Beginning
Chapter 16
Abram’s Son Ishmael.[a] 1 Now Sarai, the wife of Abram, did not have any children. She had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “Behold, the Lord has kept me from having children; sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have children through her.”
Abram did what Sarai had told him to do. 3 Thus, ten years after Abram had begun to live in the land of Canaan, Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
But once she realized that she was pregnant, she no longer treated her mistress with respect. 5 Therefore, Sarai said to Abram, “May this affront fall upon you! I gave you my maid to embrace, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she stopped treating me with respect. Let the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your slave is in your hands. Do with her as you see fit.” Sarai then maltreated her so much that Hagar ran away.
7 The angel of the Lord[b] found her near a spring in the desert. The spring was on the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and be obedient to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord continued, “I will multiply the number of your descendants so much that you will not be able to count them.”
11 The angel of the Lord added,
“Behold, you are pregnant:
you will bear a son
and call him Ishmael,
for the Lord has listened to you in your distress.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against all
and the hands of all will be against him.
He will be opposed to all of his brothers.”
13 Hagar gave a name to the Lord who had spoken to her, “You are the God of the Vision.”[c] Therefore, she said, “Here I remained alive after having received this vision.” 14 Because of this, the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kedesh and Bered.
15 Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son. Abram named the son whom Hagar had borne Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Chapter 17
The Covenant and Its Sign.[d] 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty.[e] Walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you greatly.”
3 Abram immediately fell down upon his face. God said to him, 4 “On my part, behold, my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. 5 You will no longer be called Abram, but Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.[f] 6 I will make you very, very fruitful. I will make nations come from you, and you shall give birth to kings. 7 I will establish my covenant with you for all generations. It will be an eternal covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give you and your descendants after you this land where you are now an alien. All of the land of Canaan shall be your eternal possession. I will be your God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “On your part, you must observe my covenant, you and your descendants after you, for all time. 10 This is my covenant that you must observe, a covenant between me and your descendants after you: every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of the male member. This shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Whenever baby boys are eight days old, they will be circumcised, whether they are your own children or the children of those whom you bought and who are foreigners and not of your bloodline. 13 You must circumcise those who are born in your house and those who are bought by you. Thus, my covenant will be marked in your flesh as an eternal covenant. 14 The male who is not circumcised, the one whose flesh of his member is not circumcised, is to be cut off from his people. He will have violated my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, she will no longer be called Sarai, but rather Sarah. 16 I will bless her and I will give you and her a son. I will bless her so that she shall become the mother of nations; kings of peoples shall descend from her.”
17 Abraham bowed down to the earth and laughed[g] when he thought, “Shall a man who is one hundred years old have a son? And Sarah, who is ninety years old, can she give birth?” 18 Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live in your presence!”
19 But God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an eternal covenant, that I will be his God and the God of his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and very, very numerous. Twelve princes shall come from him and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. Sarah shall give birth to him by this time next year.” 22 God thus finished speaking to Abraham, and rising into the heavens, he left him.
23 Abraham therefore took Ishmael his son and all those born into his house and all those whom he had bought—all the males belonging to the household of Abraham—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, as the Lord had commanded him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised. 25 Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised that same day. 27 And all the men of his household, those born in his house and those foreigners bought with money, were circumcised with him.
Chapter 18
God Becomes a Guest.[h] 1 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing nearby. As soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them from the entrance of his tent and bowed down to the ground, 3 saying, “My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not pass on without stopping to visit your servant. 4 Let some water be brought so that you may wash your feet. Make yourselves comfortable under this tree. 5 Let me go and prepare a bit of food that you may refresh yourselves. Afterward, you can go on your way. It is for this that you have come to visit your servant.”
They answered, “Do as you have said.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, take three seahs[i] of fine flour, knead it, and make it into rolls.”
7 He ran to the herd, took a choice calf, and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it. 8 He then took curds[j] and milk, as well as the veal that had been prepared, and he placed them before his guests. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9 They then said, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He answered, “She is in the tent.” 10 The Lord[k] said, “I will return this way a year from now, and by that time Sarah, your wife, will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, just behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. Sarah no longer had her monthly periods. 12 Sarah therefore laughed to herself and said, “After I am withered and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why is Sarah laughing and saying, ‘Can I really give birth now that I am so old?’ 14 Is anything impossible to the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time, one year from now, and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah denied laughing, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
16 The “Friend” of God.[l] The men rose up and went along to look down upon Sodom from on high while Abraham accompanied them to show them the way. 17 The Lord said, “Should I keep hidden from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 for Abraham shall become a great and powerful nation and all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed through him? 19 I chose him so that he would instruct his sons and his family after him to observe the ways of the Lord and to act with justice and righteousness so that the Lord might fulfill what he has promised to Abraham.”
20 Therefore, the Lord said, “The cry against Sodom and Gomorrah is too great and their sin is very grave. 21 I am going to descend to see if they have really done all the evil that has cried out to me. I want to know this!”
22 While the two men departed and journeyed toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Abraham approached him and said to him, “Is it true that you will destroy the just along with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really destroy it? Will you not spare it for the sake of the fifty righteous people that you found there? 25 Far be it from you to make the righteous die along with the wicked, so that the righteous would have the same fate as the wicked. Far be it from you! Is it possible that the judge of the whole earth does not practice justice?” 26 The Lord answered, “If I find fifty righteous people living in the city of Sodom, for their sake I will spare the city.”
27 Abraham spoke again, “Look how I dare to speak with my Lord, I who am dust and ashes. 28 What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous people, will you destroy the entire city because of those five?”
He answered, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29 Abraham spoke again and said, “What if you find forty there?” He answered, “I will not do it, for the sake of those forty.” 30 And again he said, “Let my Lord not grow impatient with me if I continue to speak; what if thirty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 Once again he said, “Look how I dare to talk to my Lord! What if you find twenty there?” He said, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of those twenty.”
32 Yet again he said, “My Lord, do not grow impatient if I speak still another time; what if ten are found there?” He answered, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of the ten.” 33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he went on his way, and Abraham returned to his tent.
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