ARKCODEX
Genesis
Ch. 25–26
Other Descendants of Abraham
1Abraham married another woman, whose name was Keturah.
2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.
4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were Keturah's descendants.
5Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac;
6but while he was still alive, he gave presents to the sons his other wives had borne him. Then he sent these sons to the land of the East, away from his son Isaac.
The Death and Burial of Abraham
7-8Abraham died at the ripe old age of 175.
9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in Machpelah Cave, in the field east of Mamre that had belonged to Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
10It was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; both Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there.
11After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”
The Descendants of Ishmael
12Ishmael, whom Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Sarah, bore to Abraham,
13had the following sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16They were the ancestors of twelve tribes, and their names were given to their villages and camping places.
17Ishmael was 137 years old when he died.
18The descendants of Ishmael lived in the territory between Havilah and Shur, to the east of Egypt on the way to Assyria. They lived apart from the other descendants of Abraham.
The Birth of Esau and Jacob
19This is the story of Abraham's son Isaac.
20Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel (an Aramean from Mesopotamia) and sister of Laban.
21Because Rebecca had no children, Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. The Lord answered his prayer, and Rebecca became pregnant.
22She was going to have twins, and before they were born, they struggled against each other in her womb. She said, “Why should something like this happen to me?” So she went to ask the Lord for an answer.
23The Lord said to her, “Two nations are within you; You will give birth to two rival peoples. One will be stronger than the other; The older will serve the younger.”
24The time came for her to give birth, and she had twin sons.
25The first one was reddish, and his skin was like a hairy robe, so he was named Esau.
26The second one was born holding on tightly to the heel of Esau, so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
Esau Sells His Rights as the First-Born Son
27The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilled hunter, a man who loved the outdoors, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.
28Isaac preferred Esau, because he enjoyed eating the animals Esau killed, but Rebecca preferred Jacob.
29One day while Jacob was cooking some bean soup, Esau came in from hunting. He was hungry
30and said to Jacob, “I'm starving; give me some of that red stuff.” (That is why he was named Edom.)
31Jacob answered, “I will give it to you if you give me your rights as the first-born son.”
32Esau said, “All right! I am about to die; what good will my rights do me?”
33Jacob answered, “First make a vow that you will give me your rights.” Esau made the vow and gave his rights to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave him some bread and some of the soup. He ate and drank and then got up and left. That was all Esau cared about his rights as the first-born son.
Genesis 26
Isaac Lives at Gerar
1There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.
2The Lord had appeared to Isaac and had said, “Do not go to Egypt; stay in this land, where I tell you to stay.
3Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham.
4I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give them all this territory. All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants.
5I will bless you, because Abraham obeyed me and kept all my laws and commands.”
6So Isaac lived at Gerar.
7When the men there asked about his wife, he said that she was his sister. He would not admit that she was his wife, because he was afraid that the men there would kill him to get Rebecca, who was very beautiful.
8When Isaac had been there for some time, King Abimelech looked down from his window and saw Isaac and Rebecca making love.
9Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! Why did you say she was your sister?” He answered, “I thought I would be killed if I said she was my wife.”
10“What have you done to us?” Abimelech said. “One of my men might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have been responsible for our guilt.”
11Abimelech warned all the people: “Anyone who mistreats this man or his wife will be put to death.”
12Isaac sowed crops in that land, and that year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him.
13He continued to prosper and became a very rich man.
14Because he had many herds of sheep and cattle and many servants, the Philistines were jealous of him.
15So they filled in all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug while Abraham was alive.
16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become more powerful than we are.”
17So Isaac left and set up his camp in Gerar Valley, where he stayed for some time.
18He dug once again the wells which had been dug during the time of Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death. Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.
19Isaac's servants dug a well in the valley and found water.
20The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said, “This water belongs to us.” So Isaac named the well “Quarrel.”
21Isaac's servants dug another well, and there was a quarrel about that one also, so he named it “Enmity.”
22He moved away from there and dug another well. There was no dispute about this one, so he named it “Freedom.” He said, “Now the Lord has given us freedom to live in the land, and we will be prosperous here.”
23Isaac left and went to Beersheba.
24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham.”
25Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then he set up his camp there, and his servants dug another well.
The Agreement between Isaac and Abimelech
26Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army to see Isaac.
27So Isaac asked, “Why have you now come to see me, when you were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country?”
28They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you, and we think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise
29that you will not harm us, just as we did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you.”
30Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
31Early next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them, and they parted as friends.
32On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug. They said, “We have found water.”
33He named the well “Vow.” That is how the city of Beersheba got its name.
Esau's Foreign Wives
34When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittites, Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath the daughter of Elon.
35They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.
Job
Ch. 15–16
The Second Dialogue
1-2Empty words, Job! Empty words!
3No one who is wise would talk the way you do or defend himself with such meaningless words.
4If you had your way, no one would fear God; no one would pray to him.
5Your wickedness is evident by what you say; you are trying to hide behind clever words.
6There is no need for me to condemn you; you are condemned by every word you speak.
7Do you think you were the first person born? Were you there when God made the mountains?
8Did you overhear the plans God made? Does human wisdom belong to you alone?
9There is nothing you know that we don't know.
10We learned our wisdom from gray-haired people— those born before your father.
11God offers you comfort; why still reject it? We have spoken for him with calm, even words.
12But you are excited and glare at us in anger.
13You are angry with God and denounce him.
14Can any human being be really pure? Can anyone be right with God?
15Why, God does not trust even his angels; even they are not pure in his sight.
16And we drink evil as if it were water; yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.
17Now listen, Job, to what I know.
18Those who are wise have taught me truths which they learned from their ancestors, and they kept no secrets hidden.
19Their land was free from foreigners; there was no one to lead them away from God.
20The wicked who oppress others will be in torment as long as they live.
21Voices of terror will scream in their ears, and robbers attack when they think they are safe.
22They have no hope of escaping from darkness, for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill them,
23and vultures are waiting to eat their corpses. They know their future is dark;
24disaster, like a powerful king, is waiting to attack them.
25That is the fate of those who shake their fists at God and defy the Almighty.
26-27They are proud and rebellious; they stubbornly hold up their shields and rush to fight against God.
28They are the ones who captured cities and seized houses whose owners had fled, but war will destroy those cities and houses.
29They will not remain rich for long; nothing they own will last. Even their shadows will vanish,
30and they will not escape from darkness. They will be like trees whose branches are burned by fire, whose blossoms are blown away by the wind.
31If they are foolish enough to trust in evil, then evil will be their reward.
32Before their time is up they will wither, wither like a branch and never be green again.
33They will be like vines that lose their unripe grapes; like olive trees that drop their blossoms.
34There will be no descendants for godless people, and fire will destroy the homes built by bribery.
35These are the ones who plan trouble and do evil; their hearts are always full of deceit.
Job 16
1-2I have heard words like that before; the comfort you give is only torment.
3Are you going to keep on talking forever? Do you always have to have the last word?
4If you were in my place and I in yours, I could say everything you are saying. I could shake my head wisely and drown you with a flood of words.
5I could strengthen you with advice and keep talking to comfort you.
6But nothing I say helps, and being silent does not calm my pain.
7You have worn me out, God; you have let my family be killed.
8You have seized me; you are my enemy. I am skin and bones, and people take that as proof of my guilt.
9In anger God tears me limb from limb; he glares at me with hate.
10People sneer at me; they crowd around me and slap my face.
11God has handed me over to evil people.
12I was living in peace, but God took me by the throat and battered me and crushed me. God uses me for target practice
13and shoots arrows at me from every side— arrows that pierce and wound me; and even then he shows no pity.
14He wounds me again and again; he attacks like a soldier gone mad with hate.
15I mourn and wear clothes made of sackcloth, and I sit here in the dust defeated.
16I have cried until my face is red, and my eyes are swollen and circled with shadows,
17but I am not guilty of any violence, and my prayer to God is sincere.
18O Earth, don't hide the wrongs done to me! Don't let my call for justice be silenced!
19There is someone in heaven to stand up for me and take my side.
20My friends scorn me; my eyes pour out tears to God.
21I want someone to plead with God for me, as one pleads for a friend.
22My years are passing now, and I walk the road of no return.
Proverbs
Ch. 2
20So you must follow the example of good people and live a righteous life.
21Righteous people—people of integrity—will live in this land of ours.
22But God will snatch the wicked from the land and pull sinners out of it like plants from the ground.