Abraham's Promise

Genesis 12

¹ Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.

² I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

⁵ And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.

⁷ Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

⁹ And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

¹¹ As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman,

¹² and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.

¹³ Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”

¹⁴ So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

¹⁵ When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh.

¹⁶ He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

¹⁷ The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

²⁰ Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.

Genesis 13

¹ So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him.

² And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.

³ From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

⁴ to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

⁵ Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

⁶ But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.

⁷ And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers.

⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

¹¹ So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.

¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

¹³ But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

¹⁴ After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west,

¹⁵ for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

¹⁶ I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.

¹⁷ Get up and walk around the land, through its length and breadth, for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 14

¹ In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim

² went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

³ The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea ).

⁴ For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵ In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

⁶ and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert.

⁷ Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸ Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim

⁹ against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.

¹¹ The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way.

¹² They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since Lot was living in Sodom.

¹³ Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram.

¹⁴ And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.

¹⁵ During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

¹⁶ He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.

¹⁷ After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High —

¹⁹ and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.”

²² But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

²³ that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

²⁴ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share for the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.”

Genesis 15

¹ After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

² But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

³ Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”

⁵ And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

⁷ The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

⁸ But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”

⁹ And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half.

¹¹ And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.

¹³ Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

¹⁴ But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.

¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.

¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.

¹⁸ On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Genesis 16

¹ Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

² So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³ So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife.

⁴ And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶ “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

⁷ Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.

⁸ “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

⁹ So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰ Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹ The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

¹³ So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.

¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

Genesis 17

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

² I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

³ Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

⁴ “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

⁵ No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.

⁷ I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

⁸ And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹ God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you.

¹⁰ This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.

¹¹ You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹² Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring.

¹³ Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴ But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

¹⁶ And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”

¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live under Your blessing!”

¹⁹ But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹ But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

²² When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

²³ On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.

²⁴ So Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,

²⁵ and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day.

²⁷ And all the men of Abraham’s household—both servants born in his household and those purchased from foreigners—were circumcised with him.

Genesis 18

¹ Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.

² And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³ “My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

⁴ Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵ And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

⁷ Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

⁸ Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹ “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied.

¹⁰ Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent.

¹¹ And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹² So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³ And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’

¹⁴ Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ But Sarah was afraid, so she denied it and said, “I did not laugh.” “No,” replied the LORD, “but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.

¹⁷ And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

²⁰ Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,

²¹ I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”

²² And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

²³ Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there?

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

²⁶ So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

²⁸ suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰ Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”

³¹ And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³² Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”

³³ When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

Genesis 19

¹ Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,

² and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³ But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.

⁵ They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”

⁶ Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him.

⁷ “Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!

⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹ “Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

¹¹ And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

¹³ because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵ At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶ But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them.

¹⁷ As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸ But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please!

¹⁹ Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.

²⁰ Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”

²¹ “Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.

²² Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.

²³ And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.

²⁴ Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.

²⁵ Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.

²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

³⁰ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave.

³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.

³² Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”

³³ So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

³⁵ So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶ Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

³⁷ The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.

³⁸ The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis 20

¹ Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,

² Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

³ One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

⁴ Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent?

⁵ Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”

⁶ Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

⁷ Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and all who belong to you.”

⁸ Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified.

⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.”

¹⁰ Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do such a thing?”

¹¹ Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’

¹² Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.

¹³ So when God had me journey from my father’s house, I said to Sarah, ‘This is how you can show your loyalty to me: Wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.

¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.”

¹⁶ And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children—

¹⁸ for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.

Genesis 21

¹ Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.

² So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.

³ And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.

⁴ When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”

⁷ She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸ So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

⁹ But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

¹⁰ and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”

¹¹ Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.

¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.

¹³ But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴ Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes.

¹⁶ Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷ Then God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he lies.

¹⁸ Get up, lift up the boy, and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ And God was with the boy, and he grew up and settled in the wilderness and became a great archer.

²¹ And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²² At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.

²³ Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”

²⁴ And Abraham replied, “I swear it.”

²⁵ But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,

²⁶ Abimelech replied, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, so I have not heard about it until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.

²⁸ Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock,

²⁹ and Abimelech asked him, “Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?”

³⁰ He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”

³¹ So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

³² After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³ And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.

³⁴ And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Genesis 22

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

² “Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

³ So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.

⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵ “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.

⁷ Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.

⁹ When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.

¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹ Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

¹³ Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

¹⁴ And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

¹⁵ And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

¹⁶ saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,

¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

¹⁸ And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

¹⁹ Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

²⁰ Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:

²¹ Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram),

²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”

²³ And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.

²⁴ Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.