17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the Almighty God; walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete).

² And I will make My covenant (solemn pledge) between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.

³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him,

⁴ As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations.

⁵ Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of many nations.

⁶ And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and ^[a]kings will come from you.

⁷ And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you.^(A)

⁸ And I will give to you and to your posterity after you the land in which you are a stranger [going from place to place], all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.^(B)

⁹ And God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall therefore 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 posterity after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹ And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token or sign of the covenant (the promise or pledge) between Me and you.

¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether born in [your] house or bought with [your] money from any foreigner not of your offspring.

¹³ He that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money must be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴ And the male who is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai; but Sarah [Princess] her name shall be.

¹⁶ And I will bless her and give you a son also by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall 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 who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?

¹⁸ And [he] said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!

¹⁹ But God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac [laughter]; and I will establish My covenant or solemn pledge with him for an everlasting covenant and with his posterity after him.

²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard and heeded you: behold, I will bless 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. [Fulfilled in Gen. 25:12-18.]

²¹ But My covenant, My promise and pledge, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

²² And God stopped talking with him and went up from Abraham.

²³ And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among [those] of Abraham’s house, and circumcised [them] the very same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴ And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.

²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.

²⁶ On the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son as well.

²⁷ And all the men of his house, both those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised along with him.

15 After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am your ^[a]Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great.

² And Abram said, Lord God, what can You give me, since I am going on [from this world] childless and he who shall be the owner and heir of my house is this [steward] Eliezer of Damascus?

³ And Abram continued, Look, You have given me no child; and [a servant] born in my house is my heir.

⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This man shall not be your heir, but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.

⁵ And He brought him outside [his tent into the starlight] and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars—if you are able to number them. Then He said to him, So shall your descendants be.^(A)

⁶ And he [Abram] believed in (trusted in, relied on, remained steadfast to) the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness (right standing with God).^(B)

⁷ And He said to him, I am the [same] Lord, Who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land as an inheritance.

⁸ But he [Abram] said, Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?

⁹ And He said to him, Bring to Me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

¹⁰ And he brought Him all these and cut them down the middle [into halves] and laid each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide.

¹¹ And when the birds of prey swooped down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram, and a horror (a terror, a shuddering fear) of great darkness assailed and oppressed him.

¹³ And [God] said to Abram, Know positively that your descendants will be strangers dwelling as temporary residents in a land that is not theirs [Egypt], and they will be slaves there and will be afflicted and oppressed for 400 years. [Fulfilled in Exod. 12:40.]

¹⁴ But I will bring judgment on that nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.^(C)

¹⁵ And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old (hoary) age.

¹⁶ And in the ^[b]fourth generation they [your descendants] shall come back here [to Canaan] again, for the iniquity of the ^[c]Amorites is not yet full and complete.^(D)

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and a [thick] darkness had come on, behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between those pieces.

¹⁸ On the same day the Lord made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates—the land of

¹⁹ The Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

²⁰ The Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

²¹ The Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

² And Sarai said to Abram, See here, the Lord has restrained me from bearing [children]. I am asking you to have intercourse with my maid; it may be that I can obtain children by her. And Abram listened to and heeded what Sarai said.

³ So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.

⁴ And he had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant; and when she saw that she was with child, she looked with contempt upon her mistress and despised her.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, May [the responsibility for] my wrong and deprivation of rights be upon you! I gave my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she was with child, I was contemptible and despised in her eyes. May the Lord be the judge between you and me.

⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, See here, your maid is in your hands and power; do as you please with her. And when Sarai dealt severely with her, humbling and afflicting her, she [Hagar] fled from her.

⁷ But ^[d]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness on the road to Shur.

⁸ And He said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from, and where are you intending to go? And she said, I am running away from my mistress Sarai.

⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, Go back to your mistress and [humbly] submit to her control.

¹⁰ Also the Angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be numbered for multitude.

¹¹ And the Angel of the Lord continued, See now, you are with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael [God hears], because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your affliction.

¹² And he [Ishmael] will be as a ^[e]wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.

¹³ So she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, You are a God of seeing, for she said, Have I [not] even here [in the wilderness] looked upon Him Who sees me [and lived]? Or have I here also seen [the future purposes or designs of] Him Who sees me?

¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi [A well to the Living One Who sees me]; it is ^[f]between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore ^[g]Ishmael.

¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael.

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the Almighty God; walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete).

² And I will make My covenant (solemn pledge) between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.

³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him,

⁴ As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations.

⁵ Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of many nations.

⁶ And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and ^[h]kings will come from you.

⁷ And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you.^(E)

⁸ And I will give to you and to your posterity after you the land in which you are a stranger [going from place to place], all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.^(F)

⁹ And God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall therefore 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 posterity after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹ And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token or sign of the covenant (the promise or pledge) between Me and you.

¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether born in [your] house or bought with [your] money from any foreigner not of your offspring.

¹³ He that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money must be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴ And the male who is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai; but Sarah [Princess] her name shall be.

¹⁶ And I will bless her and give you a son also by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall 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 who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?

¹⁸ And [he] said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!

¹⁹ But God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac [laughter]; and I will establish My covenant or solemn pledge with him for an everlasting covenant and with his posterity after him.

²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard and heeded you: behold, I will bless 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. [Fulfilled in Gen. 25:12-18.]

²¹ But My covenant, My promise and pledge, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

²² And God stopped talking with him and went up from Abraham.

²³ And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among [those] of Abraham’s house, and circumcised [them] the very same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴ And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.

²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.

²⁶ On the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son as well.

²⁷ And all the men of his house, both those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised along with him.

18 Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks or terebinths of Mamre; as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day,

² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood at a little distance from him. He ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground

³ And said, My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant, I beg of you.

⁴ Let a little water be brought, and you may wash your feet and recline and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵ And I will bring a morsel (mouthful) of bread to refresh and sustain your hearts before you go on further—for that is why you have come to your servant. And they replied, Do as you have said.

⁶ So Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, Quickly get ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and bake cakes.

⁷ And Abraham ran to the herd and brought a calf tender and good and gave it to the young man [to butcher]; then he [Abraham] hastened to prepare it.

⁸ And he took curds and milk and the calf which he had made ready, and set it before [the men]; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, [She is here] in the tent.

^10 [i][The Lord] said, I will surely return to you when the season comes round, and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah was listening and heard it at the tent door which was behind Him.^(G)

¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in years; it had ceased to be with Sarah as with [young] women. [She was past the age of childbearing].

¹² Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord (husband), being old also?^(H)

¹³ And the Lord asked Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I really bear a child when I am so old?

¹⁴ Is anything too hard or too wonderful ^[j]for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season [for her delivery] comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son.^(I)

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh.

¹⁶ The men rose up from there and faced toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

¹⁷ And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do,^(J)

¹⁸ Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him and shall bless themselves by him?^(K)

¹⁹ For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him.

²⁰ And the Lord said, Because the shriek [of the sins] of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is exceedingly grievous,

²¹ I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether [as vilely and wickedly] as is the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.

²² Now the [two] men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.

²³ And Abraham came close and said, Will You destroy the righteous (those upright and in right standing with God) together with the wicked?

²⁴ Suppose there are in the city fifty righteous; will You destroy the place and not spare it for [the sake of] the fifty righteous in it?

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as do the wicked! Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth execute judgment and do righteously?

²⁶ And the Lord said, If I find in the city of Sodom fifty righteous (upright and in right standing with God), I will spare the whole place for their sake.

²⁷ Abraham answered, Behold now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord.

²⁸ If five of the fifty righteous should be lacking—will You destroy the whole city for lack of five? He said, If I find forty-five, I will not destroy it.

²⁹ And [Abraham] spoke to Him yet again, and said, Suppose [only] forty shall be found there. And He said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.

³⁰ Then [Abraham] said to Him, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak [again]. Suppose [only] thirty shall be found there. And He answered, I will not do it if I find thirty there.

³¹ And [Abraham] said, Behold now, I have taken upon myself to speak [again] to the Lord. Suppose [only] twenty shall be found there. And [the Lord] replied, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.

³² And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again only this once. Suppose ten [righteous people] shall be found there. And [the Lord] said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.

³³ And the Lord went His way when He had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

19 It was evening when the two angels came to Sodom. Lot was sitting at Sodom’s [city] gate. Seeing them, Lot rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground.

² And he said, My lords, turn aside, I beg of you, into your servant’s house and spend the night and bathe your feet. Then you can arise early and go on your way. But they said, No, we will spend the night in the square.

³ [Lot] entreated and urged them greatly until they yielded and [with him] entered his house. And he made them a dinner [with drinking] and had unleavened bread which he baked, and they ate.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, all the men from every quarter, surrounded the house.

⁵ And they called to Lot and said, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know (be intimate with) them.

⁶ And Lot went out of the door to the men and shut the door after him

⁷ And said, I beg of you, my brothers, do not behave so wickedly.

⁸ Look now, I have two daughters who are virgins; let me, I beg of you, bring them out to you, and you can do as you please with them. But only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.

⁹ But they said, Stand back! And they said, This fellow came in to live here temporarily, and now he presumes to be [our] judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they rushed at and pressed violently against Lot and came close to breaking down the door.

¹⁰ But the men [the angels] reached out and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut the door after him.

¹¹ And they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness [which dazzled them], from the youths to the old men, so that they wearied themselves [groping] to find the door.

¹² And the [two] men asked Lot, Have you any others here—sons-in-law or your sons or your daughters? Whomever you have in the city, bring them out of this place,

¹³ For we will spoil and destroy [Sodom]; for the outcry and shriek against its people has grown great before the Lord, and He has sent us to destroy it.

¹⁴ And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will spoil and destroy this city! But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be [only] joking.

¹⁵ When morning came, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and two daughters who are here [and be off], lest you [too] be consumed and swept away in the iniquity and punishment of the city.

¹⁶ But while he lingered, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, for the Lord was merciful to him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city and left him there.

¹⁷ And when they had brought them forth, they said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you or stop anywhere in ^[k]the whole valley; escape to the mountains [of Moab], lest you be consumed.

¹⁸ And Lot said to them, Oh, not that, my lords!

¹⁹ Behold now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your kindness and mercy to me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the evil overtake me, and I die.

²⁰ See now yonder city; it is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape to it! Is it not a little one? And my life will be saved!

²¹ And [the angel] said to him, See, I have yielded to your entreaty concerning this thing also; I will not destroy this city of which you have spoken.

²² Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [little].

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot entered Zoar.

²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of the heavens.

²⁵ He overthrew, destroyed, and ended those cities, and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

²⁶ But [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she ^[l]became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham went up early the next morning to the place where he [only the day before] had stood before the Lord.

²⁸ And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and saw, and behold, the smoke of ^[m]the country went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ When God ravaged and destroyed the cities of the plain [of Siddim], He [earnestly] remembered Abraham [imprinted and fixed him indelibly on His mind], and He sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities where Lot lived.

³⁰ And Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.

³¹ The elder said to the younger, Our father is aging, and there is not a man on earth to live with us in the customary way.

³² Come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring (our race) through our father.

³³ And they made their father drunk with wine that night, and the older went in and lay with her father; and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ Then the next day the firstborn said to the younger, See here, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drunk with wine tonight also, and then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring (our race) through our father.

³⁵ And they made their father drunk with wine again that night, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

³⁷ The older bore a son, and named him Moab [of a father]; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸ The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi [son of my people]; he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

20 Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the ^[n]South country (the Negeb) and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he lived temporarily in Gerar.

² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah [into his harem].

³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken [as your own], for she is a man’s wife.

⁴ But Abimelech had not come near her, so he said, Lord, will you slay a people who are just and innocent?

⁵ Did not the man tell me, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my brother. In integrity of heart and innocency of hands I have done this.

⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know you did this in the integrity of your heart, for it was I Who kept you back and spared you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not give you occasion to touch her.

⁷ So now restore to the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her [to him], know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were exceedingly filled with reverence and fear.

⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? And how have I offended you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me what ought not to be done [to anyone].

¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see [in us] that [justified] you in doing such a thing as this?

¹¹ And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely there is no reverence or fear of God at all in this place, and they will slay me because of my wife.

¹² But truly, she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father but not of my mother; and she became my wife.

¹³ When God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, This kindness you can show me: at every place we stop, say of me, He is my brother.

¹⁴ Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and restored to him Sarah his wife.

¹⁵ And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you; dwell wherever it pleases you.

¹⁶ And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given this brother of yours a thousand pieces of silver; see, it is to compensate you [for all that has occurred] and to vindicate your honor before all who are with you; before all men you are cleared and compensated.

¹⁷ So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, and they bore children,

¹⁸ For the Lord had closed fast the wombs of all in Abimelech’s household because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

21 The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised.

² For Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time God had told him.

³ Abraham ^[o]named his son whom Sarah bore to him Isaac [laughter].

⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.

⁶ And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh; all who hear will laugh with me.

⁷ And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children at the breast? For I have borne him a son in his old age!^(L)

⁸ And the child grew and was ^[p]weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking [Isaac].

¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.^(M)

¹¹ And the thing was very grievous (serious, evil) in Abraham’s sight on account of his son [Ishmael].

¹² God said to Abraham, Do not let it seem grievous and evil to you because of the youth and your bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said to you, do what she asks, for in Isaac shall your posterity be called.^(N)

¹³ And I will make a nation of the son of the bondwoman also, because he is your offspring.

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulders, and he sent her and the ^[q]youth away. And she wandered on [aimlessly] and lost her way in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the bottle was all gone, Hagar caused the youth to lie down under one of the shrubs.

¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about a bowshot, for she said, Let me not see the death of the lad. And as she sat down opposite him, ^[r]he lifted up his voice and wept and she raised her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the youth, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the youth where he is.

¹⁸ Arise, raise up the youth and support him with your hand, for I intend to make him a great nation.

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the [empty] bottle with water and caused the youth to drink.

²⁰ And God was with the youth, and he developed; and he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer.

²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

²² At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, God is with you in everything you do.

²³ So now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my son or with my posterity; but as I have dealt with you kindly, you will do the same with me and with the land in which you have sojourned.

²⁴ And Abraham said, I will swear.

²⁵ When Abraham complained to and reasoned with Abimelech about a well of water [Abimelech’s] servants had violently seized,

²⁶ Abimelech said, I know not who did this thing; you did not tell me, and I did not hear of it until today.

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a league or covenant.

²⁸ Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock,

²⁹ And Abimelech said to Abraham, What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart mean?

³⁰ He said, You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me that I dug this well.

³¹ Therefore that place was called Beersheba [well of the oath], because there both parties swore an oath.

³² Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.

³⁴ And Abraham sojourned in Philistia many days.

22 After these events, God tested and proved Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am.

² [God] said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you.

³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then began the trip to the place of which God had told him.

⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵ And Abraham said to his servants, Settle down and stay here with the donkey, and I and the young man will go yonder and worship and ^[s]come again to you.

⁶ Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the fire (the firepot) in his own hand, and a knife; and the two of them went on together.

⁷ And Isaac said to Abraham, My father! And he said, Here I am, my son. [Isaac] said, See, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt sacrifice?

⁸ Abraham said, My son, ^[t]God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. So the two went on together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there; then he laid the wood in order and ^[u]bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on the wood.^(O)

¹⁰ And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took hold of the knife to slay his son.^(P)

¹¹ But the ^[v]Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! He answered, Here I am.

¹² And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not held back from Me or begrudged giving Me your son, your only son.

¹³ Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering and an ascending sacrifice instead of his son!

¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it will be provided.

¹⁵ The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

¹⁶ And said, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld [from Me] or begrudged [giving Me] your son, your only son,

¹⁷ In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies,^(Q)

¹⁸ And in your Seed [^[w]Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.^(R)

¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his servants, and they rose up and went with him to Beersheba; there Abraham lived.

²⁰ Now after these things, it was told Abraham, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor:

²¹ Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

²⁴ And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.