Isaac Is Born

21 ^(A)Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had ^[a]promised. ^2 (B)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(C)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, ^(D)Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(E)eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was ^(F)one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made ^(G)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[b]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “^(H)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now Sarah saw ^(I)the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^[c](J)mocking. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “^(K)Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son ^[d]Isaac.” ^11 (L)The matter ^[e]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “^[f]Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for ^(M)through Isaac ^[g]your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of ^(N)the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your ^[h]descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a ^[i]skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she ^[j]left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me ^[k]see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and ^(O)lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God ^(P)heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(Q)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by ^[l]the hand, ^(R)for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God ^(S)opened her eyes and she saw ^(T)a well of water; and she went and filled the ^[m]skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

^20 (U)God was with the lad, and he grew; and he ^[n]lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ^21 (V)He ^[o]lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now it came about at that time that ^(W)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^(X)God is with you in all that you do; ²³ now therefore, ^(Y)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham ^[p]complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(Z)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ^[q]until today.”

²⁷ Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(AA)the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰ He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^(AB)witness to me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place ^(AC)Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(AD)he called on the name of the Lord, the ^(AE)Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham sojourned ^(AF)in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like ^[a]a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his ^(B)vineyard. ² When he had agreed with the laborers for a ^[b]denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the ^[c]third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; ⁴ and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the ^[d]sixth and the ninth hour, and did ^[e]the same thing. ⁶ And about the ^[f]eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ ⁷ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸ “When ^(C)evening came, the ^[g]owner of the vineyard *said to his ^(D)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ ⁹ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a ^[h]denarius. ¹⁰ When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; ^[i]but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the ^(E)scorching heat of the day.’ ¹³ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘^(F)Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ¹⁵ Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your ^(G)eye ^[j]envious because I am ^[k]generous?’ ¹⁶ So ^(H)the last shall be first, and the first last.”

Death, Resurrection Foretold

^17 (I)As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, ¹⁸ “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man ^(J)will be ^[l]delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, ¹⁹ and ^(K)will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on ^(L)the third day He will be raised up.”

Preferment Asked

^20 (M)Then the mother of ^(N)the sons of Zebedee came to ^[m]Jesus with her sons, ^(O)bowing down and making a request of Him. ²¹ And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine ^(P)may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” ²² But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(Q)to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.” ²³ He *said to them, “^(R)My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, ^(S)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(T)prepared by My Father.”

²⁴ And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. ^25 (U)But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. ²⁶ It is not this way among you, ^(V)but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; ²⁸ just as ^(W)the Son of Man ^(X)did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His ^[n]life a ransom for many.”

Sight for the Blind

^29 (Y)As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. ³⁰ And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, ^(Z)have mercy on us, ^(AA)Son of David!” ³¹ The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, ^(AB)Son of David, have mercy on us!” ³² And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³³ They *said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” ³⁴ Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.