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Genesis 20

Sarah Rescued from Abimelech

    ³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman." ^[a]

    ⁴ Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, "Lord, would you destroy a nation even though it is innocent? ⁵ Didn't he himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I did this with a clear conscience ^[b] and clean ^[c] hands."

    ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. ^[d] I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her. ⁷ Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, ^(C) and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours."

    ⁸ Early in the morning Abimelech got up, called all his servants together, and personally ^[e] told them all these things; and the men were terrified.

    ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, "What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done." ^{(D) 10} Abimelech also said to Abraham, "What did you intend when you did this thing?"

    ¹¹ Abraham replied, "I thought, 'There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. ^(E) They will kill me because of my wife.' ¹² Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ So when God had me wander from my father's house, ^(F) I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go, and say about me: 'He's my brother. ^(G) ' "

    ¹⁴ Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, "Look, my land is before you. ^(H) Settle wherever you want." ^{[f] 16} And to Sarah he said, "Look, I am giving your brother 1,000 pieces of silver. It is a verification of your honor ^[g] to all who are with you. You are fully vindicated."

    ¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, ^(I) and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children, ¹⁸ for the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech's household on account of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

Genesis 21

The Birth of Isaac

    ⁶ Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me." ^{(O) 7} She also said, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him ^[h] a son in his old age."

Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

    ¹¹ Now this was a very difficult thing for ^[j] Abraham because of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, "Do not be concerned ^[k] about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac. ^{(R) 13} But I will also make a nation of the slave's son ^(S) because he is your offspring."

    ¹⁴ Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, [put them] on Hagar's shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. ^[l] She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, "I can't [bear to] watch the boy die!" So as she sat nearby, she ^[m] wept loudly. ^(T)

    ¹⁷ God heard the voice of the boy, and the ^[n] angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. ¹⁸ Get up, help the boy up, and sustain him, for I will make him a great nation." ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, ^(U) and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. ²¹ He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Abraham's Covenant with Abimelech

    ²⁴ And Abraham said, "I swear [it]." ²⁵ But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech's servants had seized. ^(X)

    ²⁶ Abimelech replied, "I don't know who did this thing. You didn't report anything to me, so I hadn't heard about it until today."

    ²⁷ Then Abraham took sheep and cattle ^[o] and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ^{(Y) 28} But Abraham had set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock. ²⁹ And Abimelech said to Abraham, "Why have you set apart these seven ewe lambs?"

    ³⁰ He replied, "You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act ^[p] will serve as my witness that I dug this well." ³¹ Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba ^{(Z) [q]} because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. ³² After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

    ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he worshiped ^{(AA) [r]} the LORD, the Everlasting God. ^{(AB) 34} And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Genesis 22

The Sacrifice of Isaac

    "Here I am," he answered.

    ² "Take your son," He said, "your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, ^(AD) go to the land of Moriah, ^(AE) and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

    ³ So early in the morning ^(AF) Abraham got up, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day ^(AG) Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you." ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. ^(AH) In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, ^[s] and the two of them walked on together.

    ⁷ Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, "My father."

    And he replied, "Here I am, my son."

    Isaac said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

    ⁸ Abraham answered, "God Himself will provide ^{(AI) [t]} the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Then the two of them walked on together.

    ⁹ When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac ^[u] and placed him on the altar, ^(AJ) on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

    ¹¹ But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"

    He replied, "Here I am."

    ¹² Then He said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me." ^{(AK) 13} Abraham looked up and saw a ram ^[v] caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, ^[w] so today it is said: "It will be provided ^[x] on the LORD's mountain."

    ¹⁵ Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶ and said, "By Myself I have sworn, ^(AL) says the LORD: Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, ^{[y] 17} I will indeed bless you ^(AM) and make your offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky ^(AN) and the sand on the seashore. ^(AO) Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. ^{(AP) 18} And all the nations of the earth will be blessed ^[z] by your offspring ^(AQ) because you have obeyed My command."

    ¹⁹ Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

Rebekah's Family

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God and Possessions

    ²² "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness! ^(C)

    ²⁴ "No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money. ^(D)

The Cure for Anxiety