Genesis 21–26

21ST CHAPTER

God Provides for Hagar and Ishmael

¹The Lord came to help Sarah and did for her what he had promised. ²So she became pregnant, and at the exact time God had promised, she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. ³Abraham named his newborn son Isaac. ⁴When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. ⁵Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. 

⁶Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. ⁷Who would have predicted to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet, I have given him a son in his old age.” 

⁸The child grew and was weaned. On the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a big feast. ⁹Sarah saw that Abraham’s son by Hagar the Egyptian was laughing at Isaac. ¹⁰She said to Abraham, “Get rid of this slave and her son, because this slave’s son must never share the inheritance with my son Isaac.” ¹¹Abraham was upset by this because of his son Ishmael. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name. ¹³Besides, I will make the slave’s son into a nation also, because he is your child.” 

¹⁴Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beersheba. ¹⁵When the water in the container was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went about as far away as an arrow can be shot and sat down. She said to herself, “I don’t want to watch the boy die.” So she sat down and sobbed loudly. 

¹⁷God heard the boy crying, and the Messenger of God called to Hagar from heaven. “What’s the matter, Hagar?” he asked her. “Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying from the bushes. ¹⁸Come on, help the boy up! Take him by the hand, because I’m going to make him into a great nation.” 

¹⁹God opened her eyes. Then she saw a well. She filled the container with water and gave the boy a drink. 

²⁰God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became a skilled archer. ²¹He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother got him a wife from Egypt. 

Abraham’s Agreement with Abimelech

²²At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ²³Now, swear an oath to me here in front of God that you will never cheat me, my children, or my descendants. Show me and the land where you’ve been living the same kindness that I have shown you.” 

²⁴Abraham said, “I so swear.” 

²⁵Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which Abimelech’s servants had seized. ²⁶Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear about it until today.” 

²⁷Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement. ²⁸Then Abraham set apart seven female lambs from the flock. ²⁹Abimelech asked him, “What is the meaning of these seven female lambs you have set apart?” 

³⁰Abraham answered, “Accept these lambs from me so that they may be proof^athat I dug this well.” ³¹This is why that place is called Beersheba,^bbecause both of them swore an oath there. 

³²After they made the treaty at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and went back to the land of the Philistines. ³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and worshiped the Lord, the Everlasting God, there. ³⁴Abraham lived a long time in the land of the Philistines. 

22ND CHAPTER

God Tests Abraham

¹Later God tested Abraham and called to him, “Abraham!” 

“Yes, here I am!” he answered. 

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

³Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place that God had told him about. ⁴Two days later Abraham saw the place in the distance. ⁵Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We’ll worship. After that we’ll come back to you.” 

⁶Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to his son Isaac. Abraham carried the burning coals and the knife. The two of them went on together. 

⁷Isaac spoke up and said, “Father?” 

“Yes, Son?” Abraham answered. 

Isaac asked, “We have the burning coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 

⁸Abraham answered, “God will provide a lamb for the burnt offering, Son.” 

The two of them went on together. ⁹When they came to the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on top of the wood on the altar. ¹⁰Next, Abraham picked up the knife and took it in his hand to sacrifice his son. ¹¹But the Messenger of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” 

“Yes?” he answered. 

¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you did not refuse to give me your son, your only son.” 

¹³When Abraham looked around, he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a bush. So Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. It is still said today, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” 

The Lord’s Seventh Promise to Abraham

¹⁵Then the Messenger of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶and said, “I am taking an oath on my own name, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not refused to give me your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities. ¹⁸Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” 

¹⁹Then Abraham returned to his servants, and together they left for Beersheba. Abraham remained in Beersheba. 

Abraham Learns of Nahor’s Descendants

²⁰Later Abraham was told, “Milcah has given birth to these children of your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz (the firstborn), Buz (his brother), Kemuel (father of Aram), ²²Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. ²³Bethuel is the father of Rebekah. Milcah had these eight sons by Abraham’s brother Nahor. ²⁴Nahor’s concubine,^awhose name was Reumah, had the following children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.” 

23RD CHAPTER

Sarah’s Death

¹Sarah lived to be 127 years old. This was the length of her life. ²She died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to cry about her death. 

³Then Abraham left the side of his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites, ⁴“I’m a stranger with no permanent home. Let me have some of your property for a tomb so that I can bury my dead wife.” 

⁵The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. You are a mighty leader among us. Bury your dead in one of our best tombs. Not one of us will withhold from you his tomb for burying your dead.” 

⁷Abraham got up in front of the Hittites, the people of that region, and bowed with his face touching the ground. ⁸He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my wife, listen to me. Encourage Ephron, son of Zohar, ⁹to let me have the cave of Machpelah that he owns at the end of his field. He should sell it to me for its full price as my property to be used as a tomb among you.” 

¹⁰Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. He answered Abraham so that everyone who was entering the city gate could hear him. He said, ¹¹“No, sir, listen to me. I’m giving you the field together with the cave that is in it. My people are witnesses that I’m giving it to you. Bury your wife!” 

¹²Abraham bowed down again in front of the people of that region. ¹³He spoke to Ephron so that the people of that region could hear him. He said, “If you would only listen to me. I will pay you the price of the field. Take it from me so that I can bury my wife there.” 

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Sir, listen to me. The land is worth ten pounds of silver. What is that between us? Bury your wife!” 

¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms. So he weighed out for Ephron the amount stated in front of the Hittites: ten pounds of silver at the current merchants’ exchange rate. 

¹⁷So Ephron’s field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, was sold ¹⁸to Abraham. His property included the field with the cave in it as well as all the trees inside the boundaries of the field.^aThe Hittites together with all who had entered the city gate were the official witnesses for the agreement. 

¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre (that is, Hebron). ²⁰So the field and its cave were sold by the Hittites to Abraham as his property to be used as a tomb. 

24TH CHAPTER

Abraham Instructs His Servant

¹By now Abraham was old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. ²So Abraham said to the senior servant of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Take a solemn oath. ³I want you to swear by the Lord God of heaven and earth that you will not get my son a wife from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I’m living. ⁴Instead, you will go to the land of my relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” 

⁵The servant asked him, “What if the woman doesn’t want to come back to this land with me? Should I take your son all the way back to the land you came from?” 

⁶“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said to him. ⁷“The Lord God of heaven took me from my father’s home and the land of my family. He spoke to me and swore this oath: ‘I will give this land to your…