Genesis 16-21

International Standard Version

Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael

16 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne a child for him. She had an Egyptian servant girl whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai told Abram, “You are well aware that the Lord has prevented me from giving birth to a child. Go have sex with my servant, so that I may possibly bear a son^[a] through her.”

Abram listened to Sarai’s suggestion, ³ so Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian servant, Hagar, and gave her as a wife to her husband Abram. This took place^[b] ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan. ⁴ He had sex with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

⁵ Then Sarai told Abram, “My suffering is your fault! I gave you my servant so you could have sex with her,^[c] and when she discovered that she was pregnant, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!”

⁶ Abram answered Sarai, “Look, your servant is under your control, so do to her as you wish.”^[d] So Sarai dealt so harshly with Hagar^[e] that she ran away from Sarai.^[f]

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the desert on the road to Shur. ⁸ “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he asked, “Where are you coming from and where are you going?”

She answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The angel of the Lord told her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also told her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, who will be too many to count.

¹¹ “Look, you are pregnant and will give birth to a son,” the angel of the Lord continued to say to her. “You will name him Ishmael,^[g] because the Lord has heard your cry of^[h] misery. ¹² As a man, he’ll be uncontrollable.^[i] He’ll^[j] be against everyone, everyone will be against him,^[k]and he’ll live in conflict with^[l] all of his relatives.”

¹³ So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are ‘God who sees,’ because I have truly seen the one who looks after me.”

¹⁴ That’s why the spring was called, “The Well of the Living One who Looks after Me.” It was between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ Hagar eventually gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was 86 years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael for Abram.

God Appears to Abram

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and announced, “I am God Almighty. Live in constant awareness that I’m always with you,^[m] and be blameless. ² I’ll establish my covenant between me and you, and I’ll greatly increase your numbers.” ³ Then Abram fell to the ground^[n] as God continued speaking to him. ⁴ “Look, I’ve made a covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name is no longer to be Abram.^[o] Instead your name will be Abraham,^[p] since I’ll make you the father of many nations. ⁶ I’m going to cause you to have many descendants, and I’ll bring nations from you. Kings will come from you. ⁷ I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, and with your descendants who come after you, generation after generation, as an eternal covenant, to be your God and your descendants’ God after you. ⁸ I’ll give to you and to your descendants the land to which you have traveled—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession. I will be their God.”

The Sign of the Covenant

⁹ God continued to speak to Abraham, “You and your descendants who are born in the future are to keep my covenant—that is, you and your descendants, generation after generation. ¹⁰ Here is my covenant that you are to observe, between me and you and your descendants: Every male among you is to be circumcised. ¹¹ You are all to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this is to be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Generation after generation, every male among you is to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth,^[q] including the servant born in your house or the one purchased from a foreigner, who is not of your offspring. ¹³ The servant born in your house or the one purchased with money is to be circumcised. My covenant is to remain in your flesh as an eternal covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male who does not have the foreskin of his flesh circumcised on the eighth day^[r] after his birth^[s] is to be eliminated from his people because he has broken my covenant.”

Sarah’s Pregnancy Foretold

¹⁵ God told Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai any longer,^[t] because her name is to be Sarah.^{[u] 16} I will bless her. Furthermore, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her, so that nations, kings, and people will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell to the ground,^[v] laughed, and told himself, “Can a child be born to a 100-year-old man? Can a 90-year-old Sarah give birth?” ¹⁸ So Abraham responded to God, “If only Ishmael would live in constant awareness that you’re always with him!”^[w]

¹⁹ But God replied, “No, but your wife Sarah will give birth to your son, and you are to name him Isaac.^[x] I’ll confirm my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his descendants. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I’ve heard you. I’ll bless him, and he’ll have many descendants.^[y] I will multiply him greatly, he’ll father twelve tribal leaders, and I’ll cause his descendants^[z] to become a great nation. ²¹ Now as to Isaac, I’ll confirm my covenant with him, to whom Sarah will give birth as your son at this time next year.” ²² With that, God finished talking to Abraham, and ascended, leaving him.

²³ Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the servants born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the men of his household—and circumcised them^[aa] that very day, just as God had spoken to him. ²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised,^{[ab] 25} and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.^{[ac] 26} Both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that very day. ²⁷ Every man born in his household—as well as those who had been purchased with money from a foreigner—was circumcised with him.

Abraham’s Three Visitors

18 Later, the Lord appeared to Abraham^[ad] by the oaks^[ae] belonging to Mamre. As Abraham^[af] was sitting near the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day, ² he glanced up and saw three men standing there, not far from him. As soon as he noticed them, Abraham^[ag] ran from the tent entrance to greet them and bowed low to the ground. ³ “My lords,” he told them, “if I have found favor with you,^[ah] please don’t leave your servant. ⁴ I’ll have some water brought to wash your feet while you rest under the tree. ⁵ I’ll bring some food for you,^[ai] and after that you may continue your journey, since you have come to visit your servant.”

So they replied, “Very well! Do what you’ve proposed.”

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, “Quick! Take three measures^[aj] of the best flour, knead it, and make some flat bread.”

⁷ Next, Abraham ran to the herd, found a choice and tender calf, and gave it to the young men, who went off in a hurry to prepare it. ⁸ Then he took curds, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, placed the food in front of them, and stood near them under the tree while they ate.

Sarah Laughs at the Promise

⁹ The men asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

“There, in the tent,” he replied.

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will certainly return to you in about a year’s time.^[ak] By then, your wife Sarah will have borne a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were old—really old^[al]—and Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing.^{[am] 12} That’s why Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I’m so old and my husband is old, too, am I going to have sex?”^[an]

¹³ The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and think, ‘Am I really going to bear a child, since I’m so old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything impossible^[ao] for the Lord? At the time set for it, I will return to you—about a year from now—and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ But Sarah denied it. “I didn’t laugh,” she claimed, because she was afraid.

The Lord^[ap] replied, “No! You did laugh!”

God Reveals His Plans to Abraham

¹⁶ After this, the men set out from there and looked out over Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them off.

¹⁷ “Should I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do,” the Lord asked, ¹⁸ “since Abraham’s descendants will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him? ¹⁹ Indeed, I’ve made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the Lord, and to do what is right and just, so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised.” ²⁰ The Lord also said, “How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious! ²¹ I’m going down to see whether they’ve acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know.”

²² Then two of^[aq] the men turned away from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the presence of the Lord.

Abraham Negotiates with God

²³ Abraham approached and asked, “Will you actually destroy the righteous along with the wicked? ²⁴ Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won’t he?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I’ll forgive the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷ Abraham answered, “Look, even though I am only dust and ashes, I’ve ventured to speak to my Lord. ²⁸ What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?”

The Lord^[ar] said, “I won’t destroy it if I find 45 there.”

²⁹ Abraham^[as] continued to speak to him, asking, “What if 40 are found there?”

The Lord^[at] replied, “I won’t do it for the sake of those 40.”

³⁰ Abraham^[au] then asked, “I hope my Lord will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?”

The Lord^[av] answered, “I won’t do it for the sake of those 30.”

³¹ “Look,” Abraham^[aw] said, “I’ve presumed to speak to my Lord… so what if 20 are found there?”

“For the sake of those 20,” the Lord^[ax] responded, “I won’t destroy it.”

³² Finally, Abraham^[ay] inquired, “I hope my Lord will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?”

He replied, “For the sake of those ten I won’t destroy it.”

³³ As soon as he finished talking to Abraham, the Lord left and Abraham returned to where he had been sitting.^[az]

Sodom’s Depravity

19 The two angels entered Sodom at sunset while Lot was sitting in the gate area of the city.^[ba] When Lot saw them,^[bb] he got up, greeted them, bowed low with his face to the ground, ² and said, “Look, my lords! Please come inside your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and be on your way.”

But they responded, “No, we would rather spend the night in the town square.”

³ But Lot^[bc] kept urging them strongly, so they turned aside and entered his house. He prepared a festival and baked unleavened flat bread for them, and they ate.

⁴ Before they could lie down, all the men of Sodom and its outskirts, both young and old, surrounded the house. ⁵ They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to visit^[bd] you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with^[be] them!”

⁶ Lot went outside to them, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “I urge you, my brothers, don’t do such a wicked thing. ⁸ Look here, I have two daughters who are virgins.^[bf] Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever you wish,^[bg] only don’t do anything to these men, because they’re here under my protection.”^[bh]

⁹ But they replied, “Get out of the way! This man came here as a foreigner, and now he’s acting like a judge! So we’re going to deal more harshly with you than with them.” Then they pushed hard against the man (that is, against Lot), intending to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the angels^[bi] inside reached out, dragged Lot back into the house with them, shut the door, ¹¹ and blinded the men who were at the entrance of the house, from the least important to the greatest, so they were unable to find the doorway.

Lot Negotiates with the Angels

¹² “Do you have anyone else here in the city?” the angels^[bj] asked Lot. “A son-in-law? Sons? Daughters? Get them out of this place, ¹³ because we’re going to destroy it. Their outcry has come to the attention of the Lord, so he^[bk] sent us here to destroy it!”

¹⁴ Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), “Get out of here! The Lord is going to destroy this city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵ As dawn was breaking, the angels pressured Lot. “Get going!” they told him. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be engulfed by the devastation that’s coming to this city.”

¹⁶ But Lot kept lingering in the city,^[bl] so the men^[bm] grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters (because of the Lord’s compassion for him!), brought them out of the city, and left them outside. ¹⁷ Then one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere on the plain. Escape to the hills, or you’ll be swept away!”

¹⁸ “No! Please, my lords!” Lot pleaded with them. ¹⁹ “Your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me your gracious love in how you have dealt with me by keeping me alive. I cannot escape to the hills, because I’m afraid the disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it’s a small one. Let me escape there! It’s a small one, isn’t it? That way I’ll stay alive!”

²¹ “All right,” the angel replied to Lot,^[bn] “I’ll agree with your request!^[bo] I won’t overthrow the town that you mentioned. ²² Hurry up and flee there, because I cannot do anything until you get to that town.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.^[bp]

Lot’s Wife Becomes a Pillar of Salt

²³ The sun had risen over the land about the time Lot reached Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained sulfur and fire out of the sky from the Lord on Sodom and Gomorrah, ²⁵ overthrowing those cities, all of the plain, and everyone who lived in the cities. He also destroyed the plants that grew out of the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s^[bq] wife looked back as she lingered behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord earlier. ²⁸ He looked off toward Sodom, Gomorrah, and the entire^[br] plain, and he saw smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹ And so it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out from the midst of the destruction when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

The Origin of Moab and Ammon

³⁰ Later on, Lot and his two daughters abandoned Zoar and settled in the hills because Lot was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived there in a cave, along with his two daughters. ³¹ One day the firstborn told the younger one, “Our father is old, and there’s no man in the land to have sex with us,^[bs] as everybody else throughout all the earth does. ³² Come on! Let’s make our father drink wine, and then we’ll have sex with him so we can preserve our father’s lineage.”

³³ So they had their father drink wine that night, and the older one had sexual relations with her father, but he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴ The next day the firstborn told the younger one, “Look! I had sex with my father last night. Let’s make him drink wine tonight again as well. Then you have sex with him, too. That way we’ll preserve our father’s lineage.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night as well, so he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶ That’s how both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab,^[bt] and he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi,^[bu] and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

Abraham and Abimelech

20 Abraham traveled from there to the Negev^[bv] and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar as an outsider, ² because Abraham kept saying about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister,” King Abimelech of Gerar summoned them and took Sarah into his household.^[bw]

³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, “Pay attention! You’re about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man’s wife!”

⁴ Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? ⁵ Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she also said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with pure intentions and clean hands.”

⁶ Then God replied to him in the dream, “I know that you did this with pure intentions, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn’t allow you to touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man’s wife. As a matter of fact, he’s a prophet and can intercede for you so you’ll live. But if you don’t return her, be aware that you and all who are yours will certainly die.”

⁸ So Abimelech got up early the next morning, summoned all his servants, and told them all these things. The men became terrified.

⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great sin against me and my kingdom? You’ve done things to me that ought not to have been done.”

¹⁰ Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What could you have been thinking when you did this?”

¹¹ “I thought that there’s no fear of God in this place,” Abraham replied, “and that they would kill me because of my wife. ¹² Besides, she really is my sister—she’s my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter—so she could become my wife. ¹³ When God caused me to journey from my father’s house, I asked her to do me this favor and say,^[bx] ‘He’s my brother.’”

¹⁴ So Abimelech took some sheep and oxen, and some male and female servants, gave them to Abraham, returned his wife Sarah to him, ¹⁵ and said, “Look! My land is available to you, so settle wherever you please.”

¹⁶ Abimelech also told Sarah, “Look! I am giving your brother 1,000 pieces of silver to vindicate^[by] you in the eyes of all who are with you. As a result, you will be completely vindicated.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham interceded with God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants so they could bear children, ¹⁸ since the Lord had made all the women barren^[bz] in Abimelech’s household on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

Isaac is Born

21 The Lord came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the very time that God had told him.

³ Abraham named his son who was born to him Isaac—the very one whom Sarah bore for him! ⁴ On the eighth day after his son Isaac had been born,^[ca] Abraham circumcised him, just as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ Now Sarah had said, “God has caused me to laugh,^[cb] and all who hear about it^[cc] will laugh with me.” ⁷ She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons? Yet I have given birth to a son in my husband’s^[cd] old age!”

Hagar and Ishmael Leave

⁸ The child grew and eventually was weaned, so Abraham threw a tremendous banquet on the very day Isaac was weaned. ⁹ Nevertheless, when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian—whom Hagar had borne to Abraham—making fun of Isaac,^{[ce] 10} she told Abraham, “Throw out this slave girl, along with her son, because this slave’s son will never be a co-heir with my son Isaac!”

¹¹ Abraham was very troubled about what was being said about his son, ¹² but God told Abraham, “Don’t be troubled about the youth and your slave girl. Pay attention to Sarah in everything she tells you, because your offspring are to be named through Isaac. ¹³ Nevertheless, I will make the slave girl’s son into a nation, since he, too, is your offspring.”

¹⁴ So early the next morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a leather bottle of water, gave them to Hagar, and placed them on her shoulder. He then sent her away, along with the child. She went off and roamed in the Beer-sheba wilderness. ¹⁵ Eventually, the water in the leather bottle ran out, so she placed the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat by herself about a distance of a bowshot away, because she kept saying to herself, “I can’t bear to watch the child die!” That’s why she sat a short distance away, crying aloud and weeping.

The Lord Rescues Hagar and Ishmael

¹⁷ God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. He asked her, “What’s wrong with you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, because God has heard the voice of the youth where he is. ¹⁸ Get up! Pick up the youth and grab his hand, because I will make a great nation of his descendants.”^{[cf] 19} Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went, filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ God was with the boy as he grew up. He settled in the wilderness and became an expert archer. ²¹ Later he settled in the desert area of Paran, and his mother chose a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²² About that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, told Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you’re doing. ²³ Therefore swear an oath here by God that you won’t deal falsely with me, my sons, or my descendants. Just as I’ve dealt graciously with you, won’t you do so with me and with the land in which you live as a foreigner?”

²⁴ And Abraham replied, “I agree!” ²⁵ But then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized.

²⁶ “I don’t know who did this thing,” Abimelech replied. “You didn’t report this to me, and I didn’t hear about it until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and presented them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Then Abraham set aside seven ewe lambs, ²⁹ so Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set aside?”

³⁰ He replied, “You are to accept from me these seven ewe lambs as a witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba, because the two of them swore an oath.^{[cg] 32} So after they had made a covenant in Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to Philistine territory.

³³ Abraham^[ch] planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord God Everlasting. ³⁴ After this, Abraham resided as a foreigner in Philistine territory for a long period of time.