Genesis 21:8-23:20

New King James Version

Hagar and Ishmael Depart^(A)

⁸ So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar ^(B)the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(C)scoffing.^{[a] 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, ^(D)“Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” ¹¹ And the matter was very ^[b]displeasing in Abraham’s sight ^(E)because of his son.

¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for ^(F)in Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³ Yet I will also make ^(G)a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your ^[c]seed.”

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and ^[d]a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and ^(H)sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵ And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And ^(I)God heard the voice of the lad. Then the ^(J)angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for ^(K)I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹ Then ^(L)God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. ²⁰ So God ^(M)was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, ^(N)and became an archer. ²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother ^(O)took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² And it came to pass at that time that ^(P)Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^(Q)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore, ^(R)swear^[e] to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵ Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants ^(S)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” ²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them ^(T)made a ^[f]covenant. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^(U)“What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰ And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that ^(V)they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he ^(W)called that place ^[g]Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

³² Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and ^(X)there called on the name of the Lord, ^(Y)the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed^(Z)

22 Now it came to pass after these things that ^(AA)God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, ^(AB)your only son Isaac, whom you ^(AC)love, and go ^(AD)to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(AE)burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall 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 the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the ^[h]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will ^(AF)come back to you.”

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(AG)laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^[i]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^(AH)lamb for a ^(AI)burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and ^(AJ)laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the ^(AK)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(AL)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(AM)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(AN)withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, ^[j]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: ^(AO)“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will ^(AP)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(AQ)as the stars of the heaven ^(AR)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(AS)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ^18 (AT)In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ^(AU)because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to ^(AV)Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Family of Nahor

²⁰ Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed ^(AW)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (AX)Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father ^(AY)of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And ^(AZ)Bethuel begot ^[k]Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ² So Sarah died in ^(BA)Kirjath Arba (that is, ^(BB)Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³ Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of ^(BC)Heth, saying, ^4 (BD)“I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. ^(BE)Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵ And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶ “Hear us, my lord: You are ^(BF)a ^[l]mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”

⁷ Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. ⁸ And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and ^[m]meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹ that he may give me the cave of ^(BG)Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”

¹⁰ Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who ^(BH)entered at the gate of his city, saying, ^11 (BI)“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”

¹² Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; ¹³ and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴ And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred ^(BJ)shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” ¹⁶ And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham ^(BK)weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

¹⁷ So ^(BL)the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded ¹⁸ to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰ So the field and the cave that is in it ^(BM)were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.