Genesis 20–24

Abraham and Abimelech

20Abraham moved from Mamre to the southern part of Canaan and lived between Kadesh and Shur. Later, while he was living in Gerar, ^2*he said that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. ³One night God appeared to him in a dream and said: “You are going to die, because you have taken this woman; she is already married.”

⁴But Abimelech had not come near her, and he said, “Lord, I am innocent! Would you destroy me and my people? ⁵Abraham himself said that she was his sister, and she said the same thing. I did this with a clear conscience, and I have done no wrong.”

⁶God replied in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did it with a clear conscience; so I kept you from sinning against me and did not let you touch her. ⁷But now, give the woman back to her husband. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, so that you will not die. But if you do not give her back, I warn you that you are going to die, you and all your people.”

⁸Early the next morning Abimelech called all his officials and told them what had happened, and they were terrified. ⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? What wrong have I done to you to make you bring this disaster on me and my kingdom? No one should ever do what you have done to me. ¹⁰Why did you do it?”

¹¹Abraham answered, “I thought that there would be no one here who has reverence for God and that they would kill me to get my wife. ¹²She really is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not of my mother, and I married her. ¹³So when God sent me from my father’s house into foreign lands, I said to her, ‘You can show how loyal you are to me by telling everyone that I am your brother.’ ”

¹⁴Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and at the same time he gave him sheep, cattle, and slaves. ¹⁵He said to Abraham, “Here is my whole land; live anywhere you like.” ¹⁶He said to Sarah, “I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver as proof to all who are with you that you are innocent; everyone will know that you have done no wrong.”

^17–18Because of what had happened to Sarah, Abraham’s wife, the Lord had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech’s palace to have children. So Abraham prayed for Abimelech, and God healed him. He also healed his wife and his slave women, so that they could have children.

The Birth of Isaac

21The Lord blessed Sarah, as he had promised, ^2*and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born. ³Abraham named him Isaac, ^4*and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded. ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. ⁶Sarah said, “God has brought me joy and laughter.^w Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” ⁷Then 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 on the day that he was weaned, Abraham gave a great feast.

Hagar and Ishmael Are Sent Away

⁹One day Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, was playing with^x Sarah’s son Isaac.^{y 10*}Sarah saw them and said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away. The son of this woman must not get any part of your wealth, which my son Isaac should inherit.” ¹¹This troubled Abraham very much, because Ishmael was also his son. ^12*But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be worried about the boy and your slave Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I have promised. ¹³I will also give many children to the son of the slave woman, so that they will become a nation. He too is your son.”

¹⁴Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵When the water was all gone, she left the child under a bush ¹⁶and sat down about a hundred metres away. She said to herself, “I can’t bear to see my child die.” While she was sitting there, she^z began to cry.

¹⁷God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, “What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. ¹⁸Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants.” ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy. ²⁰God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skilful hunter. ²¹His mother found an Egyptian wife for him.

The Agreement between Abraham and Abimelech

^22*At that time Abimelech went with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³So make a vow here in the presence of God that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so promise that you will also be loyal to me and to this country in which you are living.”

²⁴Abraham said, “I promise.”

²⁵Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which the servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶Abimelech said, “I don’t know who did this. You didn’t tell me about it, and this is the first I have heard of it.” ²⁷Then Abraham gave some sheep and cattle to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement. ²⁸Abraham separated seven lambs from his flock, ²⁹and Abimelech asked him, “Why did you do that?”

³⁰Abraham answered, “Accept these seven lambs. By doing this, you admit that I am the one who dug this well.” ³¹And so the place was called Beersheba,^a because it was there that the two of them made a vow.

³²After they had made this agreement at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol went back to Philistia. ³³Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshipped the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴Abraham lived in Philistia for a long time.

God Commands Abraham to Offer Isaac

22^*Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, “Abraham!” And Abraham answered, “Yes, here I am!”

^2*“Take your son,” God said, “your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me.”

^3*Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about. ^4*On the third day Abraham saw the place in the distance. ^5*Then he said to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

^6*Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice, and he himself carried a knife and live coals for starting the fire. As they walked along together, ^7*Isaac said, “Father!”

He answered, “Yes, my son?”

Isaac asked, “I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”

^8*Abraham answered, “God himself will provide one.” And the two of them walked on together.

^9*When they came to the place which God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. ^10*Then he picked up the knife to kill him. ^11*But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He answered, “Yes, here I am.”

^12*“Don’t hurt the boy or do anything to him,” he said. “Now I know that you honour and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.”

^13*Abraham looked round and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴Abraham named that place “The Lord Provides”.^b And even today people say, “On the Lord’s mountain he provides.”^c

¹⁵The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ^16*“I make a vow by my own name—the Lord is speaking—that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me, ^17*I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies. ^18*All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants—all because you obeyed my command.” ¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.

The Descendants of Nahor

²⁰Some time later Abraham learnt that Milcah had borne eight children to his brother Nahor: ²¹Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, ²³Rebecca’s father. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴Reumah, Nahor’s concubine, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah Dies and Abraham Buys a Burial-Ground

23Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ²She died in Hebron in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourned her death.

³He left the place where his wife’s body was lying, went to the Hittites, and said, ^4*“I am a foreigner living here among you; sell me some land, so that I can bury my wife.”

⁵They answered, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. We look upon you as a mighty leader; bury your wife in the best grave that we have. Any of us would be glad to give you a grave, so that you can bury her.”

⁷Then Abraham bowed before them ⁸and said, “If you are willing to let me bury my wife here, please ask Ephron son of Zohar ⁹to sell me Machpelah Cave, which is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price, here in your presence, so that I can own it as a burial ground.”

¹⁰Ephron himself was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate; he answered in the hearing of everyone there, ¹¹“Listen, sir; I will give you the whole field and the cave that is in it. Here in the presence of my own people, I will give it to you, so that you can bury your wife.”

¹²But Abraham bowed before the Hittites ¹³and said to Ephron, so that everyone could hear,…