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Hagar and Ishmael
16 Abram's wife Sarai had not borne him any children. But she had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, 2 and so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me.” Abram agreed with what Sarai said. 3 So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) 4 Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's your fault that Hagar despises me.[a] I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the Lord judge which of us is right, you or me!”
6 Abram answered, “Very well, she is your slave and under your control; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so cruelly that she ran away.
7 The angel of the Lord met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur 8 and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”
She answered, “I am running away from my mistress.”
9 He said, “Go back to her and be her slave.” 10 Then he said, “I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them. 11 You are going to have a son, and you will name him Ishmael,[b] because the Lord has heard your cry of distress. 12 But your son will live like a wild donkey; he will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live apart from all his relatives.”
13 Hagar asked herself, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”[c] So she called the Lord, who had spoken to her, “A God Who Sees.” 14 That is why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”
15 (A)Hagar bore Abram a son, and he named him Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old at the time.
Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God. Obey me and always do what is right. 2 I will make my covenant with you and give you many descendants.” 3 Abram bowed down with his face touching the ground, and God said, 4 “I make this covenant with you: I promise that you will be the ancestor of many nations. 5 (B)Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham,[d] because I am making you the ancestor of many nations. 6 I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings. You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.
7 (C)“I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants. 8 (D)I will give to you and to your descendants this land in which you are now a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever, and I will be their God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “You also must agree to keep the covenant with me, both you and your descendants in future generations. 10 (E)You and your descendants must all agree to circumcise every male among you. 11-12 From now on you must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old, including slaves born in your homes and slaves bought from foreigners. This will show that there is a covenant between you and me. 13 Each one must be circumcised, and this will be a physical sign to show that my covenant with you is everlasting. 14 Any male who has not been circumcised will no longer be considered one of my people, because he has not kept the covenant with me.”
15 God said to Abraham, “You must no longer call your wife Sarai; from now on her name is Sarah.[e] 16 I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants.”
17 Abraham bowed down with his face touching the ground, but he began to laugh when he thought, “Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah have a child at ninety?” 18 He asked God, “Why not let Ishmael be my heir?”
19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac.[f] I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant. 20 I have heard your request about Ishmael, so I will bless him and give him many children and many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of his descendants. 21 But I will keep my covenant with your son Isaac, who will be born to Sarah about this time next year.” 22 When God finished speaking to Abraham, he left him.
23 On that same day Abraham obeyed God and circumcised his son Ishmael and all the other males in his household, including the slaves born in his home and those he had bought. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen. 26 They were both circumcised on the same day, 27 together with all of Abraham's slaves.
A Son Is Promised to Abraham
18 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day, 2 (F)he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them. Bowing down with his face touching the ground, 3 he said, “Sirs, please do not pass by my home without stopping; I am here to serve you. 4 Let me bring some water for you to wash your feet; you can rest here beneath this tree. 5 I will also bring a bit of food; it will give you strength to continue your journey. You have honored me by coming to my home, so let me serve you.”
They replied, “Thank you; we accept.”
6 Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, take a sack of your best flour, and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and picked out a calf that was tender and fat, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to get it ready. 8 He took some cream, some milk, and the meat, and set the food before the men. There under the tree he served them himself, and they ate.
9 Then they asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
“She is there in the tent,” he answered.
10 (G)One of them said, “Nine months from now[g] I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening. 11 Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah had stopped having her monthly periods. 12 (H)So Sarah laughed to herself and said, “Now that I am old and worn out, can I still enjoy sex? And besides, my husband is old too.”
13 Then the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really have a child when I am so old?’ 14 (I)Is anything too hard for the Lord? As I said, nine months from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Because Sarah was afraid, she denied it. “I didn't laugh,” she said.
“Yes, you did,” he replied. “You laughed.”
Teaching about Charity
6 (A)“Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public so that people will see what you do. If you do these things publicly, you will not have any reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give something to a needy person, do not make a big show of it, as the hypocrites do in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do it so that people will praise them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. 3 But when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it. 4 Then it will be a private matter. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
Teaching about Prayer(B)
5 (C)“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. 6 But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
7 (D)“When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long. 8 Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. 9 This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven:
May your holy name be honored;
10 may your Kingdom come;
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need.[a]
12 Forgive us the wrongs we have done,
as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
13 Do not bring us to hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.’[b]
14 (E)“If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.
Teaching about Fasting
16 “And when you fast, do not put on a sad face as the hypocrites do. They neglect their appearance so that everyone will see that they are fasting. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. 17 (F)When you go without food, wash your face and comb your hair, 18 so that others cannot know that you are fasting—only your Father, who is unseen, will know. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
Riches in Heaven(G)
19 (H)“Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. 20 (I)Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. 21 For your heart will always be where your riches are.
The Light of the Body(J)
22 “The eyes are like a lamp for the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eyes are no good, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly dark it will be!
God and Possessions(K)
24 “You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
A Prayer for Justice[a]
7 O Lord, my God, I come to you for protection;
rescue me and save me from all who pursue me,
2 or else like a lion they will carry me off
where no one can save me,
and there they will tear me to pieces.
3-4 O Lord, my God, if I have wronged anyone,
if I have betrayed a friend
or without cause done violence to my enemy[b]—
if I have done any of these things—
5 then let my enemies pursue me and catch me,
let them cut me down and kill me
and leave me lifeless on the ground!
6 Rise in your anger, O Lord!
Stand up against the fury of my enemies;
rouse yourself and help me!
Justice is what you demand,
7 so bring together all the peoples around you,
and rule over them from above.[c]
8 You are the judge of all people.
Judge in my favor, O Lord;
you know that I am innocent.
9 (A)You are a righteous God
and judge our thoughts and desires.
Stop the wickedness of evildoers
and reward those who are good.
10 God is my protector;
he saves those who obey him.
11 God is a righteous judge
and always condemns the wicked.
12 If they do not change their ways,
God will sharpen his sword.
He bends his bow and makes it ready;
13 he takes up his deadly weapons
and aims his burning arrows.
14 See how wicked people think up evil;
they plan trouble and practice deception.
15 But in the traps they set for others,
they themselves get caught.
16 So they are punished by their own evil
and are hurt by their own violence.
17 I thank the Lord for his justice;
I sing praises to the Lord, the Most High.
The Rewards of Wisdom
2 My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do. 2 Listen to what is wise and try to understand it. 3 Yes, beg for knowledge; plead for insight. 4 Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure. 5 If you do, you will know what it means to fear the Lord and you will succeed in learning about God.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.