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.

17 When Avram was 99 years old Adonai appeared to Avram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted. ² I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will increase your numbers greatly.” ³ Avram fell on his face, and God continued speaking with him: ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will no longer be Avram [exalted father], but your name will be Avraham [father of many], because I have made you the father of many nations. ⁶ I will cause you to be very fruitful. I will make nations of you, kings will descend from you.

(vii) ⁷ “I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you. ⁸ I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena‘an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹ God said to Avraham, “As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. ¹⁰ Here is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you, along with your descendants after you: every male among you is to be circumcised. ¹¹ You are to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Generation after generation, every male among you who is eight days old is to be circumcised, including slaves born within your household and those bought from a foreigner not descended from you. ¹³ The slave born in your house and the person bought with your money must be circumcised; thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male who will not let himself be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin — that person will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. ¹⁶ I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷ At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed — he thought to himself, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?” ¹⁸ Avraham said to God, “If only Yishma‘el could live in your presence!” ¹⁹ God answered, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz’chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Yitz’chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ²² With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.

²³ Avraham took Yishma‘el his son, all the slaves born in his house and all who had been bought with his money, every male among the people in Avraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had said to him.

(Maftir) ²⁴ Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, ²⁵ and Yishma‘el his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ Avraham and Yishma‘el his son were circumcised on the same day; ²⁷ and all the men in his household, both slaves born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Haftarah Lekh L’kha: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 40:27–41:16

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Lekh L’kha: Acts 7:1–8; Romans 3:19–5:6; Galatians 3:15–18; 5:1–6; Colossians 2:11–15; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 7:1–19; 11:8–12

6 One Shabbat, while Yeshua was passing through some wheat fields, his talmidim began plucking the heads of grain, rubbing them between their hands and eating the seeds. ² Some of the P’rushim said, “Why are you violating Shabbat?” ³ Yeshua answered them, “Haven’t you ever read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the House of God and took and ate the Bread of the Presence” — which no one is permitted to eat but the cohanim. ⁵ “The Son of Man,” he concluded, “is Lord of Shabbat.”

⁶ On another Shabbat, when Yeshua had gone into the synagogue and was teaching, a man was there who had a shriveled hand. ⁷ The Torah-teachers and P’rushim watched Yeshua carefully to see if he would heal on Shabbat, so that they could accuse him of something. ⁸ But he knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come up and stand where we can see you!” He got up and stood there. ⁹ Then Yeshua said to them, “I ask you now: what is permitted on Shabbat? Doing good or doing evil? Saving life or destroying it?” ¹⁰ Then, after looking around at all of them, he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, his hand was restored. ¹¹ But the others were filled with fury and began discussing with each other what they could do to Yeshua.

¹² It was around that time that Yeshua went out to the hill country to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. ¹³ When day came, he called his talmidim and chose from among them twelve to be known as emissaries:

¹⁴ Shim‘on, whom he named Kefa; Andrew, his brother; Ya‘akov; Yochanan; Philip; Bar-Talmai;

¹⁵ Mattityahu; T’oma; Ya‘akov Ben-Halfai;

¹⁶ Shim‘on, the one called the Zealot; Y’hudah Ben-Ya‘akov; and Y’hudah from K’riot, who turned traitor.

¹⁷ Then he came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his talmidim was there with great numbers of people from all Y’hudah, Yerushalayim and the coast around Tzor and Tzidon; they had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases. ¹⁸ Those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being healed; ¹⁹ and the whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power kept going out from him, healing everyone. ²⁰ He looked at his talmidim and said:

²² “How blessed you are whenever people hate you and ostracize you and insult you and denounce you as a criminal on account of the Son of Man. ²³ Be glad when that happens; yes, dance for joy! because in heaven your reward is great. For that is just how their fathers treated the prophets.

²⁶ “Woe to you when people speak well of you, for that is just how their fathers treated the false prophets!

²⁷ Nevertheless, to you who are listening, what I say is this:

³¹ “Treat other people as you would like them to treat you. ³² What credit is it to you if you love only those who love you? Why, even sinners love those who love them. ³³ What credit is it to you if you do good only to those who do good to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ What credit is it to you if you lend only to those who you expect will pay you back? Even sinners lend to each other, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of Ha‘Elyon; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶ Show compassion, just as your Father shows compassion.

the full measure, compacted, shaken together and overflowing, will be put right in your lap. For the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure back to you!”

³⁹ He also told them a parable: “Can one blind man lead another blind man? Won’t they both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ A talmid is not above his rabbi; but each one, when he is fully trained, will be like his rabbi. ⁴¹ So why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye, but not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the splinter from your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye!

⁴³ “For no good tree produces bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit — figs aren’t picked from thorn bushes, nor grapes from a briar patch. ⁴⁵ The good person produces good things from the store of good in his heart, while the evil person produces evil things from the store of evil in his heart. For his mouth speaks what overflows from his heart.

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ but not do what I say? ⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them — I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like someone building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the torrent beat against that house but couldn’t shake it, because it was constructed well. ⁴⁹ And whoever hears my words but doesn’t act on them is like someone who built his house on the ground without any foundation. As soon as the river struck it, it collapsed and that house became a horrendous wreck!”