Old/New Testament

Abraham and Abimelech

20 And Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev, and he settled between Kadesh and Shur. And he dwelled as an alien in Gerar. ² And Abraham said about Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³ And God came to Abimelech in a dream at night. And he said to him, “Look, you are a dead man on account of the woman you have taken. For she is a married woman.”^{[a] 4} Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “my Lord, will you even kill a righteous people?” ⁵ Did not he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ With integrity of my heart and with cleanness of my hands I did this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes,^[b] I know that in the integrity of your heart you did this, and I also kept you from sinning^[c] against me. Therefore, I did not allow you to touch her. ⁷ So now, return the wife of the man, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you and you will live. And if you do not return her,^[d] know that you will certainly die, and all that are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning. And he called all his servants and told them all these things,^[e] and the men were very afraid. ⁹ And Abimelech called for Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking^[f] that you did this thing?” ¹¹ And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place; they will kill me on account of the matter of my wife. ¹² Besides,^[g] she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. ¹³ And it happened that as God caused me to wander from the house of my father I said to her, ‘This is your loyal kindness that you must do for me at every place where we come: say concerning me, “He is my brother.”’” ¹⁴ And Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male slaves and female slaves, and he gave them to Abraham. And he returned Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Here is my land before you; settle where it pleases you.”^{[h] 16} And to Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother. It shall be an exoneration.^[i] You are vindicated before all who are with you.”^{[j] 17} And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female servants so that they could bear children again. ¹⁸ For Yahweh had completely closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of the matter of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

The Birth of Isaac

21 And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said. And Yahweh did to Sarah as he had promised. ² And she conceived, and Sarah bore to Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him. ³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴ And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ And Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac his son was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; all who hear will laugh for me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would announce to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son to Abraham in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. ⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne Abraham, mocking. ¹⁰ Then she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son, with Isaac.” ¹¹ And the matter displeased Abraham very much^[k] on account of his son. ¹² Then God said to Abraham, “Do not be displeased^[l] on account of the boy and on account of the slave woman. Listen to everything that Sarah said to you,^[m] for through Isaac your offspring will be named. ¹³ And I will also make the son of the slave woman into a nation, for he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ Then Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And he sent her away with the child, and she went, wandering about in the wilderness, in Beersheba. ¹⁵ And when the water was finished from the skin, she put the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ And she went and she sat a good distance away,^[n] for she said, “Let me not see the child’s death.” So she sat away from him and lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ And God heard the cry^[o] of the boy and the angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, “What is the matter^[p] Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the cry^[q] of the boy from where he is.^{[r] 18} Get up, take up the boy and take him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.” ¹⁹ And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave a drink to the boy. ²⁰ And God was with the boy, and he grew and lived in the wilderness. And he became an expert with a bow.^{[s] 21} And he lived in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

The Covenant Between Abraham and Abimelech

²² And it happened that at that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you, in all that you do. ²³ So now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal with me falsely, or with my descendants, or my posterity. According to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall pledge to do with me and with the land where you have dwelled as an alien.” ²⁴ And Abraham said, “I swear.” ²⁵ Then Abraham complained to Abimelech on account of the well of water that servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing, neither did you tell me, nor have I heard of it except for today.” ²⁷ And Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. And the two of them made^[t] a covenant. ²⁸ Then Abraham set off seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe-lambs that you have set off by themselves?” ³⁰ And he said, “You shall take the seven ewe-lambs from my hand as proof on my behalf^[u] that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore that place is called Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. ³² And they made^[v] a covenant at Beersheba. And Abimelech, and Phicol his army commander stood and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ And he^[w] planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the everlasting God.^{[x] 34} And Abraham dwelled as an alien in the land of the Philistines many days.

God Tests Abraham

22 And it happened that after these things, God tested Abraham. And he said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² And he said, “Take your son, your only child, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains where^[y] I will tell you.” ³ And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. And he chopped wood for a burnt offering. And he got up and went to the place which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw the place at a distance. ⁵ And Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go up there. We will worship, then we will return to you.” ⁶ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it on Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ And Isaac said to Abraham his father, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ And Abraham said, “God will provide^[z] the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went together.

⁹ And they came to the place that God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar atop the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ And the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy; do not do anything to him. For now I know that you are one who fears^[aa] God, since you have not withheld your son, your only child, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh will provide,”^[ab] for which reason^[ac] it is said today, “on the mountain of Yahweh it shall be provided.”^{[ad] 15} And the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven. ¹⁶ And he said, “I swear by myself, declares Yahweh, that because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only child, ¹⁷ that I will certainly bless you and greatly multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the shore of the sea. And your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies. ¹⁸ All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring, because you have listened to my voice.” ¹⁹ And Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived in Beersheba.

²⁰ And it happened that after these things, it was told to Abraham, “Look, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² and Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ (Now, Bethuel fathered Rebekah). These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, the brother of Abraham. ²⁴ And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

The Sermon on the Mount: Treasure in Heaven

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect^[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consuming insect^[b] destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if your eye is sincere, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. Therefore if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴ “No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.^[c]

The Sermon on the Mount: Anxiety

²⁵ “For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat,^[d] and not for your body, what you will wear. Is your life not more than food and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Consider the birds of the sky, that they do not sow or reap or gather produce into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? ²⁷ And who among you, by^[e] being anxious, is able to add one hour^[f] to his life span? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil or spin, ²⁹ but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God dresses the grass of the field in this way, although it^[g] is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not do so much more for you, you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’ ³² for the pagans seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and righteousness,^[h] and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.^[i]