Genesis 16–20

Sarai and Hagar

16Now^a Sarai, the wife of Abram, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian female slave, and her name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, please, Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my servant; perhaps I will have children by her.”^b And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³Then^c Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, her Egyptian female slave, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife. ⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she^d saw that she had conceived, then her mistress grew small in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “may my harm be upon you. I had my slave sleep with you,^e and when she saw that she had conceived, she no longer respected me.^f May Yahweh judge between me and you!” ⁶And Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave is under your authority.^g Do to her that which is good in your eyes.” And Sarai mistreated her, and she^h fled from her presence.

Hagar and the Angel of Yahweh

⁷And the angel of Yahweh found her at a spring of water in the wilderness, at the spring by the road of Shur. ⁸And he said to Hagar, the female slave of Sarai, “From whereⁱ have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of Sarai my mistress.” ⁹Then^j the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her authority.”^{k 10}And the angel of Yahweh said to her, “I will greatly multiply^l your offspring, so that they cannot be counted for their abundance.” ¹¹And the angel of Yahweh said to her:

“Behold, you are pregnant

and shall have a son.

And you shall call his name Ishmael,

for Yahweh has listened to your suffering.

¹²And he shall be a wild donkey of a man,

his hand will be against everyone,

and the hand of everyone will be against him,

and he will live in hostility with all his brothers.”^m

¹³Soⁿ she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are El-Roi,”^o for she said, “Here I have seen after he who sees me.” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-Lahai-Roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar had a child for Abram, a son. And Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore to him, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was eighty-six years old^p when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Abram and Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant

17When^a Abram was ninety-nine years old^b Yahweh appeared to Abram. And he said to him, “I am El-Shaddai;^c walk before me and be blameless ²so that^d I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you exceedingly.”^{e 3}Then Abram fell upon his face and God spoke with him, saying, ⁴“As for me, behold, my covenant shall be with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵Your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶And I will make you exceedingly^f fruitful. I will make you a nation, and kings shall go out from you. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant to be as God for you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you are living as an alien,^g all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting property. And I will be to them as God.”

⁹And God said to Abraham, “Now as for you, you must 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 also with^h your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²And at eight days of ageⁱ you shall yourselves circumcise every male belonging to your generations and the servant born in your house and the one bought from any foreigner^j who is not from your offspring. ¹³You must certainly circumcise^k the servant born in your house and the one bought with your money.^l And my covenant shall be with your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴And as for any uncircumcised male who has not circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his^m people. He has broken my covenant. ¹⁵And God said to Abraham, “as for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, for Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶And I will bless her; moreover, I give to you from her a son. And I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations.ⁿ Kings of peoples shall come^o from her.” ¹⁷And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed. And he said in his heart, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old,^p or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?”^{q 18}And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹And God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear a son for you, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant to his offspring after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly.^r He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this appointed time next year.” ²²When^s he finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all who were born of his house, and all those acquired by his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on the same day that God spoke with him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old^t when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old^u when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those acquired by money from a foreigner,^v were circumcised with him.

Yahweh Appears to Abraham as a Man

18And Yahweh appeared to him^a by the oaks of Mamre. And he was sitting in the doorway of the tent at the heat of the day. ²And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing near^b him. And he saw them and ran from the doorway of the tent to meet them. And he bowed down to the ground. ³And he said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your eyes do not pass by your servant. ⁴Let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest under the tree. ⁵And let me bring a piece of bread, then^c refresh yourselves.^d Afterward you can pass on, once^e you have passed by with your servant.” Then they said, “Do so as you have said.” ⁶Then^f Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and he said, “Quickly—make three seahs of fine flour for kneading and make bread cakes!” ⁷And Abraham ran to the cattle and took a calf,^g tender and good, and gave it to the servant, and he made haste to prepare it. ⁸Then he took curds and milk, and the calf which he prepared, and set it before them. And he was standing by them under the tree while^h they ate. ⁹And they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Here, in the tent.” ¹⁰And heⁱ said, “I will certainly return to you in the spring,^j and look, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the doorway of the tent, and which was behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age;^k the way of women^l had ceased to be for Sarah. ¹²So^m Sarah laughed to herself saying, “After I am worn out and my husband is old, shall this pleasure be to me?” ¹³Then Yahweh said to Abraham, “What is this that Sarah laughed, saying, ‘Is it indeed true that I will bear a child, now that I have grown old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too difficult for Yahweh? At the appointed time I will return to you in the springⁿ and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. He^o said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked down upon Sodom. And Abraham went with them to send them on their way.^{p 17}Then Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do? ¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed on account of him. ¹⁹For I have chosen^q him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him.” ²⁰Then Yahweh said, “Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very serious,^{r 21}I will go down and I will see. Have they done altogether according to its cry of distress which has come to me? If not, I will know.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

²²And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom. And Abraham was still standing before Yahweh. ²³And Abraham drew near to Yahweh and said, “Will you also sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴If perhaps there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city, will you also sweep them away and not forgive the place on account of the fifty righteous in her midst? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that^s the righteous would be as the wicked! Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” ²⁶And Yahweh said, “If I find fifty righteous in Sodom, in the midst of the city, then I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” ²⁷Then Abraham answered and said, “Look, please, I was bold to speak to my Lord, but I am dust and ashes. ²⁸Perhaps the fifty righteous are lacking five—will you destroy the whole city on account of the five?” And he answered, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹And once again he spoke^t to him and said, “What if^u forty are found there?” And he answered, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰And he said,…