Genesis 15-16

Complete Jewish Bible

15 Some time later the word of Adonai came to Avram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Avram. I am your protector; your reward will be very great.” ² Avram replied, “Adonai, God, what good will your gifts be to me if I continue childless; and Eli‘ezer from Dammesek inherits my possessions? ³ You haven’t given me a child,” Avram continued, “so someone born in my house will be my heir.” ⁴ But the word of Adonai came to him: “This man will not be your heir. No, your heir will be a child from your own body.” ⁵ Then he brought him outside and said, “Look up at the sky, and count the stars — if you can count them! Your descendants will be that many!” ⁶ He believed in Adonai, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

(vi) ⁷ Then he said to him, “I am Adonai, who brought you out from Ur-Kasdim to give you this land as your possession.” ⁸ He replied, “Adonai, God, how am I to know that I will possess it?” ⁹ He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ He brought him all these, cut the animals in two and placed the pieces opposite each other; but he didn’t cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Avram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell on Avram; horror and great darkness came over him. ¹³ Adonai said to Avram, “Know this for certain: your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves and held in oppression there four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will also judge that nation, the one that makes them slaves. Afterwards, they will leave with many possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you will join your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ Only in the fourth generation will your descendants come back here, because only then will the Emori be ripe for punishment.”

¹⁷ After the sun had set and there was thick darkness, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared, which passed between these animal parts. ¹⁸ That day Adonai made a covenant with Avram: “I have given this land to your descendants — from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River — ¹⁹ the territory of the Keni, the K’nizi, the Kadmoni, ²⁰ the Hitti, the P’rizi, the Refa’im, ²¹ the Emori, the Kena‘ani, the Girgashi and the Y’vusi.”

16 Now Sarai Avram’s wife had not borne him a child. But she had an Egyptian slave-girl named Hagar; ² so Sarai said to Avram, “Here now, Adonai has kept me from having children; so go in and sleep with my slave-girl. Maybe I’ll be able to have children through her.” Avram listened to what Sarai said.

³ It was after Avram had lived ten years in the land of Kena‘an that Sarai Avram’s wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to Avram her husband to be his wife. ⁴ Avram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she conceived. But when she became aware that she was pregnant, she looked on her mistress with contempt. ⁵ Sarai said to Avram, “This outrage being done to me is your fault! True, I gave my slave-girl to you to sleep with; but when she saw that she was pregnant, she began holding me in contempt. May Adonai decide who is right — I or you!” ⁶ However, Avram answered Sarai, “Look, she’s your slave-girl. Deal with her as you think fit.” Then Sarai treated her so harshly that she ran away from her.

⁷ The angel of Adonai found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur, ⁸ and said, “Hagar! Sarai’s slave-girl! Where have you come from, and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The angel of Adonai said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ The angel of Adonai said to her, “I will greatly increase your descendants; there will be so many that it will be impossible to count them.” ¹¹ The angel of Adonai said to her, “Look, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma‘el [God pays attention] because Adonai has paid attention to your misery. ¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man, with his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, living his life at odds with all his kinsmen.”

¹³ So she named Adonai who had spoken with her El Ro’i [God of seeing], because she said, “Have I really seen the One who sees me [and stayed alive]?” ¹⁴ This is why the well has been called Be’er-Lachai-Ro’i [well of the one who lives and sees]; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar bore Avram a son, and Avram called the son whom Hagar had borne Yishma‘el. ¹⁶ Avram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Yishma‘el to Avram.