God's Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^(A)“Fear not, Abram, I am ^(B)your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue^[a] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^(C)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; ^(D)your very own son^[b] shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^(E)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^(F)“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And ^(G)he believed the Lord, and ^(H)he counted it to him as righteousness.

Isaac's Birth Promised

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah^[a] shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover, I will ^(A)give^[b] you a son by her. I will bless her, and ^(B)she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(C)fell on his face ^(D)and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹ God said, “No, but ^(E)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name ^(F)Isaac.^[c] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and ^(G)multiply him greatly. He ^(H)shall father twelve princes, and ^(I)I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But ^(J)I will establish my covenant with Isaac, ^(K)whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is ^(A)in the tent.” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you ^(B)about this time next year, and ^(C)Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(D)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ^12 (E)So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ^(F)“After I am worn out, and ^(G)my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ^14 (H)Is anything too hard^[a] for the Lord? ^(I)At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it,^[b] saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord ^(A)visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah ^(B)as he had promised. ² And Sarah ^(C)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age ^(D)at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, ^(E)Isaac.^{[a] 4} And Abraham ^(F)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(G)as God had commanded him. ^5 (H)Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(I)“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(J)Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”