Psalm 28

Of David.

The Birth of Isaac

21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah^(A) as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.^{(B) 2} Sarah became pregnant and bore a son^(C) to Abraham in his old age,^(D) at the very time God had promised him.^{(E) 3} Abraham gave the name Isaac^[a](F) to the son Sarah bore him. ⁴ When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him,^(G) as God commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old^(H) when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter,^(I) and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”^(J)

Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

⁸ The child grew and was weaned,^(K) and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. ⁹ But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham^(L) was mocking,^{(M) 10} and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman^(N) and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”^(O)

¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.^{(P) 12} But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring^[b] will be reckoned.^{(Q) 13} I will make the son of the slave into a nation^(R) also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar.^(S) He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.^(T)

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she^[c] began to sob.^(U)

¹⁷ God heard the boy crying,^(V) and the angel of God^(W) called to Hagar from heaven^(X) and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid;^(Y) God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. ¹⁸ Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.^(Z)”

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes^(AA) and she saw a well of water.^(AB) So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy^(AC) as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. ²¹ While he was living in the Desert of Paran,^(AD) his mother got a wife for him^(AE) from Egypt.

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;^(A) they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,^(B) admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.^{(C) 14} People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.^{(D) 16} Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.^(E) Therefore God is not ashamed^(F) to be called their God,^(G) for he has prepared a city^(H) for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.^(I) He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[a](J) 19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^(K) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.^(L)

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons,^(M) and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.^(N)

⁴¹ At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph,^(A) whose father and mother we know?^(B) How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”^(C)

⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,^(D) and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[a](E) Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God;^(F) only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.^{(G) 48} I am the bread of life.^{(H) 49} Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.^{(I) 50} But here is the bread that comes down from heaven,^(J) which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread^(K) that came down from heaven.^(L) Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”^(M)