Chapter 21

Isaac Is Born

1 aThen the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had 1promised.

2 aSo Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at bthe appointed time of which God had spoken to him.

3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, aIsaac.

4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was aeight days old, as God had commanded him.

5 Now Abraham was aone hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 Sarah said, “God has made alaughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh 1with me.”

7 And she said, “aWho would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

9 Now Sarah saw athe son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, 1bmocking.

10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “aDrive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son 1Isaac.”

11 aThe matter 1distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.

12 But God said to Abraham, “1Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for athrough Isaac 2your descendants shall be named.

13 “And of athe son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your 1descendant.”

14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a 1skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was used up, she 1left the boy under one of the bushes.

16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me 1see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and alifted up her voice and wept.

17 God aheard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? bDo not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 “Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by 1the hand, afor I will make a great nation of him.”

19 Then God aopened her eyes and she saw ba well of water; and she went and filled the 1skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

20 aGod was with the lad, and he grew; and he 1lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

21 aHe 1lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

22 Now it came about at that time that aAbimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “bGod is with you in all that you do;

23 now therefore, aswear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.”

24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”

25 But Abraham 1complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ahad seized.

26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it 1until today.”

27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and athe two of them made a covenant.

28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?”

30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a awitness to me, that I dug this well.”

31 Therefore he called that place aBeersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.

32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ahe called on the name of the Lord, the bEverlasting God.

34 And Abraham sojourned ain the land of the Philistines for many days.