Genesis 16:1–16
16 Now Sarai,k Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.l But she had an Egyptian slavem named Hagar;n 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.o Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”p
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaanq ten years,r Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar,s and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.t 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”u
6 “Your slave is in your hands,v” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreatedw Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lordx found Hagar near a springy in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.z 8 And he said, “Hagar,a slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”b
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”c
11 The angel of the Lordd also said to her:
“You are now pregnant
and you will give birth to a son.e
You shall name himf Ishmael,a g
for the Lord has heard of your misery.h
12 He will be a wild donkeyi of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,k” for she said, “I have now seenc the One who sees me.”l 14 That is why the wellm was called Beer Lahai Roid;n it is still there, between Kadesho and Bered.
15 So Hagarp bore Abram a son,q and Abram gave the name Ishmaelr to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years olds when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Genesis 1:1–2:25
1 In the beginninga God createdb the heavensc and the earth.d 2 Now the earth was formlesse and empty,f darkness was over the surface of the deep,g and the Spirit of Godh was hoveringi over the waters.
3 And God said,j “Let there be light,” and there was light.k 4 God saw that the light was good,l and he separated the light from the darkness.m 5 God calledn the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”o And there was evening, and there was morningp—the first day.
6 And God said,q “Let there be a vaultr between the waterss to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it.t And it was so.u 8 God calledv the vault “sky.”w And there was evening, and there was morningx—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place,y and let dry groundz appear.” And it was so.a 10 God calledb the dry ground “land,” and the gathered watersc he called “seas.”d And God saw that it was good.e
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation:f seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.g” And it was so.h 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kindsi and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.j 13 And there was evening, and there was morningk—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lightsl in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night,m and let them serve as signsn to mark sacred times,o and days and years,p 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.q 16 God made two great lights—the greater lightr to governs the day and the lesser light to governt the night.u He also made the stars.v 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night,w and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.x 19 And there was evening, and there was morningy—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures,z and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”a 21 So God createdb the great creatures of the seac and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it,d according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.e And God saw that it was good.f 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”g 23 And there was evening, and there was morningh—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creaturesi according to their kinds:j the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.k 25 God made the wild animalsl according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.m And God saw that it was good.n
26 Then God said, “Let uso make mankindp in our image,q in our likeness,r so that they may rules over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky,t over the livestock and all the wild animals,a and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis 15:1–21
The Lord’s Covenant With Abram
15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abramp in a vision:q
“Do not be afraid,r Abram.
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,u what can you give me since I remain childlessv and the one who will inheritc my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?w” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servantx in my householdy will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.z” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the starsa—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspringd be.”b
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.c
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you outd of Ur of the Chaldeanse to give you this land to take possession of it.”f
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,g how can I knowh that I will gain possession of it?”i
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,j a goat and a ram, each three years old,k along with a dove and a young pigeon.l”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;m the birds, however, he did not cut in half.n 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,o but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,p and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred yearsq your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslavedr and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come outs with great possessions.t 15 You, however, will go to your ancestorsu in peace and be buried at a good old age.v 16 In the fourth generationw your descendants will come back here,x for the sin of the Amoritesy has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torchz appeared and passed between the pieces.a 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abramb and said, “To your descendants I give this land,c from the Wadie of Egyptd to the great river, the Euphratese—19 the land of the Kenites,f Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites,g Perizzites,h Rephaites,i 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”j