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Genesis 25

1Abraham again took a wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's sons were the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4Midian's sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were Keturah's sons. 5Abraham gave everything he had to Isaac. 6To the sons of Abraham's concubines Abraham gave gifts. While he was still alive, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward to the land of the east. 7These were the days of the years of Abraham's life that he lived: 175 years. 8Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, old and satisfied, and was gathered to his people. 9Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, 10the field Abraham had purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. 11After Abraham's death God blessed Isaac his son. Isaac lived beside Beer-lahai-roi.

12These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave woman, bore to Abraham. 13These are the names of Ishmael's sons, by their names according to their generations: Nebaioth, Ishmael's firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16These are Ishmael's sons and these are their names by their settlements and encampments, twelve chieftains according to their peoples. 17These were the years of Ishmael's life: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18They settled from Havilah as far as Shur, facing Egypt as one goes toward Assyria. He settled in the presence of all his brothers.

19These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac. 20Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. 21Isaac pleaded with Yahweh on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh answered his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22The sons struggled within her, and she said, “If this is so, why am I like this?” She went to inquire of Yahweh. 23Yahweh said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” 24When her days for giving birth were fulfilled, look, there were twins in her womb. 25The first came out reddish, all over like a cloak of hair, and they named him Esau. 26Afterward his brother came out, his hand grasping Esau's heel, and he named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27The boys grew. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. 28Isaac loved Esau, because game was in his mouth, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29Jacob cooked a stew, and Esau came from the field, exhausted. 30Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me gulp some of that red stuff, that red stuff, because I am exhausted.” That is why he was named Edom. 31Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright today.” 32Esau said, “Look, I am going to die. What use is a birthright to me?” 33Jacob said, “Swear to me today.” He swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose and went. So Esau despised the birthright.

Translation notes 4

25:1–11, 17 — Death; household. Keturah is called a wife, while the following passage speaks of concubines in the plural. Neither description is silently removed. The sending east occurs while Abraham is alive. Being gathered to one's people is a death expression distinct from the subsequent burial; it does not itself describe the geography or condition of an afterlife.

25:12–18 — Ishmael's descendants. The twelve chieftains correspond to the earlier promise. The last verb literally means fell and can refer to settling or encamping; a death notice is another possible interpretation. “In the presence of” preserves the phrase shared with 16:12; hostility is possible but is not forced into it.

25:21–26 — Oracle; names. Rebekah's distressed question is compressed; “Why do I live?” is another interpretation. Verse 23 follows the reading tradition “nations.” The final clause is normally read with the older as subject and younger as object, although Hebrew word order alone is not decisive. Jacob sounds like heel, and the reddish and hairy descriptions anticipate Edom and Seir; the text's wordplay does not establish each name's historical etymology.

25:27–34 — Character; birthright. “Quiet” renders a term that can mean complete or blameless elsewhere, contrasting Jacob's settled tent life with hunting here without declaring all his conduct faultless. Game in Isaac's mouth pictures his appetite for Esau's hunting. The red repetition and rapid sequence of eating, drinking, rising, and leaving are retained. The narrator expressly says Esau despised the birthright; Jacob's terms are also stated without added approval.