From Shem to Abram

¹⁰ These are the family records^(A) of Shem. Shem lived 100 years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After he fathered Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹² Arpachshad lived 35 years^[a] and fathered Shelah. ¹³ After he fathered Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Shelah lived 30 years and fathered Eber. ¹⁵ After he fathered Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁶ Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg. ¹⁷ After he fathered Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ¹⁸ Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu. ¹⁹ After he fathered Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Reu lived 32 years and fathered Serug. ²¹ After he fathered Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²² Serug lived 30 years and fathered Nahor. ²³ After he fathered Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁴ Nahor lived 29 years and fathered Terah.^{(B) 25} After he fathered Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²⁶ Terah lived 70 years and fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. ²⁸ Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai,^(C) and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah.^(D) She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Sarai was unable to conceive;^(E) she did not have a child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans^(F) to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³² Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran.

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord said to Abram:

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.^{(G) 5} He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem,^(H) at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring^[c](I) I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s household.

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. ² Sarai^(A) said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³ So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. ⁴ He slept with^[a] Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering!^[b] I put my slave in your arms,^[c] and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you.”^(B)

⁶ Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your power; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

Covenant Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty.^(A) Live^[a] in my presence and be blameless.^{(B) 2} I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

³ Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: ⁴ “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will no longer be Abram;^[b] your name will be Abraham,^[c] for I will make you the father of many nations.^{(C) 6} I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. ⁷ I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant^(D) to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.^{(E) 8} And to you and your future offspring^[d](F) I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession,^(G) and I will be their God.”

⁹ God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant. ¹⁰ This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised. ¹¹ You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.^[e](H)

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed^(A) and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” ¹⁸ So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable^[a] to you!”

¹⁹ But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.^[b] I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.^{(A) 2} Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.^{(B) 3} Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac.^{(C) 4} When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.^{(D) 5} Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.^(E)

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

Abraham’s Other Wife and Sons

25 Abraham had taken^[a] another wife, whose name was Keturah,^{(A) 2} and she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s sons were the Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ And Midian’s sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were sons of Keturah. ⁵ Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.^{(B) 6} But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.^(C)

Abraham’s Death

⁷ This is the length of Abraham’s life:^[b] 175 years. ⁸ He took his last breath and died at a good old age,^(D) old and contented,^[c] and he was gathered to his people.^(E)