Wife of Isaac, and mother of Esau and Jacob. She was the daughter of Bethuel, and the sister of Laban.
About Rebekah
Daughter of Bethuel and the wife of the patriarch Isaac. Her name, which means “well fed” or “choice,” appears 31 times in Genesis (primarily in chs 24–27) and once in Romans 9:10.
Rebekah’s father was Bethuel, who in turn was the son of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham’s brother (Gn 22:20–23). Abraham was her great-uncle and eventually, of course, her father-in-law. Laban, the father of Leah and Rachel, was her brother. Thus her son Jacob married his two cousins, who were sisters.
Family Relationships
Key References
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.
They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she replied.
But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD,
There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.
All Scripture References (30)
Genesis (29)
And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
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.
Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he rushed out to the man at the spring.
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.
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.’
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.”
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.
They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she replied.
So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.
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.”
Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel
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.
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.
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.
Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
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.”
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.
And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
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,
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.
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.
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.
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?”
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.
He told Rachel that he was Rebekah’s son, a relative of her father, and she ran and told her father.
Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bachuth.
There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.
Romans (1)
Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac.