Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, ^(A)had borne him no children. And she had ^(B)an Egyptian maidservant whose name was ^(C)Hagar. ^2 (D)So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord ^(E)has restrained me from bearing children. Please, ^(F)go in to my maid; perhaps I shall ^[a]obtain children by her.” And Abram ^(G)heeded the voice of Sarai. ³ Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram ^(H)had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. ⁴ So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became ^(I)despised in her ^[b]eyes.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, ^[c]“My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. ^(J)The Lord judge between you and me.”

^6 (K)So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, ^(L)she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now the ^(M)Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, ^(N)by the spring on the way to ^(O)Shur. ⁸ And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and ^(P)submit yourself under her hand.” ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, ^(Q)“I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” ¹¹ And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-^[e]the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here ^[f]seen Him ^(U)who sees me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called ^(V)Beer Lahai Roi;^[g] observe, it is ^(W)between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So ^(X)Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

The Sign of the Covenant^(Y)

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord ^(Z)appeared to Abram and said to him, ^(AA)“I am ^[h]Almighty God; ^(AB)walk before Me and be ^(AC)blameless. ² And I will make My ^(AD)covenant between Me and you, and ^(AE)will multiply you exceedingly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴ “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(AF)a father of ^[i]many nations. ⁵ No longer shall ^(AG)your name be called ^[j]Abram, but your name shall be ^[k]Abraham; ^(AH)for I have made you a father of ^[l]many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make ^(AI)nations of you, and ^(AJ)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(AK)establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, ^(AL)to be God to you and ^(AM)your descendants after you. ⁸ Also ^(AN)I give to you and your descendants after you the land ^(AO)in^[m] which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(AP)I will be their God.”

⁹ And God said to Abraham: “As for you, ^(AQ)you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: ^(AR)Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be ^(AS)a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you ^(AT)shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person ^(AU)shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but ^[n]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ And I will bless her ^(AV)and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother ^(AW)of nations; ^(AX)kings of peoples shall be from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face ^(AY)and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham ^(AZ)said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said: “No, ^(BA)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My ^(BB)covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and ^(BC)will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget ^(BD)twelve princes, ^(BE)and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My ^(BF)covenant I will establish with Isaac, ^(BG)whom Sarah shall bear to you at this ^(BH)set time next year.” ²² Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

²³ So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; ²⁷ and ^(BI)all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Isaac Is Born^(A)

21 And the Lord ^(B)visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah ^(C)as He had spoken. ² For Sarah ^(D)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, ^(E)at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—^(F)Isaac.^{[a] 4} Then Abraham ^(G)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(H)as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now ^(I)Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(J)“God has ^[b]made me laugh, and all who hear ^(K)will laugh with me.” ⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(L)For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart^(M)

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 ^(N)the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(O)scoffing.^{[c] 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, ^(P)“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 ^[d]displeasing in Abraham’s sight ^(Q)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 ^(R)in Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³ Yet I will also make ^(S)a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your ^[e]seed.”

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and ^[f]a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and ^(T)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 ^(U)God heard the voice of the lad. Then the ^(V)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 ^(W)I will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹ Then ^(X)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 ^(Y)was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, ^(Z)and became an archer. ²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother ^(AA)took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² And it came to pass at that time that ^(AB)Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^(AC)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore, ^(AD)swear^[g] 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 ^(AE)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 ^(AF)made a ^[h]covenant. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^(AG)“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 ^(AH)they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he ^(AI)called that place ^[i]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 ^(AJ)there called on the name of the Lord, ^(AK)the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.