God Provides for Hagar and Ishmael

21 The Lord came to help Sarah and did for her what he had promised. ² So she became pregnant, and at the exact time God had promised, she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. ³ Abraham named his newborn son Isaac. ⁴ When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. ⁵ Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. ⁷ Who would have predicted to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet, I have given him a son in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew and was weaned. On the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a big feast. ⁹ Sarah saw that Abraham’s son by Hagar the Egyptian was laughing at Isaac. ¹⁰ She said to Abraham, “Get rid of this slave and her son, because this slave’s son must never share the inheritance with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ Abraham was upset by this because of his son Ishmael. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name. ¹³ Besides, I will make the slave’s son into a nation also, because he is your child.”

¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beersheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the container was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went about as far away as an arrow can be shot and sat down. She said to herself, “I don’t want to watch the boy die.” So she sat down and sobbed loudly.

¹⁷ God heard the boy crying, and the Messenger of God called to Hagar from heaven. “What’s the matter, Hagar?” he asked her. “Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying from the bushes. ¹⁸ Come on, help the boy up! Take him by the hand, because I’m going to make him into a great nation.”

¹⁹ God opened her eyes. Then she saw a well. She filled the container with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became a skilled archer. ²¹ He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother got him a wife from Egypt.

³⁵ When it was late, his disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. ³⁶ Send the people to the closest farms and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “Should we go and spend about a year’s wages on bread to feed them?”

³⁸ He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹ Then he ordered all of them to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹ After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the people. He also gave pieces of the two fish to everyone. ⁴² All of them ate as much as they wanted. ⁴³ When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets with bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were 5,000 men who had eaten the bread.

Jesus Walks on the Sea^(A)

⁴⁵ Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to Bethsaida ahead of him while he sent the people away. ⁴⁶ After saying goodbye to them, he went up a mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.

⁴⁸ Jesus saw that they were in a lot of trouble as they rowed, because they were going against the wind. Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. He wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹ When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought, “It’s a ghost!” and they began to scream. ⁵⁰ All of them saw him and were terrified.

Immediately, he said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!” ⁵¹ He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped blowing. The disciples were astounded. ⁵² (They didn’t understand what had happened with the loaves of bread. Instead, their minds were closed.)

⁵³ They crossed the sea, came to shore at Gennesaret, and anchored there.

⁵⁴ As soon as they stepped out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus. ⁵⁵ They ran all over the countryside and began to carry the sick on cots to any place where they heard he was. ⁵⁶ Whenever he would go into villages, cities, or farms, people would put their sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.