Genesis 15–17

Chapter 15

Abram Promised a Son

¹After these things ^athe word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“^bDo not fear, Abram,

I am ^ca shield to you;

¹Your ^dreward shall be very great.”

²Abram said, “O Lord ¹God, what will You give me, since I ²am childless, and the ³heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

³And Abram said, “¹Since You have given no ²offspring to me, ³one ^aborn in my house is my heir.”

⁴Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; ^abut one who will come forth from your own ¹body, he shall be your heir.”

⁵And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and ^acount the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “^bSo shall your ¹descendants be.”

^6aThen he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

⁷And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of ^aUr of the Chaldeans, to ^bgive you this land to ¹possess it.”

⁸He said, “O Lord ¹God, ^ahow may I know that I will ²possess it?”

⁹So He said to him, “¹Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰Then he ¹brought all these to Him and ^acut them ²in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he ^bdid not cut the birds.

¹¹The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹²Now when the sun was going down, ^aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, ¹terror and great darkness fell upon him.

¹³God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ^ayour ¹descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, ²where ^bthey will be enslaved and oppressed ^cfour hundred years.

¹⁴“But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out ^awith ¹many possessions.

¹⁵“As for you, ^ayou shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

¹⁶“Then in ^athe fourth generation they will return here, for ^bthe iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

¹⁷It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which ^apassed between these pieces.

¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

“^aTo your ¹descendants I have given this land,

From ^bthe river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

^19athe Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite

²⁰and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim

²¹and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

Chapter 16

Sarai and Hagar

¹Now ^aSarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had ^ban Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. ^aPlease go in to my maid; perhaps I will ¹obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³After Abram had ¹lived ^aten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

⁴He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “^aMay the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your ¹arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her ²sight. ^bMay the Lord judge between ³you and me.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your ¹power; do to her what is good in your ²sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and ^ashe fled from her presence.

⁷Now ^athe angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^bShur.

⁸He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, ^awhere have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself ¹to her authority.”

¹⁰Moreover, the ^aangel of the Lord said to her, “^bI will greatly multiply your ¹descendants so that ²they will be too many to count.”

¹¹The angel of the Lord said to her further,

“Behold, you are with child,

And you will bear a son;

And you shall call his name ¹Ishmael,

Because ^athe Lord ²has given heed to your affliction.

¹²“He will be a ^awild donkey of a man,

His hand will be against everyone,

And everyone’s hand will be against him;

And he will ¹live ^2bto the east of all his brothers.”

¹³Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “¹You are ²a God who sees”; for she said, “^aHave I even ³remained alive here after seeing Him?”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called ¹Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^aKadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

¹⁶Abram was ^aeighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ¹him.

Chapter 17

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

¹Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^athe Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am ¹God ^bAlmighty;

Walk before Me, and be ^2cblameless.

²“I will ¹establish My ^acovenant between Me and you,

And I will ^bmultiply you exceedingly.”

³Abram ^afell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,

And you will be the father of a ^amultitude of nations.

⁵“No longer shall your name be called ¹Abram,

But ^ayour name shall be ²Abraham;

For ^bI will make you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶“I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^akings will come forth from you.

⁷“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ¹descendants after you throughout their generations for an ^aeverlasting covenant, ^bto be God to you and ^cto your descendants after you.

⁸“^aI will give to you and to your ¹descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and ^bI will be their God.”

⁹God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^ayou shall keep My covenant, you and your ¹descendants after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰“^aThis is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ¹descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹“And ^ayou shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²“And every male among you who is ^aeight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ¹descendants.

¹³“A servant who is born in your house or ^awho is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴“But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^acut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but ¹Sarah shall be her name.

¹⁶“I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^aa son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^bkings of peoples will ¹come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham ^afell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And ^bwill Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you ^aa son, and you shall call his name ¹Isaac; and ^bI will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his ²descendants after him.

²⁰“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^awill make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. ^bHe shall ¹become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a ^cgreat nation.

²¹“But My covenant I will establish with ^aIsaac, whom ^bSarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

²²When He finished talking with him, ^aGod went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were ^aborn in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, ^bas God had said to him.

²⁴Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^ahe was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵And ^aIshmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

²⁷All the men of his household, who were ^aborn in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.