Genesis 15–17

15After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, ^aFear not, Abram: I am thy ^bshield, and thy exceeding ^cgreat reward. ²And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of ^dDamascus? ³And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, ^eone born in my house is mine heir. ⁴And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that ^fshall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and ^gtell the ^hstars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, ⁱSo shall thy seed be. ⁶And he ^kbelieved in the Lord; and he ^lcounted it to him for righteousness. ⁷And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of ^mUr of the Chaldees, ⁿto give thee this land to inherit it. ⁸And he said, Lord God, ^owhereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? ⁹And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. ¹⁰And he took unto him all these, and ^pdivided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but ^qthe birds divided he not. ¹¹And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. ¹²And when the sun was going down, ^ra deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹³And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety ^sthat thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and ^tthey shall afflict them ^ufour hundred years; ¹⁴And also that nation, whom they shall serve, ^xwill I judge: and afterward ^yshall they come out with great substance. ¹⁵And ^zthou shalt go ^ato thy ^bfathers in peace; thou shalt be buried ^bin a good old age. ¹⁶But ^cin the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity ^dof the Amorites ^eis not yet full. ¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was ^fdark, behold a smoking furnace, and ^†a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. ¹⁸In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ^gUnto thy seed have I given this land, from ^hthe river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹The ⁱKenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, ²⁰And the ^kHittites, and the ^lPerizzites, and the ^mRephaims, ²¹And the Amorites, and the ⁿCanaanites, and the ^oGirgashites, and the Jebusites.

16Now Sarai Abram’s wife ^abare him no children: and she had an handmaid, ^ban Egyptian, whose name was ^cHagar. ^2dAnd Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord ^ehath 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 ^fhad 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 ^gdespised 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: ^hthe Lord judge between me and thee. ⁶But Abram said unto Sarai, ⁱBehold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her ^†as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai ^†dealt hardly with her, ^kshe fled from her face. ⁷And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the ^lwilderness, by the fountain in the way to ^mShur. 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, ⁿI 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, ^oand shalt call his name ^||Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. ^12pAnd he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; ^qand 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 ^r||Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^sKadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, ^tIshmael. ^16*And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

17^*And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am ^athe Almighty God; ^bwalk before me, and be thou ^||cperfect. ²And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and ^dwill multiply thee exceedingly. ³And Abram ^efell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, ⁴As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be ^fa father of ^†many nations. ⁵Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but ^gthy name shall be ^||Abraham; ^hfor a father of many nations have I made thee. ⁶And I will make thee exceeding ⁱfruitful, and I will make ^knations of thee, and ^lkings shall come out of thee. ⁷And I will ^mestablish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, ⁿto be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. ⁸And ^oI will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land ^†pwherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and ^pI 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 ^qa token of the covenant betwixt me and you. ¹²And ^†he that is eight days old ^rshall 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, ^sand give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and ^†she shall be a mother ^tof nations; kings of people shall be of her. ¹⁷Then Abraham fell upon his face, ^uand 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 ^xIshmael might live before thee! ¹⁹And God said, ^ySarah 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 ^zwill make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; ^atwelve princes shall he beget, ^band 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 ^cGod 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.