Study Desk

She said to the servant, "Who is that man there walking across the field to meet us?" And the servant said, "He is my master [Isaac]." So she took a veil and covered herself [as was customary].

So 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 east of Mamre,

But the children struggled together within her [kicking and shoving one another]; and she said, "If it is so [that the LORD has heard our prayer], why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD [praying for an answer].

Afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped Esau's heel, so he was named Jacob (one who grabs by the heel, supplanter). Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

Esau said, "Look, I am about to die [if I do not eat soon]; so of what use is this birthright to me?"

Jacob said, "Swear [an oath] to me today [that you are selling it to me for this food]"; so he swore [an oath] to him, and sold him his birthright.

Now there was a famine in the land [of Canaan], besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

So Isaac left that region and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours!" So Isaac named the well Esek (quarreling), because they quarreled with him.

Then his servants dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so Isaac named it Sitnah (enmity).

He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over that one; so he named it Rehoboth (broad places), saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be prosperous in the land."

So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD [in prayer]. He pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

They said, "We see clearly that the LORD has been with you; so we said, 'There should now be an oath between us [with a curse for the one who breaks it], that is, between you and us, and let us make a covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you,

So he named the well Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

"So now, please take your [hunting] gear, your quiver [of arrows] and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me;

and make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], the kind I love, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul may bless you [as my firstborn son] before I die."

'Bring me some game and make me a savory and delicious dish [of meat], so that I may eat it, and declare my blessing on you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'

"So now, my son, listen [carefully] to me [and do exactly] as I command you.

"Then you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before his death."