Abraham and Abimelech

20 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between ^(A)Kadesh and Shur; and he ^(B)sojourned in ^(C)Gerar. ² And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^(D)“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ^3 (E)But God came to Abimelech ^(F)in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, ^(G)“Lord, will you kill an innocent people? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning ^(H)against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return the man's wife, ^(I)for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you ^(J)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 very much afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ^(K)‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and ^(L)they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, ^(M)she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ And when ^(N)God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, ^(O)say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

¹⁴ Then Abimelech ^(P)took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Behold, ^(Q)my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given ^(R)your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is ^(S)a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all^[a] who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” ¹⁷ Then ^(T)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. ¹⁸ For the Lord ^(U)had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

The Birth of Isaac

21 The Lord ^(V)visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah ^(W)as he had promised. ² And Sarah ^(X)conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age ^(Y)at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, ^(Z)Isaac.^{[b] 4} And Abraham ^(AA)circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^(AB)as God had commanded him. ^5 (AC)Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, ^(AD)“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^(AE)Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ But Sarah ^(AF)saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(AG)laughing.^{[c] 10} So she said to Abraham, ^(AH)“Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for ^(AI)through Isaac shall your offspring be named. ¹³ And I will make ^(AJ)a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of ^(AK)Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then ^(AL)God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰ And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness ^(AM)and became an expert with the bow. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Treaty with Abimelech

²² At that time ^(AN)Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, ^(AO)“God is with you in all that you do. ²³ Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but ^(AP)as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵ When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants ^(AQ)had seized, ²⁶ Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” ²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men ^(AR)made a covenant. ²⁸ Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. ²⁹ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” ³⁰ He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this^[d] may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore ^(AS)that place was called Beersheba,^[e] because there both of them swore an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and ^(AT)called there on the name of the Lord, ^(AU)the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22 After these things ^(AV)God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to ^(AW)the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall 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 cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy^[f] will go over there and worship and come again to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(AX)laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. ⁷ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, ^(AY)“God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and ^(AZ)laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, ^(BA)“Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for ^(BB)now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, 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 as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, ^(BC)“The Lord will provide”;^[g] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”^[h]

¹⁵ And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶ and said, ^(BD)“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring ^(BE)as the stars of heaven and ^(BF)as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess ^(BG)the gate of his^[i] enemies, ¹⁸ and ^(BH)in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, ^(BI)because you have obeyed my voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to ^(BJ)Beersheba. And Abraham lived at ^(BK)Beersheba.

²⁰ Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, ^(BL)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (BM)Uz his firstborn, ^(BN)Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ (^(BO)Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. ²⁴ Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{[a] 2} For the law of ^(A)the Spirit of life ^(B)has set you^[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For ^(C)God has done what the law, ^(D)weakened by the flesh, ^(E)could not do. ^(F)By sending his own Son ^(G)in the likeness of sinful flesh and ^(H)for sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that ^(I)the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, ^(J)who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For ^(K)those who live according to the flesh set their minds on ^(L)the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on ^(M)the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set ^(N)the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is ^(O)hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; ^(P)indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact ^(Q)the Spirit of God dwells in you. ^(R)Anyone who does not have ^(S)the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of ^(T)him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ^(U)through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

¹² So then, brothers,^[e] we are debtors, ^(V)not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you ^(W)put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are ^(X)led by the Spirit of God are ^(Y)sons^[f] of God. ¹⁵ For ^(Z)you did not receive ^(AA)the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of ^(AB)adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ^(AC)“Abba! Father!” ^16 (AD)The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then ^(AE)heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^(AF)provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Future Glory

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^(AG)are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for ^(AH)the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation ^(AI)was subjected to futility, not willingly, but ^(AJ)because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that ^(AK)the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.