Study Desk

For Yahweh had utterly shut all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

And the matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.

So God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac your seed shall be named.

And of the son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed."

Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath.

and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one,

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice."

And Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and Yahweh was moved by his entreaty. So Rebekah his wife conceived.

Isaac loved Esau because he had an appetite for hunted game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister'?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.'"

And the herdsmen of Gerar contended with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.

Then Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because Yahweh your God caused it to happen to me."

And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.

So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?"

And he reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place.

Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?"

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his sight but a few days because of his love for her.

So Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, "Because Yahweh has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me."