Genesis 20–24

Chapter 20

Abraham’s Treachery

¹Now Abraham journeyed from ^athere toward the land of ^bthe ¹Negev, and ²settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in ^cGerar.

²Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “^aShe is my sister.” So ^bAbimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

^3aBut God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, ^byou are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ¹married.”

⁴Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^awill You slay a nation, even though ¹blameless?

⁵“Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^aherself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^bthe integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ¹hands I have done this.”

⁶Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ^1akept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.

⁷“Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for ^ahe is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened.

^9aThen Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ¹how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^ba great sin? You have done to me ²things that ought not to be done.”

¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ¹encountered, that you have done this thing?”

¹¹Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no ^afear of God in this place, and ^bthey will kill me because of my wife.

¹²“Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;

¹³and it came about, when ^aGod caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ¹the kindness which you will show to me: ²everywhere we go, ^bsay of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

^14aAbimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him.

¹⁵Abimelech said, “^aBehold, my land is before you; ¹settle wherever ²you please.”

¹⁶To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your ^abrother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is ¹your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.”

^17aAbraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.

^18aFor the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Chapter 21

Isaac Is Born

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sarah Turns against Hagar

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

¹⁰Therefore 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.”

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

¹²But 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.”

¹⁴So 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.

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

¹⁶Then 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.

¹⁷God ^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.”

¹⁹Then 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.

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

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

Covenant with Abimelech

²²Now 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;

²³now 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.”

²⁴Abraham said, “I swear it.”

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

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

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

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

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

³⁰He 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.”

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

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

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

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

Chapter 22

The Offering of Isaac

¹Now it came about after these things, that ^aGod tested Abraham, and said to him, “^bAbraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

²He said, “Take now ^ayour son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of ^bMoriah, and offer him there as a ^cburnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

⁴On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

⁵Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^alaid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^alamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham said, “God will ¹provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹Then they came to ^athe place of which God had told him; and Abraham built ^bthe altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and ^claid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹But ^athe angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

¹²He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now ^aI know that you ¹fear God, since you have not withheld ^byour son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

¹⁴Abraham called the name of that place ¹The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord ^ait will ²be provided.”

¹⁵Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

¹⁶and said, “^aBy Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly ^amultiply your ¹seed as the stars of the heavens and as ^bthe sand which is on the seashore; and ^cyour seed shall possess the gate of ²their enemies.

¹⁸“^aIn your ¹seed all the nations of the earth shall ²be blessed, because you have ^bobeyed My voice.”

^19aSo Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, ^aMilcah ¹also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

²¹Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram

²²and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.”

²³Bethuel ¹became the father of ^aRebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, ¹also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Chapter 23

Death and Burial of Sarah

¹Now ¹Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

²Sarah died…