Genesis 16-24
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, 'See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight. 5So Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.' 6But Abram said to Sarai, 'Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.' So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.
7Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
8He said, 'Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, from where have you come, and where are you going?' And she said, 'I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.'
9So the angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.'
10The angel of the Lord also said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.'
13Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees me'; for she said, 'Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?'
14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Chapter 17
1Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.'
6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
8And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.'
9God said further to Abraham, 'Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.
13A slave who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
14But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.'
15Then God said to Abraham, 'As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.'
17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?'
18And Abraham said to God, 'Oh that Ishmael might live before You!'
19But God said, 'No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.'
22When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, as God had said to him.
24Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.
27And all the men of his household, those who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 2When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground, 3and said, 'My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. 4Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; 5and I will bring a piece of bread, so that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.' And they said, 'So do as you have said.' 6So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, 'Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.' 7Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. 8He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree as they ate.
9Then they said to him, 'Where is your wife Sarah?' And he said, 'There, in the tent.'
10He said, 'I will certainly return to you at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.' And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.
12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?'
13But the Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’
14Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'
15Sarah denied it, however, saying, 'I did not laugh'; for she was afraid. And He said, 'No, but you did laugh.'
16Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.
17The Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18since Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
19For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.'
20And the Lord said, 'The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
21I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.'
22Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.
23Abraham approached and said, 'Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
25Far 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! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?'
26So the Lord said, 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the entire place on their account.'
27And Abraham replied, 'Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes.
28Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the entire city because of five?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.'
29And he spoke to Him yet again and said, 'Suppose forty are found there?' And He said, 'I will not do it on account of the forty.'
30Then he said, 'Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?' And He said, 'I will not do it if I find thirty there.'
31And he said, 'Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.'
32Then he said, 'Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once: suppose ten are found there?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it on account of the ten.'
33As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
Chapter 19
1Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2And he said, 'Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.' They said, 'No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.' 3Yet he strongly urged them, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4Before they lay down, the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5and they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.' 6But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, 7and said, 'Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. 8Now look, I have two daughters who have not had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shelter of my roof.' 9But they said, 'Get out of the way!' They also said, 'This one came in as a foreigner, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them!' So they pressed hard against Lot and moved forward to break the door. 10But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11Then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the small to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway.
12Then the two men said to Lot, 'Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law and your sons and daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;
13for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.'
14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, 'Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.' But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be joking.
15When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.'
16But he hesitated. So the men grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city.
17When they had brought them outside, one said, 'Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the surrounding area; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.'
18But Lot said to them, 'Oh no, my lords!
19Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;
20now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) so that my life may be saved.'
21And he said to him, 'Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.
22Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.' Therefore the town was named Zoar.
23The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven,
25and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26But Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord;
28and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and behold, he saw the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
30Now Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and stayed in the mountains, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31Then the firstborn said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to have relations with us according to the custom of all the earth.
32Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and let’s sleep with him so that we may keep our family alive through our father.'
33So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or got up.
34On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, 'Look, I slept last night with my father; let’s make him drink wine tonight too, then you go in and sleep with him, so that we may keep our family alive through our father.'
35So they had their father drink wine that night too, and the younger got up and slept with him; and he did not know when she lay down or got up.
36And so both of the daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
37The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38As for the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.
Chapter 20
1Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived for a time in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' So Abimelech king of Gerar sent men and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, 'Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.' 4Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, 'Lord, will You kill a nation, even though blameless? 5Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.' 6Then God said to him in the dream, 'Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.'
8So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their presence; and the people were greatly frightened.
9Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, 'What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.'
10And Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?'
11Abraham said, 'Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
12Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife;
13and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.'?’?'
14Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.
15Abimelech said, 'Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.'
16To Sarah he said, 'Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you, and before everyone you are cleared.'
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, so that they gave birth to children.
18For the Lord had completely closed all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Chapter 21
1Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. 2So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Sarah said, 'God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.' 7And she said, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.'
8And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking Isaac.
10Therefore she said to Abraham, 'Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac!'
11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael.
12But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.
13And of the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.'
14So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes.
16Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, 'May I not see the boy die!' And she sat opposite him, and raised her voice and wept.
17God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.'
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20And God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, 'God is with you in all that you do;
23so now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.'
24Abraham said, 'I swear it.'
25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized.
26And Abimelech said, 'I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.'
27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29Then Abimelech said to Abraham, 'What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?'
30He said, 'You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness for me, that I dug this well.'
31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.
32So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Chapter 22
1Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' 2Then He said, 'Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.' 3So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.' 6And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, 'My father!' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' 8Abraham said, 'God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.' So the two of them walked on together.
9Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10And Abraham reached out with his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'
12He said, 'Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.'
13Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'
15Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16and said, 'By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'
19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba.
20Now it came about after these things, that Abraham was told, saying, 'Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel'—
23and it was Bethuel who fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3Then Abraham arose from mourning before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4I am a stranger and a foreign resident among you; give me a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.' 5The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6Hear us, my lord: you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.' 7So Abraham stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8And he spoke with them, saying, 'If you are willing to let me bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me, and plead with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, 9that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he owns, which is at the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in your presence for a burial site.' 10Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham so that the sons of Heth heard, that is, all who entered the gate of his city, saying, 11No, my lord, listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.' 12And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. 13But he spoke to Ephron so that the people of the land heard, saying, 'If you will only please listen to me; I will give the price of the field, accept it from me so that I may bury my dead there.' 14Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15My lord, listen to me: a plot of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.' 16Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the presence of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency acceptable to a merchant.
17So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over
18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who entered the gate of his city.
19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan.
20So the field and the cave that was in it were deeded over to Abraham for a burial site by the sons of Heth.
Chapter 24
1Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. 2Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, 'Please place your hand under my thigh, 3and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live; 4but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.' 5The servant said to him, 'Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?' 6Then Abraham said to him, 'Beware that you do not take my son back there! 7The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free of this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.' 9So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
11He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water when it was evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
12And he said, 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water;
14now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’— may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.'
15And it came about, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
16The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.
17Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jar.'
18And she said, 'Drink, my lord'; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.
19Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, 'I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.'
20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
21Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold,
23and he said, 'Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?'
24She said to him, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.'
25Again she said to him, 'We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.'
26Then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord.
27And he said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.'
28Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring.
30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, 'This is what the man said to me,' he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31And he said, 'Come in, blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?'
32So the man entered the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33But when food was set before him to eat, he said, 'I will not eat until I have stated my business.' And he said, 'Speak on.'
34So he said, 'I am Abraham’s servant.
35The Lord has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich; and He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys.
36Now my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has.
37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;
38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’
39Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’
40And he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house;
41then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going successful;
43behold, I am standing by the spring, and may it be that the young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jar';
44and she says to me, 'You drink, and I will draw for your camels also'—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.
47Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists.
48And I bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.
49So now if you are going to deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.'
50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, 'The matter has come from the Lord; so we cannot speak to you bad or good.
51Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.'
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord.
53And the servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
54Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they got up in the morning, he said, 'Send me away to my master.'
55But her brother and her mother said, 'Let the young woman stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.'
56However, he said to them, 'Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master.'
57And they said, 'We will call the young woman and ask her.'
58Then they called Rebekah and said to her, 'Will you go with this man?' And she said, 'I will go.'
59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men.
62Now Isaac had come back from a journey to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the Negev.
63Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.
64Rebekah raised her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.
65She said to the servant, 'Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?' And the servant said, 'He is my master.' Then she took her veil and covered herself.
66The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; so Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
King James Version
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 3And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.
6But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
7And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
8And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
9And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
14Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
Chapter 17
1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
15And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
24And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
9And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
16And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
20And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
23And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
26And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
28Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
29And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.
30And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.
32And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
33And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
Chapter 19
1And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
10But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
11And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
18And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
19Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
20Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
21And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
22Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
25And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
27And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
28And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
30And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
35And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
36Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
37And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
Chapter 20
1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.
4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.
16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
Chapter 21
1And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 8And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
20And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
22And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:
23Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.
24And Abraham said, I will swear.
25And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
26And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day.
27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
30And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.
31Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.
32Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
33And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
34And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
Chapter 22
1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Chapter 23
1And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
3And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,
4I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
5And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
6Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
7And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.
8And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
9That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.
10And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
11Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.
12And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.
13And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
14And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
15My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
16And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
17And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure
18Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
19And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
Chapter 24
1And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: 3And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: 4But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. 5And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? 6And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. 7The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. 8And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. 9And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.
10And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.
11And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
12And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
13Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:
14And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.
15And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
16And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
17And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
18And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
19And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
20And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
21And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.
22And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;
23And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?
24And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.
25She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
26And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.
27And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren.
28And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things.
29And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.
30And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.
31And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
32And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him.
33And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.
34And he said, I am Abraham's servant.
35And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.
36And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.
37And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:
38But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son.
39And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.
40And he said unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house:
41Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
42And I came this day unto the well, and said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:
43Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink;
44And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the LORD hath appointed out for my master's son.
45And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.
46And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.
47And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.
48And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son.
49And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
51Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the LORD hath spoken.
52And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.
53And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
54And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.
55And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
56And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.
57And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth.
58And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.
59And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men.
60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
61And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
62And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.
63And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.
64And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
65For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.
66And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.
67And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 16
1Abram's wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2Sarai said to Abram, "Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family." And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3So Abram's wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. 4He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you."
9The angel of the Lord said to her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority."
10The angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count."
11The angel of the Lord said to her, "You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.
12This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives."
13So she named the Lord who spoke to her: "You are El-roi," for she said, "In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me? "
14That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave birth to Abram's son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, "I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. 2I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly."
3Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:
4"As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.
5Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.
6I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
7I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.
8And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing--all the land of Canaan--as a permanent possession, and I will be their God."
9God also said to Abraham, "As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.
10This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.
11You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old--every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.
13Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.
14If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
15God said to Abraham, "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
16I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
17Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth? "
18So Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael were acceptable to you! "
19But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year."
22When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
23So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased--every male among the members of Abraham's household--and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,
25and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.
26On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27And all the men of his household--whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner--were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground, 3and said, "My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.
6So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread."
7Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it.
8Then Abraham took curds and milk, as well as the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.
11Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
12So she laughed to herself: "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight? "
13But the Lord asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Can I really have a baby when I'm old? '
14Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son."
16The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
17Then the Lord said, "Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham?
18Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
19For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him."
20Then the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.
21I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out."
22The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
23Abraham stepped forward and said, "Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it?
25You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won't the Judge of the whole earth do what is just? "
32Then he said, "Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose ten are found there? "He answered, "I will not destroy it on account of ten."
33When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
2and said, "My lords, turn aside to your servant's house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way.""No," they said. "We would rather spend the night in the square."
3But he urged them so strongly that they followed him and went into his house. He prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.
4Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.
5They called out to Lot and said, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them! "
6Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him.
7He said, "Don't do this evil, my brothers.
8Look, I've got two daughters who haven't been intimate with a man. I'll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want to them. However, don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof."
9"Get out of the way! " they said, adding, "This one came here as an alien, but he's acting like a judge! Now we'll do more harm to you than to them." They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door.
10But the angels reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with blindness so that they were unable to find the entrance.
12Then the angels said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,
13for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it."
15At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: "Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."
16But he hesitated. Because of the Lord's compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters. They brought him out and left him outside the city.
18But Lot said to them, "No, my lords--please.
19Your servant has indeed found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can't run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
20Look, this town is close enough for me to flee to. It is a small place. Please let me run to it--it's only a small place, isn't it?--so that I can survive."
21And he said to him, "All right, I'll grant your request about this matter too and will not demolish the town you mentioned.
22Hurry up! Run to it, for I cannot do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.
23The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar.
24Then out of the sky the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah burning sulfur from the Lord.
25He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground.
26But Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.
27Early in the morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace.
29So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.
30Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains along with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. Instead, he and his two daughters lived in a cave.
31Then the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land.
32Come, let's get our father to drink wine so that we can sleep with him and preserve our father's line."
33So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
34The next day the firstborn said to the younger, "Look, I slept with my father last night. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight so you can go sleep with him and we can preserve our father's line."
35That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
36So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.
38The younger also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.
Chapter 20
1From there Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar, 2Abraham said about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.
4Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, "Lord, would you destroy a nation even though it is innocent?
5Didn't he himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I have not let you touch her.
7Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours."
9Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, "What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done."
10Abimelech also asked Abraham, "What made you do this? "
11Abraham replied, "I thought, 'There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.'
12Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13So when God had me wander from my father's house, I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me, 'He's my brother.' "
14Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.
15Abimelech said, "Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you want."
16And he said to Sarah, "Look, I am giving your brother one thousand pieces of silver. It is a verification of your honor to all who are with you. You are fully vindicated."
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,
18for the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech's household on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.
Chapter 21
1The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3Abraham named his son who was born to him--the one Sarah bore to him--Isaac. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me."
7She also said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age."
8The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
9But Sarah saw the son mocking--the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.
10So she said to Abraham, "Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac! "
11This was very distressing to Abraham because of his son.
12But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,
13and I will also make a nation of the slave's son because he is your offspring."
14Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar's shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes
16and went and sat at a distance, about a bowshot away, for she said, "I can't bear to watch the boy die! " While she sat at a distance, she wept loudly.
17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is.
18Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation."
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer.
21He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
23Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien."
24And Abraham said, "I swear it."
25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well that Abimelech's servants had seized.
27Abraham took flocks and herds and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
28Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock.
29And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs? "
30He replied, "You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from me so that this act will serve as my witness that I dug this well."
31Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
32After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Chapter 22
1After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham! ""Here I am," he answered.
3So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.
4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you."
6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.
9When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
10Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
12Then he said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me."
13Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, "It will be provided on the Lord's mountain."
15Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16and said, "By myself I have sworn," this is the Lord's declaration: "Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,
17I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.
18And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command."
20Now after these things Abraham was told, "Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."
23And Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life. 2Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
3When Abraham got up from beside his dead wife, he spoke to the Hethites:
4"I am an alien residing among you. Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead."
5The Hethites replied to Abraham,
6"Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead."
7Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of the land.
8He said to them, "If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
9to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as burial property."
10Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham:
11"No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the sight of my people. Bury your dead."
12Abraham bowed down to the people of the land
13and said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, "Listen to me, if you please. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there."
14Ephron answered Abraham and said to him,
15"My lord, listen to me. Land worth four hundred shekels of silver--what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."
16Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the hearing of the Hethites: four hundred standard shekels of silver.
17So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre--the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field--became
18Abraham's possession in the sight of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city.
19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20The field with its cave passed from the Hethites to Abraham as burial property.
Chapter 24
1Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, "Place your hand under my thigh, 3and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, 4but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac."
6Abraham answered him, "Make sure that you don't take my son back there.
7The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, 'I will give this land to your offspring' --he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.
8If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don't let my son go back there."
9So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham's thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10The servant took ten of his master's camels, and with all kinds of his master's goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor's town.
11At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town.
12"Lord, God of my master Abraham," he prayed, "make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.
14Let the girl to whom I say, 'Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,' and who responds, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels also'--let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
15Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah--daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor--coming with a jug on her shoulder.
16Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin--no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.
17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me have a little water from your jug."
18She replied, "Drink, my lord." She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink.
19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink."
20She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels
21while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success.
22As the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold.
23"Whose daughter are you? " he asked. "Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night? "
24She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor."
25She also said to him, "We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night."
26Then the man knelt low, worshiped the Lord,
27and said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."
28The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring.
30As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah's words--"The man said this to me! "--he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring.
31Laban said, "Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."
32So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.
34"I am Abraham's servant," he said.
35"The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.
36Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
37My master put me under this oath: 'You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live
38but will go to my father's family and to my clan to take a wife for my son.'
39But I said to my master, 'Suppose the woman will not come back with me? '
40He said to me, 'The Lord before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's family.
41Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you--you will be free from my oath.'
42"Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful!
43I am standing here at a spring. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, and I say to her, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jug,'
44and who responds to me, 'Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels also'--let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master's son.
45"Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, 'Please let me have a drink.'
46She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels also.' So I drank, and she also watered the camels.
47Then I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you? ' She responded, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
48Then I knelt low, worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.
49Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere."
50Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter.
51Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master's son, just as the Lord has spoken."
52When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the Lord.
53Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.
58They called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man? "She replied, "I will go."
59So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham's servant and his men.
62Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region.
63In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming.
64Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel
New Living Translation
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, 'The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.' And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, 'This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong — you or me!'
9The angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.'
10Then he added, 'I will give you more descendants than you can count.'
11And the angel also said, 'You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress.
12This son of yours will be a wild man, as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives.'
13Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, 'You are the God who sees me.' She also said, 'Have I truly seen the One who sees me?'
14So that well was named Beer-lahai-roi (which means 'well of the Living One who sees me'). It can still be found between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'I am El-Shaddai — ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.'
3At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him,
4This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations!
5What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.
6I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!
7I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.'
9Then God said to Abraham, 'Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.
10This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised.
11You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased.
13All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.
14Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.'
15Then God said to Abraham, 'Regarding Sarai, your wife — her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on her name will be Sarah.
16And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants.'
17Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. 'How could I become a father at the age of 100?' he thought. 'And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?'
18So Abraham said to God, 'May Ishmael live under your special blessing!'
19But God replied, 'No — Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.
20As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
21But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.'
22When God had finished speaking, he left Abraham.
23On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
25and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen.
26Both Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised on that same day,
27along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants. All were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.
3My lord,' he said, 'if it pleases you, stop here for a while.
4Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.
6So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, 'Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.'
7Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a tender calf and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it.
8When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees.
10Then one of them said, 'I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!' Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent.
11Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children.
12So she laughed silently to herself and said, 'How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master — my husband — is also so old?'
13Then the Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’
14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'
17Should I hide my plan from Abraham?' the Lord asked.
18For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
19I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.'
20So the Lord told Abraham, 'I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.
21I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.'
22The other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham.
23Abraham approached him and said, 'Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked?
24Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city — will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes?
25Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?'
3But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.
4But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
5They shouted to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!'
6So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.
7Please, my brothers,' he begged, 'don’t do such a wicked thing.
8Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.'
10But the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door.
11Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
12Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. 'Do you have any other relatives here in the city?' they asked. 'Get them out of this place — your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.
13For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.'
16When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.
17When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, 'Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!'
18Oh no, my lord!' Lot begged.
19You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
20See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.'
21All right,' the angel said, 'I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.
22But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.' (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means 'little place.')
23Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon.
24Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.
26But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence.
28He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
30Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
31One day the older daughter said to her sister, 'There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children.
32Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.'
34The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, 'I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.'
35So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
36As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father.
37When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.
38When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
Chapter 20
1Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner, 2Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, 'She is my sister.' So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.
4But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, 'Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?
5Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.'
6In the dream God responded, 'Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her.
7Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.'
8Abimelech got up early the next morning and quickly called all his servants together. When he told them what had happened, his men were terrified.
9Then Abimelech called for Abraham. 'What have you done to us?' he demanded. 'What crime have I committed that deserves treatment like this, making me and my kingdom guilty of this great sin? No one should ever do what you have done!
10Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?'
11Abraham replied, 'I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’
12And she really is my sister, for we both have the same father, but different mothers. And I married her.
13When God called me to leave my father’s home and to travel from place to place, I told her, ‘Do me a favor. Wherever we go, tell the people that I am your brother.’'
14Then Abimelech took some of his sheep and goats, cattle, and male and female servants, and he presented them to Abraham. He also returned his wife, Sarah, to him.
15Then Abimelech said, 'Look over my land and choose any place where you would like to live.'
16And he said to Sarah, 'Look, I am giving your ‘brother’ 1,000 pieces of silver in the presence of all these witnesses. This is to compensate you for any wrong I may have done to you. This will settle any claim against me, and your reputation is cleared.'
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children.
18For the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.
Chapter 21
1The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. 2She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. 3And Abraham named their son Isaac. 4Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. 5Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.
6And Sarah declared, 'God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me.
7Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!'
8When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion.
9But Sarah saw Ishmael — the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar — making fun of her son, Isaac.
10So she turned to Abraham and demanded, 'Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!'
11This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son.
12But God told Abraham, 'Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.
13But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.'
15When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush.
16Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. 'I don’t want to watch the boy die,' she said, as she burst into tears.
17But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, 'Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.'
20And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer,
21and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt.
22About this time, Abimelech came with Phicol, his army commander, to visit Abraham. 'God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do,' Abimelech said.
23Swear to me in God’s name that you will never deceive me, my children, or any of my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so now swear that you will be loyal to me and to this country where you are living as a foreigner.'
24Abraham replied, 'Yes, I swear to it!'
25Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had taken by force from Abraham’s servants.
27Abraham then gave some of his sheep, goats, and cattle to Abimelech, and they made a treaty.
28But Abraham also took seven additional female lambs and set them off by themselves.
29Abimelech asked, 'Why have you set these seven apart from the others?'
30Abraham replied, 'Please accept these seven lambs to show your agreement that I dug this well.'
31Then he named the place Beersheba (which means 'well of the oath'), because that was where they had sworn the oath.
32After making their covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech left with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned home to the land of the Philistines.
33Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he worshiped the Lord, the Eternal God.
34And Abraham lived as a foreigner in Philistine country for a long time.
Chapter 22
1Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. 'Abraham!' God called. 'Yes,' he replied. 'Here I am.'
3The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.
4On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5Stay here with the donkey,' Abraham told the servants. 'The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.'
9When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
13Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means 'the Lord will provide'). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: 'On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'
15Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.
16This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that
17I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.
18And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — all because you have obeyed me.'
20Soon after this, Abraham heard that Milcah, his brother Nahor’s wife, had borne Nahor eight sons.
21The oldest was named Uz, the next oldest was Buz, followed by Kemuel (the ancestor of the Arameans),
22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23(Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) In addition to these eight sons from Milcah,
24Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1When Sarah was 127 years old, 2she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.
3Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders,
4Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.'
5The Hittites replied to Abraham,
6Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince among us. Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse to help you in this way.'
7Then Abraham bowed low before the Hittites
8and said, 'Since you are willing to help me in this way, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar
9to let me buy his cave at Machpelah, down at the end of his field. I will pay the full price in the presence of witnesses, so I will have a permanent burial place for my family.'
10Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the Hittite elders of the town.
11No, my lord,' he said to Abraham, 'please listen to me. I will give you the field and the cave. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead.'
12Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land,
13and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. 'No, listen to me. I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.'
14Ephron answered Abraham,
15My lord, please listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.'
17So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all the surrounding trees.
18It was transferred to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate.
19Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron).
20So the field and the cave were transferred from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.
Chapter 24
1Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, 'Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. 3Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. 4Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.'
6No!' Abraham responded. 'Be careful never to take my son there.
7For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.
8If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there.'
9So the servant took an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He swore to follow Abraham’s instructions.
10Then he loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant Aram-naharaim. There he went to the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor had settled.
11He made the camels kneel beside a well just outside the town. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.
12O Lord, God of my master, Abraham,' he prayed. 'Please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham.
13See, I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water.
14This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’ — let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.'
15Before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah.
16Rebekah was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again.
17Running over to her, the servant said, 'Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.'
18Yes, my lord,' she answered, 'have a drink.' And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink.
19When she had given him a drink, she said, 'I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink.'
20So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw water for all his camels.
21The servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not the Lord had given him success in his mission.
22Then at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists.
24I am the daughter of Bethuel,' she replied. 'My grandparents are Nahor and Milcah.
25Yes, we have plenty of straw and feed for the camels, and we have room for guests.'
26The man bowed low and worshiped the Lord.
27Praise the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham,' he said. 'The Lord has shown unfailing love and faithfulness to my master, for he has led me straight to my master’s relatives.'
28The young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened.
29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, who ran out to meet the man at the spring.
30He had seen the nose-ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside his camels.
31Laban said to him, 'Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels?'
34I am Abraham’s servant,' he explained.
35And the Lord has greatly blessed my master; he has become a wealthy man. The Lord has given him flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many male and female servants and camels and donkeys.
36When Sarah, my master’s wife, was very old, she gave birth to my master’s son, and my master has given him everything he owns.
37And my master made me take an oath. He said, ‘Do not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women.
38Go instead to my father’s house, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son.’
39But I said to my master, ‘What if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to go back with me?’
40He responded, ‘The Lord, in whose presence I have lived, will send his angel with you and will make your mission successful. Yes, you must find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.
41Then you will have fulfilled your obligation. But if you go to my relatives and they refuse to let her go with you, you will be free from my oath.’
42So today when I came to the spring, I prayed this prayer: ‘O Lord, God of my master, Abraham, please give me success on this mission.
43See, I am standing here beside this spring. This is my request. When a young woman comes to draw water, I will say to her, 'Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.'
44If she says, 'Yes, have a drink, and I will draw water for your camels, too,' let her be the one you have selected to be the wife of my master’s son.’
45Before I had finished praying in my heart, I saw Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
46She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’ So I drank, and then she watered the camels.
48Then I bowed low and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, because he had led me straight to my master’s niece to be his son’s wife.
49So tell me — will you or won’t you show unfailing love and faithfulness to my master? Please tell me yes or no, and then I’ll know what to do next.'
50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, 'The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we can say.
51Here is Rebekah; take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.'
52When Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord.
53Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and presented them to Rebekah. He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother.
62Meanwhile, Isaac, whose home was in the Negev, had returned from Beer-lahai-roi.
63One evening as he was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw the camels coming.
64When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted from her camel.
English Standard Version
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
7The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.
8And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”
9The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.”
10The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.”
11And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction.
12He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
13So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”
14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
9And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
10This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,
13both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
14Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
18And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
19God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
22When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.”
10The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.
12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
13The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
14Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
15But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
16Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
17The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
20Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
21I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
22So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.
23Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?
25Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
26And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.
28Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”
30Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”
31He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”
32Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
33And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
Chapter 19
1The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” 3But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.
5And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”
6Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him,
7and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.
8Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
9But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
10But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.
11And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
12Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.
13For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
14So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
16But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
17And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
18And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.
19Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.
20Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”
21He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.
25And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
28And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
30Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.
32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”
33So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.”
35So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
37The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Chapter 20
1From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.
9Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
10And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?”
11Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
12Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.
15And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”
16To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
18For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Chapter 21
1The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. 2And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.
10So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”
11And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.
12But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
13And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.”
14So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.
16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
17And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.
21He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
23Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”
24And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
26Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”
27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.
28Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.
29And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”
30He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”
31Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.
34And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
Chapter 22
1After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
15And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
20Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
23(Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Chapter 23
1Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5The Hittites answered Abraham, 6“Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,
11“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”
12Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.
13And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.”
14Ephron answered Abraham,
15“My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
16Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over
18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
Chapter 24
1Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, 3that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.
11And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
12And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
13Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
14Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
15Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.
16The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”
18She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.
19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.
21The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
23and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
25She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.”
26The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD
27and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
28Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring.
30As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
31He said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
32So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
33Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”
34So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
35The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.
36And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has.
37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,
38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’
39I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
40But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s house.
41Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42“I came today to the spring and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go,
43behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,”
44and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’
45“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
46She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.
47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms.
48Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son.
49Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”
50Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good.
51Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.”
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD.
53And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
54And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.”
55Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.”
56But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
57They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.”
58And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”
59So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men.
60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!”
62Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb.
63And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.
64And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel
65and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.
66And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
New International Version
Chapter 16
1Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar;
2so she said to Abram, 'The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
3So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
4He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
5Then Sarai said to Abram, 'You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.'
9Then the angel of the LORD told her, 'Go back to your mistress and submit to her.'
10The angel added, 'I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.'
11The angel of the LORD also said to her: 'You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.'
13She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: 'You are the God who sees me,' for she said, 'I have now seen the One who sees me.'
14That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Chapter 17
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.'
3Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.'
9Then God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
10This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
12For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those who are not your offspring.
13Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
14Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.'
15God also said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
16I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.'
17Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, 'Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?'
18And Abraham said to God, 'If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!'
19Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
21But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.'
22When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
25and his son Ishmael was thirteen;
26Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day.
27And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
1The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3He said, 'If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.
4Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
7Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
8He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
10Then one of them said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.' Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
11Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
12So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, 'After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?'
13Then the LORD said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?'
14Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.'
16When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
17Then the LORD said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
18Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
19For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.'
20Then the LORD said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.'
22The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
23Then Abraham approached him and said: 'Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
25Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?'
3But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.
4Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.'
6Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7and said, 'No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
8Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.'
10But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.
11Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12The two men said to Lot, 'Do you have anyone else here--sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
13because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.'
16When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.
17As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!'
18But Lot said to them, 'No, my lords, please!
19Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die.
20Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared.'
21He said to him, 'Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
22But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.' (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
23By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
24Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens.
25Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land.
26But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
30Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
31One day the older daughter said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children--as is the custom all over the earth.
32Let's get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.'
34The next day the older daughter said to the younger, 'Last night I slept with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.'
35So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today.
38The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
Chapter 20
1Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, 'She is my sister.' Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
4Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, 'Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?
5Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister,' and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.'
6Then God said to him in the dream, 'Yes, I know 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.
7Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.'
8Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.
9Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, 'What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.'
10And Abimelek asked Abraham, 'What was your reason for doing this?'
11Abraham replied, 'I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.'
12Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.
13And when God had me wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.'''
14Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him.
15And Abimelek said, 'My land is before you; live wherever you like.'
17Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again,
18for the LORD had kept all the women in Abimelek's household from conceiving because of Abraham's wife Sarah.
Chapter 21
1Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6Sarah said, 'God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.'
7And she added, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.'
8The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
9But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,
10and she said to Abraham, 'Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.'
11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
12But God said to him, 'Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.'
15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, 'I cannot watch the boy die.' And as she sat there, she began to sob.
17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.'
20God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
21While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
22At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, 'God is with you in everything you do.
23Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.'
25Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek's servants had seized.
26But Abimelek said, 'I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.'
27So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.
28Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,
29and Abimelek asked Abraham, 'What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?'
32After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
34And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
3Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5He said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.'
9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'
15The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16and said, 'I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,
18and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.'
20Some time later Abraham was told, 'Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
21Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.'
23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor.
24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
Chapter 23
1Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
3Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said,
4I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.'
5The Hittites replied to Abraham,
6Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.'
7Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
8He said to them, 'If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
9so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.'
10Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
11No, my lord,' he said. 'Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.'
12Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land
13and he said to Ephron in their hearing, 'Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.'
14Ephron answered Abraham,
15Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.'
17So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre--both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field--was deeded
18to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.
19Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
Chapter 24
1Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. 2He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, 'Put your hand under my thigh. 3I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.'
6Make sure that you do not take my son back there,' Abraham said.
7The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land'--he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
8If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.'
9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master's camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.
11He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
12Then he prayed, 'LORD, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
14May it be that when I say to a young woman, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'--let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
15Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.
16The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
19After she had given him a drink, she said, 'I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.'
20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
21Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.
23Then he asked, 'Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?'
24She answered him, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.'
25And she added, 'We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.'
26Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,
27saying, 'Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.'
28The young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things.
29Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.
30As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.
31Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,' he said. 'Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.'
34So he said, 'I am Abraham's servant.
35The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
36My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
37And my master made me swear an oath, and said, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
38but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'
40He replied, 'The LORD, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family.
41You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you--then you will be released from my oath.'
42When I came to the spring today, I said, 'LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
43See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jar,'
44and if she says to me, 'Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too,' let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'
47I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' 'She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.' 'Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
48and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.
49Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.'
50Laban and Bethuel answered, 'This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.
51Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed.'
52When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.
53Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.
