Sarai and Hagar

16 Now ^(A)Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had ^(B)an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. ^(C)Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will ^[a]obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ And so after Abram had lived ^(D)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, “^(E)May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your ^[b]arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her ^[c]sight. ^(F)May the Lord judge between ^[d]you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your ^[e]power; do to her what is good in your ^[f]sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and ^(G)she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now ^(H)the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^(I)Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, ^(J)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 ^[g]to her authority.” ¹⁰ The ^(K)angel of the Lord also said to her, “^(L)I will greatly multiply your ^[h]descendants so that ^[i]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, “^[l]You are ^[m]a God who sees me”; for she said, “^(P)Have I even seen Him here and lived after ^[n]He saw me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called ^[o]Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^(Q)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 ^(R)eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ^[p]him.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

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

³ Abram ^(X)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 ^(AB)kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[v]descendants after you throughout their generations as an ^(AC)everlasting covenant, ^(AD)to be God to you and ^(AE)to your ^[w]descendants after you. ⁸ And ^(AF)I will give to you and to your ^[x]descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(AG)I will be their God.”

⁹ God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^(AH)you shall keep My covenant, you and your ^[y]descendants after you throughout their generations. ^10 (AI)This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ^[z]descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And ^(AJ)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 ^(AK)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 ^[aa]descendants. ¹³ A slave who is born in your house or ^(AL)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 ^(AM)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 ^[ab]Sarai, but ^[ac]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^(AN)a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^(AO)kings of peoples will ^[ad]come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(AP)fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And ^(AQ)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 ^(AR)a son, and you shall name him ^[ae]Isaac; and ^(AS)I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his ^[af]descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^(AT)make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. ^(AU)He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a ^(AV)great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with ^(AW)Isaac, whom ^(AX)Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” ²² When He finished talking with him, ^(AY)God went up from Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were ^(AZ)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, ^(BA)as God had said to him. ²⁴ Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^(BB)he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And his son ^(BC)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 ^(BD)born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

²⁷ “^(A)You have heard that it was said, ‘^(B)You shall not commit adultery’; ²⁸ but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman ^(C)with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ Now ^(D)if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, ^[a]than for your whole body to be thrown into ^[b](E)hell. ³⁰ And ^(F)if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it is better for you ^[c]to lose one of the parts of your body, ^[d]than for your whole body to go into ^[e](G)hell.

³¹ “Now it was said, ‘^(H)Whoever sends his wife away is to give her a certificate of divorce’; ^32 (I)but I say to you that everyone who ^[f]divorces his wife, except for the reason of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a ^[g]divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, ^(J)you have heard that ^[h]the ancients were told, ‘^[i](K)You shall not ^[j]make false vows, but shall fulfill your ^[k]vows to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I say to you, ^(L)take no oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is ^(M)the throne of God, ³⁵ nor by the earth, for it is the ^(N)footstool of His feet, nor ^[l]by Jerusalem, for it is ^(O)the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor shall you take an oath by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. ³⁷ But make sure your statement is, ‘^[m]Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is ^[n]of ^(P)evil origin.

³⁸ “^(Q)You have heard that it was said, ‘^(R)Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say to you, do not show opposition against an evil person; but ^(S)whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your ^[o]tunic, let him have your ^[p]cloak also. ⁴¹ Whoever ^[q]forces you to go one mile, go with him two. ^42 (T)Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³ “^(U)You have heard that it was said, ‘^(V)You shall love your neighbor ^(W)and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(X)love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may prove yourselves to be ^(Y)sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ For ^(Z)if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? ⁴⁸ Therefore ^(AA)you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.