Chapter 20

Abraham’s Treachery

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

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

3 aBut 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.”

4 Now 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.”

6 Then 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.”

8 So 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.

9 aThen 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.”

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

11 Abraham 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;

13 and 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.” ’ ”

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

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

16 To 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.”

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

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

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.

Chapter 22

The Offering of Isaac

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

2 He 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.”

3 So 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.

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

5 Abraham 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.”

6 Abraham 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.

7 Isaac 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?”

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

9 Then 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.

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

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

12 He 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.”

13 Then 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.

14 Abraham 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.”

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

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

17 indeed 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 1seed 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 23

Death and Burial of Sarah

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

2 Sarah …