Genesis 15-21

New American Standard Bible

Abram Promised a Son

15 After these things ^(A)the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

² But Abram said, “Lord ^[b]God, what will You give me, since I ^[c]am childless, and the ^[d]heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram also said, “^[e]Since You have given me no ^[f]son, ^[g]one who has been ^(E)born in my house is my heir.” ⁴ Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; ^(F)but one who will come from your own ^[h]body shall be your heir.” ⁵ And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and ^(G)count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “^(H)So shall your ^[i]descendants be.” ^6 (I)Then he believed in the Lord; and He ^[j]credited it to him as righteousness. ⁷ And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of ^(J)Ur of the Chaldeans, to ^(K)give you this land to ^[k]possess it.” ⁸ But he said, “Lord ^[l]God, ^(L)how may I know that I will ^[m]possess it?” ⁹ So He said to him, “^[n]Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he ^[o]brought all these to Him and ^(M)cut them ^[p]in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he ^(N)did not cut the birds. ¹¹ And birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹² Now when the sun was going down, ^(O)a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, ^[q]terror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ^(P)your ^[r]descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, ^[s]where ^(Q)they will be enslaved and oppressed for ^(R)four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out ^(S)with ^[t]many possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, ^(T)you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ Then in ^(U)the fourth generation they will return here, for ^(V)the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ Now it came about, when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which ^(W)passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

^19 (Z)the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, ²⁰ the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”

Sarai and Hagar

16 Now ^(AA)Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had ^(AB)an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. ^(AC)Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will ^[v]obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ And so after Abram had lived ^(AD)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, “^(AE)May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your ^[w]arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her ^[x]sight. ^(AF)May the Lord judge between ^[y]you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your ^[z]power; do to her what is good in your ^[aa]sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and ^(AG)she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now ^(AH)the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^(AI)Shur. ⁸ He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, ^(AJ)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 ^[ab]to her authority.” ¹⁰ The ^(AK)angel of the Lord also said to her, “^(AL)I will greatly multiply your ^[ac]descendants so that ^[ad]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, “^[ag]You are ^[ah]a God who sees me”; for she said, “^(AP)Have I even seen Him here and lived after ^[ai]He saw me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called ^[aj]Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^(AQ)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 ^(AR)eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ^[ak]him.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

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

³ Abram ^(AX)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 ^(BB)kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[aq]descendants after you throughout their generations as an ^(BC)everlasting covenant, ^(BD)to be God to you and ^(BE)to your ^[ar]descendants after you. ⁸ And ^(BF)I will give to you and to your ^[as]descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(BG)I will be their God.”

⁹ God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^(BH)you shall keep My covenant, you and your ^[at]descendants after you throughout their generations. ^10 (BI)This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ^[au]descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And ^(BJ)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 ^(BK)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 ^[av]descendants. ¹³ A slave who is born in your house or ^(BL)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 ^(BM)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 ^[aw]Sarai, but ^[ax]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^(BN)a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^(BO)kings of peoples will ^[ay]come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(BP)fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And ^(BQ)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 ^(BR)a son, and you shall name him ^[az]Isaac; and ^(BS)I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his ^[ba]descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^(BT)make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. ^(BU)He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a ^(BV)great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with ^(BW)Isaac, whom ^(BX)Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” ²² When He finished talking with him, ^(BY)God went up from Abraham.

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

Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now ^(CE)the Lord appeared to ^[bb]Abraham by the ^[bc](CF)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three ^(CG)men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground, ³ and said, “^[bd]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[be]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(CH)wash ^[bf]your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; ⁵ and I will ^[bg](CI)bring a piece of bread, so that you may ^[bh]refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ^[bi]visited your servant.” And they said, “So do as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “^[bj]Quickly, prepare three ^[bk]measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and ^[bl]choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree ^[bm]as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “^(CJ)I will certainly return to you ^[bn]at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(CK)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(CL)past ^[bo]childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed ^[bp]to herself, saying, “^(CM)After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my ^(CN)lord being old also?” ¹³ But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’ ^14 (CO)Is anything too ^[bq]difficult for the Lord? At the ^(CP)appointed time I will return to you, ^[br]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied it, however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then ^(CQ)the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ^17 (CR)The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham ^(CS)what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will certainly become a great and ^[bs]mighty nation, and in him ^(CT)all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ For I have ^[bt](CU)chosen him, so that he may ^(CV)command his children and his household after him to ^(CW)keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham ^(CX)what He has spoken about him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “^(CY)The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will ^(CZ)go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.”

Abraham Appeals for Sodom

²² Then ^(DA)the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^(DB)the Lord. ²³ Abraham approached and said, “^(DC)Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous people within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ^[bu]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[bv]such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^(DD)the Judge of all the earth ^[bw]deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “^(DE)If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ^[bx]spare the entire place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ^[by]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only ^(DF)dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the entire city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ^[bz]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “^(DG)Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once: suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham ^(DH)the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(DI)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When ^(DJ)Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and ^[ca]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.” ³ Yet he strongly urged them, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(DK)and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(DL)the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[cb]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(DM)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[cc]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now look, ^(DN)I have two daughters who have not ^[cd]had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[ce]whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the ^[cf]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in ^[cg]as a foreigner, and already ^(DO)he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them!” So they pressed hard against ^[ch]Lot and moved forward to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(DP)the men reached out their ^[ci]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[cj]with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ Then ^(DQ)they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the small to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law and your sons and daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because ^(DR)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(DS)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[ck]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(DT)get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” ^(DU)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[cl]to be joking.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[cm]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(DV)grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[cn]hands of his two daughters, because ^(DW)the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[co]one said, “^(DX)Escape for your life! ^(DY)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[cp]anywhere in the ^(DZ)surrounding area; escape to ^(EA)the ^[cq]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[cr]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[cs]so that my life may be saved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[ct]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the town was named ^[cu](EB)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord ^(EC)rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(ED)He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But ^[cv]Lot’s wife, from behind him, ^(EE)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to ^(EF)the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and ^[cw]behold, he saw ^(EG)the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[cx]furnace.

²⁹ So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that ^(EH)God remembered Abraham, and ^(EI)sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Now Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and ^(EJ)stayed in the ^[cy]mountains, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[cz]on earth to ^[da](EK)have relations with us according to the custom of all the earth. ³² Come, ^(EL)let’s make our father drink wine, and let’s sleep with him so that we may keep ^[db]our family alive through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept last night with my father; let’s make him drink wine tonight too, then you go in and sleep with him, so that we may keep ^[dc]our family alive through our father.” ³⁵ So they had their father drink wine that night too, and the younger got up and slept with him; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ³⁶ And so both of the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him ^(EM)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of ^[dd]the sons of ^(EN)Ammon to this day.

Abraham’s Treachery

20 Now Abraham journeyed from ^(EO)there toward the land of ^(EP)the ^[de]Negev, and ^[df]settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived for a time in ^(EQ)Gerar. ² And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “^(ER)She is my sister.” So ^(ES)Abimelech king of Gerar sent men and took Sarah. ^3 (ET)But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, ^(EU)you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[dg]married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(EV)will You kill a nation, even though ^[dh]blameless? ⁵ Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^(EW)herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^(EX)the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ^[di]hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ^[dj](EY)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man’s wife, for ^(EZ)he is a prophet, 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 So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ^[dk]presence; and the people were greatly frightened. ^9 (FA)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ^[dl]how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^(FB)a great sin? You have done to me ^[dm]things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ^[dn]encountered, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no ^(FC)fear of God in this place, and ^(FD)they will kill me because of my wife. ¹² Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife; ¹³ and it came about, when ^(FE)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ^[do]the kindness which you will show to me: ^[dp]everywhere we go, ^(FF)say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ^14 (FG)Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “^(FH)Behold, my land is before you; ^[dq]settle wherever ^[dr]you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your ^(FI)brother a thousand pieces of silver. ^[ds]It is ^[dt]your vindication before all who are with you, and before everyone you are cleared.” ¹⁷ Then ^(FJ)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, so that they gave birth to children. ^18 (FK)For the Lord had completely closed all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born

21 ^(FL)Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had ^[du]promised. ^2 (FM)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(FN)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, ^(FO)Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(FP)eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was ^(FQ)a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made ^(FR)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[dv]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “^(FS)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now Sarah saw ^(FT)the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(FU)mocking Isaac. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “^(FV)Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son ^[dw]Isaac!” ^11 (FW)The matter ^[dx]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “^[dy]Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for ^(FX)through Isaac ^[dz]your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of ^(FY)the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your ^[ea]descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a ^[eb]skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she ^[ec]left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not ^[ed]see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and ^(FZ)raised her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God ^(GA)heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “^[ee]What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(GB)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by ^[ef]the hand, ^(GC)for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God ^(GD)opened her eyes, and she saw ^(GE)a well of water; and she went and filled the ^[eg]skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ And ^(GF)God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ^21 (GG)He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now it came about at that time that ^(GH)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^(GI)God is with you in all that you do; ²³ so now, ^(GJ)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham ^[eh]complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(GK)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ^[ei]until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(GL)the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰ He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^(GM)witness for me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place ^[ej](GN)Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(GO)he called on the name of the Lord, the ^(GP)Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham resided ^(GQ)in the land of the Philistines for many days.