fell in the presence of all his relatives.

18And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.

NoteHavilah and Shur mark the two ends of a stretch of desert running along the northeastern edge of Egypt into northern Arabia. The last clause is genuinely uncertain: the Hebrew verb means "fell," which can mean "settled, camped" (so: he settled alongside all his relatives) or "fell upon, fell in conflict" (so: he lived in hostility toward them). The wording deliberately echoes the prediction about Ishmael in Genesis 16:12.

19This is the family record of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham was the father of Isaac.

19And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:

20Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. She was the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

20And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

NoteKJV "Syrian" means Aramean, the people of Aram, in what is now southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. Paddan-aram is the region around Haran in upper Mesopotamia, where Abraham's brother's family stayed when Abraham moved to Canaan. Marrying within the extended family, rather than among the Canaanites, is the point being recorded.

21Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she could not have children. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

21And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22The children struggled with each other inside her. She said, "If it is like this, why is this happening to me?" So she went to ask the LORD.

22And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

NoteRebekah's question in Hebrew is clipped and unclear (literally something like "if so, why this me?") and translators differ over whether she is asking why she is suffering, or why she wanted this pregnancy at all. "To ask the LORD" means to seek an oracle: a direct answer to a specific question, normally obtained at a shrine or through someone recognized as speaking for God.

23The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb. Two kinds of people will come from inside you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

23And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

NoteThe last line is famously ambiguous in Hebrew. The words are "greater shall-serve lesser," with nothing to mark which is the subject, so it can be read either as "the older will serve the younger" or as "the younger, the older will serve him," i.e. the reverse. Either way it overturns the normal expectation that the firstborn ranks highest.

24When the time came for her to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

24And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25The first one came out red, and he was covered with hair like a hairy coat. They named him Esau.

25And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

NoteThe names in this verse turn on sound. "Red" is admoni, which anticipates Edom, the nation descended from Esau; the word for hairy, se'ar, anticipates Seir, the territory Edom occupied. "Esau" itself is not explained here, but the Hebrew ear hears it alongside the word for hair.

26After that his brother came out, and his hand was holding on to Esau's heel. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

26And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

NoteJacob (Ya'aqov) sounds like the Hebrew word for heel ('aqev), and also like a verb meaning to grab the heel, and so to trip up, overtake or supplant. The name is a pun that works as both description and prediction; Esau uses it against him in Genesis 27:36.

27The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed among the tents.

27And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "quiet" (tam, KJV "plain") covers a range: settled, sound, whole, blameless. It is not simply a personality note: it is the sort of word used of a person of integrity, which sits in deliberate tension with what Jacob then does.

28Isaac loved Esau, because he ate the wild game Esau brought him. But Rebekah loved Jacob.

28And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

NoteThe Hebrew is blunter than it sounds: "Isaac loved Esau because game was in his mouth." The verse states plainly that each parent had a favorite, which drives the deception in chapter 27.

29One day Jacob was boiling some stew, and Esau came in from the open country, and he was worn out.

29And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

30Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me eat some of that red stew, because I am worn out." That is why he was named Edom.

30And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

NoteEsau's word for "let me eat" is coarse, something like "let me gulp down", and he does not name the food, only "that red, red stuff." Edom means "red," and it becomes the name of both Esau and the nation descended from him, in the highlands southeast of the Dead Sea.

31Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."

31And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

NoteThe birthright was the firstborn son's legal position: a double share of the inheritance compared with each other son, and headship of the family after the father's death. It was property in a real sense (it could be transferred, and the Bible elsewhere legislates about it) which is why it can be bargained over here.

32Esau said, "Look, I am about to die. What good is a birthright to me?"

32And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

Note"I am about to die" is most naturally read as exhaustion talking rather than literal starvation: he has just walked in from a day's hunting to his father's well-supplied camp. The point of the exchange is what he is willing to trade, not whether he was truly dying.

33Jacob said, "First swear an oath to me." So Esau swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

33And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

NoteA sworn oath called on God as witness and was legally binding and irreversible; there was no ordinary way to undo one. Jacob demands it precisely because a casual verbal sale could later be disowned.

34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, then got up and went on his way. That is how Esau treated his birthright as worthless.

34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

NoteThe closing sentence is the narrator's verdict, not part of the dialogue. The Hebrew verb means to treat as worth nothing, to hold in contempt, the string of quick verbs (ate, drank, got up, went) is the storyteller showing the reader how little the moment weighed with Esau.