Isaac married Rebekah, but she was unable to have children. Isaac prayed to the LORD on her behalf. 20 years later, when Isaac was 60, Rebekah became pregnant.

The children struggled together in Rebekah's womb. She asked the LORD why this was happening, and the LORD told her that two nations were struggling together in her womb, and that the older would serve the younger.

Rebekah gave birth to twins. The first twin was red and covered with hair like a coat and they named him Esau. The second twin came out holding Esau’s heel, and they named him Jacob.

As the brothers grew up, Jacob stayed in the tents, and Esau became a skilled hunter. Isaac favored his son Esau because he had an appetite for game, but Rebekah favored Jacob.

Esau asked for Jacob's stew. Jacob said he would give him stew in exchange for Esau's birthright. Despising his birthright, Esau swore it to his younger brother Jacob.

There was a famine in Canaan, and Isaac went to Gerar on his way to Egypt.

God appeared to Isaac and told him not to go into Egypt, but to live in the land that He would tell him. God said He would fulfill the promise He made to his father Abraham to multiply his offspring.

Isaac settled in Gerar, and told the men there that Rebekah was his sister. One day, Abimelech saw him caressing Rebekah. Abimelech asked why he had said that Rebekah was his sister, and Isaac said that he was afraid.

Abimelech warned his people that anyone who touched Isaac or his wife would be put to death.

The LORD God blessed Isaac, and he became very wealthy. The Philistines became jealous, and they filled Isaac's wells with dirt.

Abimelech told Isaac to leave, because he had become so much mightier than Abimelech's people.

Isaac left and stayed in the Valley of Gerar. He uncovered two more wells that his father had dug, but the people of Gerar also quarreled over those.

God appeared to Isaac and told him not to be afraid, and that He was with him and would bless him and increase his descendants.

Isaac settled in Beersheba and built an altar. His servants dug a well.

King Abimelech came to Isaac and said that he wanted to make a treaty with Isaac. Isaac and Abimelech swore an oath to each other. That very day his servants found a well of water. Isaac named the well Shibah, and now the city is called Beersheba—the well of oaths.