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Abraham and Abimelek
20 Abraham traveled from there toward the Negev, and he lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a resident alien in Gerar. 2 About his wife Sarah Abraham said, “She is my sister.” Abimelek king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream during the night and said to him, “Listen to me! You are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, because she has a husband.”
4 Now Abimelek had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? 5 Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? Even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a sincere heart and innocent hands.”
6 God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a sincere heart, so I also prevented you from sinning against me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her. 7 Now therefore, return the man’s wife. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you do not return her, know for sure that you will die, you along with all who are yours.”
8 Abimelek rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told them all these things. The men were terrified. 9 Then Abimelek summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought this great sin on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done!” 10 Abimelek said to Abraham, “What did you see in us that made you do this?”
11 Abraham said, “I did it because I said to myself, ‘Surely they do not fear God in this place. They will kill me to get my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 When God had me migrate from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness that you shall show to me: Everywhere that we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 Abimelek took sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants, and he gave them to Abraham. He also returned Sarah, his wife, to him. 15 Abimelek said, “Look, my land is in front of you. Dwell wherever it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces[a] of silver. You see, it covers any offense in the eyes of everyone who is with you. In front of all of them you are vindicated.”
17 Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelek and his wife and his female servants, so that they were able to bear children. 18 For the Lord had closed up tight all the wombs of the household of Abimelek over the matter of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
The Birth of Isaac
21 The Lord visited[b] Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the set time which God had announced to him. 3 Abraham named the son who was born to him—the son whom Sarah had borne to him—[c] Isaac.[d] 4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”
8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham, laughing at Isaac. 10 Therefore, she said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave girl[e] and her son! For the son of this slave will not be heir with my son Isaac.”
11 Abraham was very distressed because of his son. 12 God said to Abraham, “Do not be so distressed because of the boy and because of your maid.[f] Listen to everything that Sarah says to you, because the family line of your descendants[g] will be traced through Isaac. 13 I will also make the son of the maid into a nation because he too is your offspring.”
14 Abraham got up early in the morning. He took bread and a waterskin, which he gave to Hagar, putting it over her shoulder. He sent her away with her child. She set out and wandered in the wilderness near Beersheba. 15 The water in the skin was used up, and she dragged the child under one of the bushes. 16 She went and sat down by herself, across from him, at a distance, about a bow shot away, because she said, “Do not let me see the death of the child.” She sat across from him and wept loudly.
17 God heard the boy’s voice, and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is wrong, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is. 18 Get up. Help the boy up, and take him by the hand, because I will make him into a great nation.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well with water in it. She went, filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy, and as he grew up, he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Abraham and Abimelek
22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham. He said, “God is with you in everything that you do. 23 Now swear to me here by God that you will not deal treacherously with me, or with my son, or with my grandson. But just as I have been kind to you, you shall do the same for me and for the land in which you have lived as an alien.”
24 Abraham said, “I will swear it.”
25 Abraham complained to Abimelek because of a well which Abimelek’s servants had seized violently. 26 Abimelek said, “I do not know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I did not hear about it until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek. The two of them made a treaty.[h] 28 Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs from the flock.
29 Abimelek said to Abraham, “Why have you set these seven ewe lambs by themselves?”
30 He said, “You shall accept these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal testimony that I have dug this well.” 31 Therefore, he called that place Beersheba,[i] because they both took an oath there. 32 So they made a treaty at Beersheba. Then Abimelek got up with Phicol, the commander of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he proclaimed[j] the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. 34 Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for a long time.[k]
Abraham Offers Isaac
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He called to him, “Abraham!”
Abraham answered, “I am here.”
2 God said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there, the one to which I direct you.”
3 Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, along with Isaac his son. Abraham split the wood for the burnt offering. Then he set out to go to the place that God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go on over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it on Isaac his son. He took the firepot and the knife in his hand. The two of them went on together.
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father?”
He said, “I am here, my son.”
He said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them went on together. 9 They came to the place that God had told him about. Abraham built the altar there. He arranged the wood, tied up Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 The Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”
Abraham said, “I am here.”
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Abraham looked around and saw that behind him there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord Will Provide.”[l] So it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your descendants greatly, like the stars of the sky and like the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the city gates of their enemies. 18 In your seed[m] all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his young men, and they set out and traveled together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.
20 Some time after these things Abraham was told, “Listen. Milcah also has borne children for your brother Nahor. 21 They are Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight sons Milcah bore for Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Ma’akah.
Watch Out for False Prophets
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. You do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do you? 17 So then, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on bedrock. 25 The rain came down, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was founded on bedrock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine but does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—it was completely destroyed.”
28 When Jesus finished speaking these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught them as one who had authority, and not like their experts in the law.
Psalm 9
Praise for God’s Righteous Judgment
Heading
For the choir director. According to “The Death of the Son.”[a] A psalm by David.
Praise for God’s Righteous Judgment
1 I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart.
I will tell about all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you.
I will make music to your name, O Most High.
Judgment Against David’s Enemies
3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish from your presence,
4 for you have upheld my rights and my cause.
You sat on the throne, judging righteously.
5 You have rebuked the nations,
and you made the wicked perish.
You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 As for the enemy, their destruction is complete and final.
You have uprooted cities.
Memory of them has perished with them.
Judgment Against the Whole World
7 The Lord is seated forever.
He has established his throne for judgment.
8 The Lord himself will judge the world in righteousness.
He will judge the peoples with fairness.
9 The Lord will be a refuge for those who have been crushed,
a refuge for times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Closing Praise and Final Appeal
11 Make music for the Lord, who is seated in Zion.
Proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
12 Yes, he who avenges bloodshed remembers them.
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
Wisdom Protects You From the Adulterous Woman
16 Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman,[a]
from the unfaithful woman[b] with her seductive words,
17 who abandons the husband of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God.
18 So she sinks down to death, which becomes her house.[c]
Her way of life leads down to the spirits of the dead.
19 All who enter her house never return.
They never reach the paths of life.
Admonition to Live Righteously
20 This is how to walk in the way of good people,
how to stay on the paths of the righteous.
21 Yes, the upright will live in the land,
and people with integrity will remain in it,
22 but wicked people will be cut off from the land,
and treacherous people will be torn out of it.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.