Genesis 16-18

Modern English Version

The Birth of Ishmael

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had a maidservant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Please go in to my maid; it may be that I will obtain children through her.”

Abram listened to Sarai. ³ So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, his wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. ⁴ He went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

When she saw that she had conceived, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my maid into your arms; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her presence.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness. It was the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?”

And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly so that they will be too many to count.”

¹¹ Then the angel of the Lord said to her,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, “You are the God who sees,” for she said, “Have I now looked on Him who sees me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the son she bore Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am Almighty God. Walk before Me and be blameless. ² And I will make My covenant between you and Me and will exceedingly multiply you.”

³ Abram fell on his face and God said to him, ⁴ “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸ All the land of Canaan, where you now live as strangers, I will give to you and to your descendants for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² Every male throughout every generation that is eight days old shall be circumcised, whether born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people. He has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man that is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” ²² Then He stopped talking with Abraham, and God went up from him.

²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ His son, Ishmael, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ All the men born in Abraham’s household or bought from foreigners were circumcised with him.

Isaac’s Birth Foretold

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great oak trees of Mamre while he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. ² Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself toward the ground.

³ He said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass by Your servant. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ I will bring a piece of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. After that you may pass on, now that you have come to your servant.”

And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three measures^[a] of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷ Then Abraham ran to the herd and took a choice and tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He then brought butter and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

And he said, “There, in the tent.”

¹⁰ One of them said, “I will certainly return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old and very advanced in age, and Sarah was well past childbearing. ¹² Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am so old and my lord is old also, shall I have pleasure?”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I surely bear a child when I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid.

But He said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Sodom and Gomorrah

¹⁶ Then the men rose up and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? ¹⁹ I chose him, and he will instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He promised him.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, ²¹ I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to Me. If not, I will know.”

²² The men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham drew near and said, “Shall You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous in the city? Shall You also destroy, and not spare the place, for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be treated like the wicked; far be it from You. Should not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the entire place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord. ²⁸ Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous. Will You destroy all the city for lack of five?”

And He said, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there will be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said to Him, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose there will be thirty found there?”

Again He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³² Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak only once more. Suppose ten will be found there?”

Then He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

³³ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had stopped speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.