Genesis 15-17

New American Standard Bible

Abram Promised a Son

15 After these things ^(A)the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

² But Abram said, “Lord ^[b]God, what will You give me, since I ^[c]am childless, and the ^[d]heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram also said, “^[e]Since You have given me no ^[f]son, ^[g]one who has been ^(E)born in my house is my heir.” ⁴ Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; ^(F)but one who will come from your own ^[h]body shall be your heir.” ⁵ And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and ^(G)count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “^(H)So shall your ^[i]descendants be.” ^6 (I)Then he believed in the Lord; and He ^[j]credited it to him as righteousness. ⁷ And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of ^(J)Ur of the Chaldeans, to ^(K)give you this land to ^[k]possess it.” ⁸ But he said, “Lord ^[l]God, ^(L)how may I know that I will ^[m]possess it?” ⁹ So He said to him, “^[n]Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he ^[o]brought all these to Him and ^(M)cut them ^[p]in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he ^(N)did not cut the birds. ¹¹ And birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹² Now when the sun was going down, ^(O)a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, ^[q]terror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ^(P)your ^[r]descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, ^[s]where ^(Q)they will be enslaved and oppressed for ^(R)four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out ^(S)with ^[t]many possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, ^(T)you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ Then in ^(U)the fourth generation they will return here, for ^(V)the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ Now it came about, when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which ^(W)passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

^19 (Z)the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, ²⁰ the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”

Sarai and Hagar

16 Now ^(AA)Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had ^(AB)an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. ^(AC)Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will ^[v]obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ And so after Abram had lived ^(AD)ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. ⁴ Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight. ⁵ So Sarai said to Abram, “^(AE)May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your ^[w]arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her ^[x]sight. ^(AF)May the Lord judge between ^[y]you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your ^[z]power; do to her what is good in your ^[aa]sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and ^(AG)she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now ^(AH)the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^(AI)Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, ^(AJ)from where have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ So the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit ^[ab]to her authority.” ¹⁰ The ^(AK)angel of the Lord also said to her, “^(AL)I will greatly multiply your ^[ac]descendants so that ^[ad]they will be too many to count.” ¹¹ The angel of the Lord said to her further,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “^[ag]You are ^[ah]a God who sees me”; for she said, “^(AP)Have I even seen Him here and lived after ^[ai]He saw me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called ^[aj]Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^(AQ)Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was ^(AR)eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ^[ak]him.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^(AS)the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

³ Abram ^(AX)fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^(BB)kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[aq]descendants after you throughout their generations as an ^(BC)everlasting covenant, ^(BD)to be God to you and ^(BE)to your ^[ar]descendants after you. ⁸ And ^(BF)I will give to you and to your ^[as]descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(BG)I will be their God.”

⁹ God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^(BH)you shall keep My covenant, you and your ^[at]descendants after you throughout their generations. ^10 (BI)This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ^[au]descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And ^(BJ)you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² And every male among you who is ^(BK)eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ^[av]descendants. ¹³ A slave who is born in your house or ^(BL)who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^(BM)cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name ^[aw]Sarai, but ^[ax]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^(BN)a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^(BO)kings of peoples will ^[ay]come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(BP)fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And ^(BQ)will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you ^(BR)a son, and you shall name him ^[az]Isaac; and ^(BS)I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his ^[ba]descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^(BT)make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. ^(BU)He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a ^(BV)great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with ^(BW)Isaac, whom ^(BX)Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” ²² When He finished talking with him, ^(BY)God went up from Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were ^(BZ)born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, ^(CA)as God had said to him. ²⁴ Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^(CB)he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And his son ^(CC)Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael. ²⁷ And all the men of his household, those who were ^(CD)born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.