Wife of Isaac; mother of Jacob and Esau
Rebekah
Named in 30 verses across 2 books, first in Genesis 22:23.
רִבְקָהRebekah
ῬεβέκκαRebekah
The name means “fat; fattened; a quarrel appeased.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869
About Rebekah Written by AI
Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother (Genesis 22:23). She became the wife of Isaac after a servant of Abraham was sent to find a suitable bride for him (Genesis 24). Rebekah was a beautiful woman and was chosen by God to be Isaac's wife (Genesis 24:15 to 67). She was barren for many years, but Isaac prayed for her, and she conceived twins (Genesis 25:21). During her pregnancy, the Lord revealed to Rebekah that two nations were in her womb and that the older would serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). Rebekah gave birth to Esau and Israel (or 'Jacob') (Genesis 25:24 to 26). She favored Jacob over Esau and helped him deceive Isaac into giving him the firstborn's blessing (Genesis 27). This led to a conflict between the brothers, and Jacob had to flee to escape Esau's anger (Genesis 27:41 to 45). Rebekah's deception had consequences for the family, but God's plan for Jacob prevailed. Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died and was buried near Bethel (Genesis 35:8). Rebekah died and was buried in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah were also buried (Genesis 49:31). In the New Testament, Paul uses Rebekah's story to illustrate God's sovereignty in election (Romans 9:10 to 12).
Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.
Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897
A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s “steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen. 24-27. “She can hardly be regarded as an amiable woman. When we first see her she is ready to leave her father’s house for ever at an hour’s notice; and her future life showed not only a full share of her brother Laban’s duplicity, but the grave fault of partiality in her relations to her children, and a strong will, which soon controlled the gentler nature of her husband.” The time and circumstances of her death are not recorded, but it is said that she was buried in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 49:31).
M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.
Where the Bible names her
- Genesis 22:23
And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
- Genesis 24:15
Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
- Genesis 24:29
Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring.
- Genesis 24:30
As soon as he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and heard Rebekah’s words, “The man said this to me,” he went and found the man standing by the camels near the spring.
- Genesis 24:45
And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
- Genesis 24:51
Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.”
- Genesis 24:53
Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.
- Genesis 24:58
They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she replied.
- Genesis 24:59
So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.
- Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
- Genesis 24:61
Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
- Genesis 24:64
And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel
- Genesis 24:67
And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.
- Genesis 25:20
and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
- Genesis 25:21
Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
- Genesis 25:28
Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
- Genesis 26:7
But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”
- Genesis 26:8
When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
- Genesis 26:35
And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
- Genesis 27:5
Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,
- Genesis 27:6
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,
- Genesis 27:11
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.
- Genesis 27:15
And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.
- Genesis 27:42
When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.
- Genesis 27:46
Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”
- Genesis 28:5
So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
- Genesis 29:12
He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.
- Genesis 35:8
Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.
- Genesis 49:31
There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.
- Romans 9:10
Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac.
From STEPBible's TIPNR, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0): names, family, references and the AI written article. Verse text is the BSB.