Genesis 14:17-16:6

English Standard Version

Abram Blessed by Melchizedek

¹⁷ After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the ^(A)King's Valley). ¹⁸ And ^(B)Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was ^(C)priest of ^(D)God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

And Abram gave him ^(G)a tenth of everything. ²¹ And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ^(H)“I have lifted my hand^[b] to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that ^(I)I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let ^(J)Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

God's Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^(K)“Fear not, Abram, I am ^(L)your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue^[c] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^(M)a member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^(N)your very own son^[d] shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^(O)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^(P)“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And ^(Q)he believed the Lord, and ^(R)he counted it to him as righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, “I am the Lord who ^(S)brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ^(T)to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord God, ^(U)how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹ He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ And he brought him all these, ^(V)cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But ^(W)he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹ And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was going down, a ^(X)deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ^(Y)that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and ^(Z)they will be afflicted for ^(AA)four hundred years. ¹⁴ But ^(AB)I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward ^(AC)they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; ^(AD)you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for ^(AE)the iniquity of the Amorites ^(AF)is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ^(AG)“To your offspring I give^[e] this land, from ^(AH)the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Sarai and Hagar

16 ^(AI)Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was ^(AJ)Hagar. ² And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children^[f] by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ So, after Abram ^(AK)had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. ⁴ And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, ^(AL)she looked with contempt on her mistress.^{[g] 5} And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May ^(AM)the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.