Genesis 20–24

20TH CHAPTER

Abraham Deceives Abimelech

¹Abraham moved to the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar, ²Abraham told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar sent men to take Sarah. ³God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You’re going to die because of the woman that you’ve taken! She’s a married woman!” ⁴Abimelech hadn’t come near her, so he asked, “Lord, will you destroy a nation even if it’s innocent? ⁵Didn’t he tell me himself, ‘She’s my sister,’ and didn’t she even say, ‘He’s my brother’? I did this in all innocence and with a clear conscience.” 

⁶“Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience,” God said to him in the dream. “In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That’s why I didn’t let you touch her. ⁷Give the man’s wife back to him now, because he’s a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don’t give her back, you and all who belong to you are doomed to die.” 

⁸Early in the morning Abimelech called together all his officials. He told them about all of this, and they were terrified. ⁹Then Abimelech called for Abraham and asked him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you would bring such a serious sin on me and my kingdom? You shouldn’t have done this to me.” ¹⁰Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What were you thinking when you did this?” 

¹¹Abraham said, “I thought that because there are no God-fearing people in this place, I’d be killed because of my wife. ¹²Besides, she is my sister—my father’s daughter but not my mother’s. She is also my wife. ¹³When God had me leave my father’s home and travel around, I said to her, ‘Do me a favor: Wherever we go, say that I’m your brother.’ ” 

¹⁴Then Abimelech took sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. ¹⁵Abimelech said, “Look, here’s my land. Live anywhere you like.” ¹⁶He said to Sarah, “Don’t forget, I’ve given your brother 25 pounds of silver. This is to silence any criticism against you from everyone with you. You’re completely cleared.” 

¹⁷Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could have children. ¹⁸(The Lord had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech’s household to have children because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.) 

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…