Abraham and Abimelech

20 And Abraham journeyed from ^(A)there to the South, and dwelt between ^(B)Kadesh and Shur, and ^(C)stayed in Gerar. ² Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^(D)“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and ^(E)took Sarah.

³ But ^(F)God came to Abimelech ^(G)in a dream by night, and said to him, ^(H)“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[a]a man’s wife.”

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(I)will You slay a righteous nation also? ⁵ Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ ^(J)In the ^[b]integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶ And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For ^(K)I also withheld you from sinning ^(L)against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; ^(M)for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, ^(N)know that you shall surely die, you ^(O)and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹ And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I ^[c]offended you, ^(P)that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me ^(Q)that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”

¹¹ And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely ^(R)the fear of God is not in this place; and ^(S)they will kill me on account of my wife. ¹² But indeed ^(T)she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³ And it came to pass, when ^(U)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, ^(V)say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

¹⁴ Then Abimelech ^(W)took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “See, ^(X)my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; ^(Y)indeed this ^[d]vindicates you ^(Z)before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was ^[e]rebuked.

¹⁷ So Abraham ^(AA)prayed to God; and God ^(AB)healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; ¹⁸ for the Lord ^(AC)had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born^(AD)

21 And the Lord ^(AE)visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah ^(AF)as He had spoken. ² For Sarah ^(AG)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, ^(AH)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—^(AI)Isaac.^{[f] 4} Then Abraham ^(AJ)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(AK)as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now ^(AL)Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(AM)“God has ^[g]made me laugh, and all who hear ^(AN)will laugh with me.” ⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(AO)For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart^(AP)

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 ^(AQ)the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(AR)scoffing.^{[h] 10} Therefore she said to Abraham, ^(AS)“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 ^[i]displeasing in Abraham’s sight ^(AT)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 ^(AU)in Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³ Yet I will also make ^(AV)a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your ^[j]seed.”

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

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

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² And it came to pass at that time that ^(BE)Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^(BF)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore, ^(BG)swear^[l] 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 ^(BH)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 ^(BI)made a ^[m]covenant. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^(BJ)“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 ^(BK)they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he ^(BL)called that place ^[n]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 ^(BM)there called on the name of the Lord, ^(BN)the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed^(BO)

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

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, ^(BQ)your only son Isaac, whom you ^(BR)love, and go ^(BS)to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(BT)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 ^[o]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will ^(BU)come back to you.”

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(BV)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 ^[p]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^(BW)lamb for a ^(BX)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 ^(BY)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 ^(BZ)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(CA)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(CB)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(CC)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, ^[q]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: ^(CD)“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 ^(CE)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(CF)as the stars of the heaven ^(CG)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(CH)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ^18 (CI)In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ^(CJ)because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to ^(CK)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 ^(CL)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (CM)Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father ^(CN)of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And ^(CO)Bethuel begot ^[r]Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

Many Women Minister to Jesus

8 Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and ^[a]bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, ² and ^(A)certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and ^[b]infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, ^(B)out of whom had come seven demons, ³ and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for ^[c]Him from their ^[d]substance.

The Parable of the Sower^(C)

^4 (D)And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. ⁸ But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded ^[e]a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, ^(E)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The Purpose of Parables^(F)

^9 (G)Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰ And He said, “To you it has been given to know the ^[f]mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

The Parable of the Sower Explained^(I)

^11 (J)“Now the parable is this: The seed is the ^(K)word of God. ¹² Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³ But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of ^[g]temptation fall away. ¹⁴ Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, ^(L)riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵ But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with ^(M)patience.^[h]

The Parable of the Revealed Light^(N)

^16 (O)“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the ^(P)light. ^17 (Q)For nothing is secret that will not be ^(R)revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. ¹⁸ Therefore take heed how you hear. ^(S)For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he ^[i]seems to ^(T)have will be taken from him.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Come to Him^(U)

^19 (V)Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.”

²¹ But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

Wind and Wave Obey Jesus^(W)

^22 (X)Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. ²³ But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in ^[j]jeopardy. ²⁴ And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵ But He said to them, ^(Y)“Where is your faith?”

And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ^(Z)“Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

A Demon-Possessed Man Healed^(AA)

^26 (AB)Then they sailed to the country of the ^[k]Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons ^[l]for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he ^(AC)cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, ^(AD)“What have I to do with ^(AE)You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” ²⁹ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?”

And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out ^(AF)into the abyss.

³² Now a herd of many ^(AG)swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. ³³ Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

³⁴ When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵ Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, ^(AH)sitting at the ^(AI)feet of Jesus, clothed and in his ^(AJ)right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶ They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was ^[m]healed. ^37 (AK)Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the ^[n]Gadarenes ^(AL)asked Him to ^(AM)depart from them, for they were seized with great ^(AN)fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

³⁸ Now ^(AO)the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

⁴⁰ So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. ^41 (AP)And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, ⁴² for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she ^(AQ)was dying.

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. ^43 (AR)Now a woman, having a ^(AS)flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, ⁴⁴ came from behind and ^(AT)touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter ^[o]and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, ^[p]and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived ^(AU)power going out from Me.” ⁴⁷ Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

⁴⁸ And He said to her, “Daughter, ^[q]be of good cheer; ^(AV)your faith has made you well. ^(AW)Go in peace.”

^49 (AX)While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the ^[r]Teacher.”

⁵⁰ But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; ^(AY)only believe, and she will be made well.” ⁵¹ When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go ^[s]in except ^[t]Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. ⁵² Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, ^(AZ)“Do not weep; she is not dead, ^(BA)but sleeping.” ⁵³ And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴ But He ^[u]put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, ^(BB)arise.” ⁵⁵ Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. ⁵⁶ And her parents were astonished, but ^(BC)He charged them to tell no one what had happened.