The Last Half Hour: When Waiting Becomes Glory

A Brighter Future: A 5-Day Devotional

When God Says No!

God Gives Good Gifts to Everyone

See God’s Peace: 3 Days of Visio Divina

Living With a Strong-Willed Child

Pawprints & Prayers: Devotions for Dog Lovers

The Journey of Yes

Dog Dad Devotions on Leadership, Loyalty and Love

Acts Reading Plan

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch25" data-usfm="GEN.25">
 <div class="label">25</div><div class="s1">The Death of Abraham</div><div class="p"> 1Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. 4The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.</div><div class="p"> 5Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. 6But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.</div><div class="p"> 7Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, 10the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites.#25:10 Or the descendants of Heth There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11After Abraham&#8217;s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.</div><div class="s1">Ishmael&#8217;s Sons</div><div class="p"> 12This is the account of the family line of Abraham&#8217;s son Ishmael, whom Sarah&#8217;s slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 13These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. 17Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward#25:18 Or lived to the east of all the tribes related to them.</div><div class="s1">Jacob and Esau</div><div class="p"> 19This is the account of the family line of Abraham&#8217;s son Isaac.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram#25:20 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia and sister of Laban the Aramean.</div><div class="p"> 21Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, &#8220;Why is this happening to me?&#8221; So she went to inquire of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 23The Lord said to her,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Two nations are in your womb,</div><div class="q2">and two peoples from within you will be separated;</div><div class="q1">one people will be stronger than the other,</div><div class="q2">and the older will serve the younger.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.#25:25 Esau may mean hairy. 26After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau&#8217;s heel; so he was named Jacob.#25:26 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he deceives. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.</div><div class="p"> 27The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.</div><div class="p"> 29Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30He said to Jacob, &#8220;Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I&#8217;m famished!&#8221; (That is why he was also called Edom.#25:30 Edom means red.)</div><div class="p"> 31Jacob replied, &#8220;First sell me your birthright.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32&#8220;Look, I am about to die,&#8221; Esau said. &#8220;What good is the birthright to me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33But Jacob said, &#8220;Swear to me first.&#8221; So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.</div><div class="p"> 34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.</div><div class="p">So Esau despised his birthright.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch26" data-usfm="GEN.26">
 <div class="label">26</div><div class="s1">Isaac and Abimelek</div><div class="p"> 1Now there was a famine in the land&#8212;besides the previous famine in Abraham&#8217;s time&#8212;and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, &#8220;Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring#26:4 Or seed all nations on earth will be blessed,#26:4 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20) 5because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.&#8221; 6So Isaac stayed in Gerar.</div><div class="p"> 7When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, &#8220;She is my sister,&#8221; because he was afraid to say, &#8220;She is my wife.&#8221; He thought, &#8220;The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, &#8220;She is really your wife! Why did you say, &#8216;She is my sister&#8217;?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Isaac answered him, &#8220;Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Then Abimelek said, &#8220;What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: &#8220;Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. 13The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15So all the wells that his father&#8217;s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.</div><div class="p"> 16Then Abimelek said to Isaac, &#8220;Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.</div><div class="p"> 19Isaac&#8217;s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, &#8220;The water is ours!&#8221; So he named the well Esek,#26:20 Esek means dispute. because they disputed with him. 21Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.#26:21 Sitnah means opposition. 22He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth,#26:22 Rehoboth means room. saying, &#8220;Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23From there he went up to Beersheba. 24That night the Lord appeared to him and said, &#8220;I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.</div><div class="p"> 26Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27Isaac asked them, &#8220;Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 28They answered, &#8220;We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, &#8216;There ought to be a sworn agreement between us&#8217;&#8212;between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.</div><div class="p"> 32That day Isaac&#8217;s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, &#8220;We&#8217;ve found water!&#8221; 33He called it Shibah,#26:33 Shibah can mean oath or seven. and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.#26:33 Beersheba can mean well of the oath and well of seven.</div><div class="s1">Jacob Takes Esau&#8217;s Blessing</div><div class="p"> 34When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch27" data-usfm="GEN.27">
 <div class="label">27</div><div class="p"> 1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, &#8220;My son.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Here I am,&#8221; he answered.</div><div class="p"> 2Isaac said, &#8220;I am now an old man and don&#8217;t know the day of my death. 3Now then, get your equipment&#8212;your quiver and bow&#8212;and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6Rebekah said to her son Jacob, &#8220;Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7&#8216;Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.&#8217; 8Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, &#8220;But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13His mother said to him, &#8220;My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.</div><div class="p"> 18He went to his father and said, &#8220;My father.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yes, my son,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;Who is it?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Jacob said to his father, &#8220;I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20Isaac asked his son, &#8220;How did you find it so quickly, my son?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;The Lord your God gave me success,&#8221; he replied.</div><div class="p"> 21Then Isaac said to Jacob, &#8220;Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, &#8220;The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.&#8221; 23He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24&#8220;Are you really my son Esau?&#8221; he asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am,&#8221; he replied.</div><div class="p"> 25Then he said, &#8220;My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26Then his father Isaac said to him, &#8220;Come here, my son, and kiss me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Ah, the smell of my son</div><div class="q2">is like the smell of a field</div><div class="q2">that the Lord has blessed.</div><div class="q1"> 28May God give you heaven&#8217;s dew</div><div class="q2">and earth&#8217;s richness&#8212;</div><div class="q2">an abundance of grain and new wine.</div><div class="q1"> 29May nations serve you</div><div class="q2">and peoples bow down to you.</div><div class="q1">Be lord over your brothers,</div><div class="q2">and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.</div><div class="q1">May those who curse you be cursed</div><div class="q2">and those who bless you be blessed.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father&#8217;s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, &#8220;My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32His father Isaac asked him, &#8220;Who are you?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am your son,&#8221; he answered, &#8220;your firstborn, Esau.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33Isaac trembled violently and said, &#8220;Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him&#8212;and indeed he will be blessed!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34When Esau heard his father&#8217;s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, &#8220;Bless me&#8212;me too, my father!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 35But he said, &#8220;Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36Esau said, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t he rightly named Jacob#27:36 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he&#8217;s taken my blessing!&#8221; Then he asked, &#8220;Haven&#8217;t you reserved any blessing for me?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37Isaac answered Esau, &#8220;I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Esau said to his father, &#8220;Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!&#8221; Then Esau wept aloud.</div><div class="p"> 39His father Isaac answered him,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Your dwelling will be</div><div class="q2">away from the earth&#8217;s richness,</div><div class="q2">away from the dew of heaven above.</div><div class="q1"> 40You will live by the sword</div><div class="q2">and you will serve your brother.</div><div class="q1">But when you grow restless,</div><div class="q2">you will throw his yoke</div><div class="q2">from off your neck.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 41Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, &#8220;The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 42When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, &#8220;Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. 43Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. 44Stay with him for a while until your brother&#8217;s fury subsides. 45When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I&#8217;ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, &#8220;I&#8217;m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch28" data-usfm="GEN.28">
 <div class="label">28</div><div class="p"> 1So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: &#8220;Do not marry a Canaanite woman. 2Go at once to Paddan Aram,#28:2 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verses 5, 6 and 7 to the house of your mother&#8217;s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother&#8217;s brother. 3May God Almighty#28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.&#8221; 5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.</div><div class="p"> 6Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he commanded him, &#8220;Do not marry a Canaanite woman,&#8221; 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.</div><div class="s1">Jacob&#8217;s Dream at Bethel</div><div class="p"> 10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it#28:13 Or There beside him stood the Lord, and he said: &#8220;I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.#28:14 Or will use your name and the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20) 15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, &#8220;Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.&#8221; 17He was afraid and said, &#8220;How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19He called that place Bethel,#28:19 Bethel means house of God. though the city used to be called Luz.</div><div class="p"> 20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, &#8220;If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21so that I return safely to my father&#8217;s household, then the Lord#28:20,21 Or Since God&#8230; father&#8217;s household, the Lord will be my God 22and#28:21,22 Or household, and the Lord will be my God, 22 then this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God&#8217;s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="PSA.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="cl">Psalm 8#In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.</div><div class="d">For the director of music. According to gittith.#Title: Probably a musical term A psalm of David.</div><div class="q1"> 1 Lord, our Lord,</div><div class="q2">how majestic is your name in all the earth!</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">You have set your glory</div><div class="q2">in the heavens.</div><div class="q1"> 2Through the praise of children and infants</div><div class="q2">you have established a stronghold against your enemies,</div><div class="q2">to silence the foe and the avenger.</div><div class="q1"> 3When I consider your heavens,</div><div class="q2">the work of your fingers,</div><div class="q1">the moon and the stars,</div><div class="q2">which you have set in place,</div><div class="q1"> 4what is mankind that you are mindful of them,</div><div class="q2">human beings that you care for them?#8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 5You have made them#8:5 Or him a little lower than the angels#8:5 Or than God</div><div class="q2">and crowned them#8:5 Or him with glory and honor.</div><div class="q1"> 6You made them rulers over the works of your hands;</div><div class="q2">you put everything under their#8:6 Or made him ruler&#8230;; / &#8230;his feet:</div><div class="q1"> 7all flocks and herds,</div><div class="q2">and the animals of the wild,</div><div class="q1"> 8the birds in the sky,</div><div class="q2">and the fish in the sea,</div><div class="q2">all that swim the paths of the seas.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 9 Lord, our Lord,</div><div class="q2">how majestic is your name in all the earth!</div>
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