Chapter 16

Birth of Ishmael.^{[a] 1} Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children. Now she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.^{(A) 2} Sarai said to Abram: “The Lord has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse with my maid; perhaps I will have sons through her.” Abram obeyed Sarai.^{[b](B) 3} Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. ⁴ He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. As soon as Hagar knew she was pregnant, her mistress lost stature in her eyes.^{[c](C) 5 (D)}So Sarai said to Abram: “This outrage against me is your fault. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she knew she was pregnant, I have lost stature in her eyes. May the Lord decide between you and me!” ⁶ Abram told Sarai: “Your maid is in your power. Do to her what you regard as right.” Sarai then mistreated her so much that Hagar ran away from her.

⁷ The Lord’s angel^[d] found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,^{(E) 8} and he asked, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am running away from my mistress, Sarai.” ⁹ But the Lord’s angel told her: “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority. ¹⁰ I will make your descendants so numerous,” added the Lord’s angel, “that they will be too many to count.”^{(F) 11} Then the Lord’s angel said to her:

¹³ To the Lord who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, “You are God who sees me”;^[g] she meant, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after he saw me?”^{(H) 14} That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi.^[h] It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.^{(I) 16} Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Chapter 17

Covenant of Circumcision.^{[i] 1} When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said: I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.^{(J) 2} Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly.^(K)

³ Abram fell face down and God said to him: ⁴ For my part, here is my covenant with you: you are to become the father of a multitude of nations.^{(L) 5} No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham,^[j] for I am making you the father of a multitude of nations.^{(M) 6} I will make you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings will stem from you. ⁷ I will maintain my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.^{(N) 8} I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now residing as aliens, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.^{(O) 9} God said to Abraham: For your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. ¹⁰ This is the covenant between me and you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.^{[k](P) 11} Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.^{(Q) 12} Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your descendants.^{(R) 13} Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

¹⁵ God further said to Abraham: As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.^{[l] 16} I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Her also will I bless; she will give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples will issue from her.^{(S) 17} Abraham fell face down and laughed^[m] as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth at ninety?”^{(T) 18} So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael could live in your favor!” ¹⁹ God replied: Even so, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. It is with him that I will maintain my covenant as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.^{(U) 20} Now as for Ishmael, I will heed you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.^{(V) 21} But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year.^{(W) 22} When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God departed from him.

²³ Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or acquired with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,^{(X) 25} and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁶ Thus, on that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; ²⁷ and all the males of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

Psalm 11^[a]

Confidence in the Presence of God

¹ For the leader. Of David.

I

II

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.^{(A) 16 (B)}By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ So by their fruits you will know them.^(C)

The True Disciple. ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,^[a] but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.^{(D) 22} Many will say to me on that day,^(E) ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’^{(F) 23} Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.^[b] Depart from me, you evildoers.’^(G)

The Two Foundations. ^24 [c]“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.^{(H) 25} The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.^(I) But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. ²⁶ And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

^28 [d]When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ^29 [e](J)for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.