Old/New Testament
20 Abraham went forth from thence into the land of the south, and dwelled betwixt Kadesh and Shur, and was a pilgrim in Gerar; (And Abraham went forth from there to the land of the south, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and was a foreigner in Gerar;)
2 and (again) he said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister. Therefore Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent (for her), and took her (And so Abimelech, king of Gerar, had her brought to him).
3 Soothly God came to Abimelech by a sweven in the night (And God came to Abimelech by a dream in the night), and said to him, Lo! thou shalt die, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she hath an husband.
4 Forsooth Abimelech [had] touched not her; and he said, Lord, whether thou shalt slay (a) folk unknowing and just? (But Abimelech had not yet touched her; and he said, Lord, shalt thou slay an unknowing and a righteous nation?)
5 Whether he said not to me, She is my sister, and she said, He is my brother? In the simpleness of mine heart, and in the cleanness of mine hands, I did this (I did this with a pure heart, and with clean hands).
6 And the Lord said to him, And I know that thou didest by simple heart, and therefore I kept thee, lest thou didest sin against me, and I suffered not that thou touchedest her; (And the Lord said to him, Yea, I know that thou didest this with a pure heart, and so I kept thee, so that thou didest not sin against me, and I did not allow thee to touch her;)
7 now therefore yield thou the wife to her husband, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; soothly if thou wilt not yield her, know thou that thou shalt die by death, thou, and all things that be thine (but if thou wilt not give her back to him, know thou that thou shalt die, thou, and all who be thine).
8 And at once Abimelech rose (up) by night, and called (for) all his servants, and spake all these words in the ears of them; and all men dreaded greatly (and all the men had great fear).
9 Soothly Abimelech called also Abraham (And then Abimelech called for Abraham), and said to him, What hast thou done to us? what sinned we against thee, that thou hast brought in on me and on my realm (such) a great sin? thou hast done to us which things thou oughtest not to do.
10 And again Abimelech asked, and said, What thing sawest thou, that thou wouldest do this? (And again Abimelech asked Abraham, Why did thou do this?)
11 (And) Abraham answered, I thought within me, and said, In hap the dread of God is not in this place; and they shall slay me for my wife;
12 in other manner forsooth and she is my sister verily, (for she is) the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother; and I wedded her into wife; (and truly in one way she is my sister, for she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so I wedded her for a wife;)
13 soothly after that God led me out of the house of my father, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy with me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say, that I am thy brother. (and after that God led me out of my father’s house, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy for me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say that I am thy brother.)
14 Therefore Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and servants, and handmaids, and gave to Abraham; and he yielded to him Sarah, his wife, (And so Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he gave him back his wife Sarah,)
15 and said, The land is before you; dwell thou, wherever it pleaseth thee.
16 Forsooth Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I gave a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be to thee into (a) covering of (the) eyes, to all men that be with thee; and whither ever thou goest, have thou mind that thou art taken. (And Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I have given a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be proof to all thy own people that thou art guiltless; but wherever thou goest, remember that thou art already taken.)
17 Soothly for Abraham prayed, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and handmaids, and they childed; (And because Abraham prayed to God, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and his slave-girls, and they gave birth;)
18 for God had closed each womb of the house of Abimelech, for Sarah, the wife of Abraham. (for God had closed up each womb in Abimelech’s household, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.)
21 Forsooth God visited Sarah, as he promised, and [ful]filled those things, that he spake.
2 And she conceived, and childed a son in her eld (age), in the time wherein God before-said to her. (And she conceived, and bare a son in her old age, at the time which God had spoken of before to her.)
3 And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah childed to him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised him in the eighth day, as God commanded to him, (And Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day, as God had commanded to him,)
5 when he was of an hundred years; for Isaac was born in this age of the father. (when he was a hundred years old; for this was the age of his father when Isaac was born.)
6 And Sarah said, The Lord hath made laughing to me (The Lord hath made me to laugh), and whoever shall hear (about this) shall laugh with me.
7 And again she said, Who should hear, and believe to Abraham (And she added, For who would have said to Abraham), that Sarah should give sucking to a son, whom she childed to him, (when he is) now an eld man?
8 Therefore the child increased, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast in the day of his weaning (and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning).
9 And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar (the) Egyptian, playing, or doing idolatry, with Isaac her son, (And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, mocking her son Isaac,)
10 she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac. (she said to Abraham, Send away this slave-girl and her son; for the slave-girl’s son shall not be heir with my son Isaac.)
11 Abraham took this heavily for his son; (And Abraham took this heavily, or was deeply troubled, for Ishmael was also his son;)
12 and God said to him, Be it not seen sharp to thee on the child, and on thine handmaid; all things which Sarah saith to thee, hear thou her voice, for in Isaac (the) seed shall be called to thee; (but God said to him, Do not thou fret over the boy and the slave-girl; hear thou all the things which Sarah saith to thee, for thy promised descendants shall come through Isaac;)
13 but also I shall make the son of the handmaid into a great folk, for he is thy seed. (but I shall also make the son of the slave-girl into a great nation, for he is also thy descendant.)
14 And so Abraham rose early, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and put it on Hagar’s shoulder, and he betook (to) her the child[a], and let go her; and when she had gone, she went out of the way in the wilderness of Beersheba. (And so Abraham rose up early, and took some bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, and put it on her shoulder, and he gave the boy to her, and sent her away; and when she had gone out a ways, she went off the way into the wilderness of Beersheba.)
15 And when the water in the bottle was ended, she cast away the child under a tree that was there; (And when there was no more water in the bottle, she pushed the boy away under a tree that was there;)
16 and she went away, and she sat (down) even against (him), as far as a bow may cast; for she said, I shall not see the child dying (I shall not watch my own child die!); and she sat (over) against (him), and raised [up] her voice, and wept.
17 Forsooth the Lord heard the voice of the child, and the angel of the Lord called Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou dread, for God hath heard the voice of the child, from the place wherein he is. (And the Lord heard the boy crying, and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou fear, for God hath heard your boy crying from where he is.)
18 Rise thou, and take the child, and hold his hand; for I shall make him into a great folk. (Rise thou up, and have the boy stand up, and take his hand; for I shall make him into a great nation.)
19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went, and filled the bottle, and she gave drink to the child (and she gave her boy a drink);
20 and (God) was with him, and he increased, and dwelled in wilderness (and lived in the wilderness), and he was made a young man (who was) an archer,
21 and dwelled in the desert of Paran; and his mother took to him a wife of the land of Egypt. (and he lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother found him a wife from the land of Egypt.)
22 In the same time, Abimelech, and Phicol, prince of his host (Now at that time, Abimelech, with Phicol, the ruler of his army), said to Abraham, God is with thee in all things that thou doest;
23 therefore swear thou by God that thou harm not me, and mine heirs, and my kindred; but by the mercy which I did to thee, do thou to me, and to the land in which thou livedest (as) a comeling. (and so swear thou by God that thou shalt not harm me, nor my heirs, nor my family; but that thou shalt do the same mercy to me, and to the land in which thou livedest as a newcomer, which I have shown to thee.)
24 And Abraham said, I shall swear (I swear).
25 And he blamed Abimelech for the well of water, which his servants took away by violence. (But then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water, which his servants had taken away from him by force.)
26 And Abimelech answered, I wist not who did this thing, but also thou showedest not to me, and I heard not (of it) except today. (And Abimelech answered, I do not know who did this thing, and thou hast not told me about it, and I have not heard about it until today.)
27 And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave to Abimelech, and both smote together a bond of peace. (And Abraham took some sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and they made a covenant together.)
28 And (then) Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock asides half.
29 And Abimelech said to him, What will these seven ewe lambs (mean) to themselves, which thou madest stand asides half? (And Abimelech said to him, What mean ye with these seven ewe lambs, which thou hast made to stand aside?)
30 And he said, Thou shalt take of mine hand seven ewe lambs, that those be into witnessing to me, for I digged this well. (And he said, Take thou these seven ewe lambs from me, and by accepting them, thou agreeth that I have dug this well.)
31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, (that is, The Well of the Oath[b],) for ever either swore there;
32 and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines. (and so they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech, and Phicol, the ruler of his cavalry, arose, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.)
33 Soothly Abraham planted a wood in Beersheba, and inwardly called there (on) the name of [the] everlasting God;
34 and he was an earth-tiller, or a comeling, of the land of Palestines in many days. (and as a newcomer, he worked the soil in the land of the Philistines, for many days.)
22 And after that these things were done, God assayed Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! Abraham! He answered, I am present (I am here).
2 God said to him, Take thine one begotten son, whom thou lovest, Isaac; and go into the land of vision, and offer thou him there into burnt sacrifice on one of the hills which I shall show to thee. (And God said to him, Take Isaac, thy only son, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah; and there thou shalt offer him as a burnt sacrifice on one of the hills which I shall show to thee.)
3 Therefore Abraham rose by night, and saddled his ass, and led with him two young men, and Isaac his son; and when he had hewn trees into burnt sacrifice, he went to the place which God had commanded to him. (And so Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men, and his son Isaac; and when he had cut the wood for the burnt sacrifice, he went to the place to which God had commanded him to go.)
4 Forsooth in the third day (And on the third day), he raised [up] his eyes, and saw a place afar (off);
5 and he said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, I and the child[c] shall go thither; and after that we have worshipped, we shall turn again to you. (and he said to his young men, Wait ye here with the donkey, while I and the boy go over there; and after we have worshipped, we shall return to you.)
6 And he took the wood of burnt sacrifice, and laid (it) on Isaac his son; forsooth he bare fire, and a sword in his hands. And when they twain went together, (And he took the wood for the burnt sacrifice, and laid it on his son Isaac; and he carried the fire, and a knife in his hands. And as the two of them went together,)
7 Isaac said to his father, My father! And he answered, What wilt thou, (my) son? (And) He said, Lo! fire and wood, where is the beast of burnt sacrifice? (but where is the beast for the burnt sacrifice?)
8 Abraham said, My son, God shall purvey to him the beast of burnt sacrifice. Therefore they went together, (And Abraham said, My son, God himself shall provide the beast for the burnt sacrifice. And so they went together,)
9 and came to the place which God had showed to him; in which place Abraham builded an altar, and dressed [the] wood above; and when he had bound (al)together Isaac, his son (and when he had bound up his son Isaac), he laid Isaac on the altar, upon the heap of wood.
10 And he held forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son. (And he stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to sacrifice his son.)
11 And lo! the angel of the Lord cried from heaven, and said, Abraham! Abraham! Which answered, I am present (I am here).
12 And the angel said to him, Hold thou not forth thine hand on the child, neither do thou anything (of harm) to him; now I know that thou dreadest God, and sparedest not thine one begotten son for me. (And the angel said to him, Do not thou raise thy hand against the boy, nor do thou any harm to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, for thou hast not withheld thy only son from me.)
13 Abraham raised [up] his eyes, and he saw behind him a ram cleaving by the horns among (the) briars, which he took, and offered (as a) burnt sacrifice for the son. (And Abraham raised up his eyes, and he saw behind him a ram caught by his horns among the briars, and he took the ram, and offered it as a burnt sacrifice in place of his son.)
14 And he called the name of that place The Lord seeth; wherefore it is said, till to this day, The Lord shall see in the hill. (And he called the name of that place Jehovahjireh; and so it is said, unto this day, In the hill of the Lord it shall be provided/it shall be seen.)
15 Forsooth the angel of the Lord called (to) Abraham the second time from heaven,
16 and said, The Lord saith, I have sworn by myself, for thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thine one begotten son for me, (and said, The Lord saith, I swear by myself, because thou hast done this thing, and thou hast not withheld thy only son from me,)
17 I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the gravel, either sand, which is in the brink of the sea; thy seed shall wield the gates of his enemies; (I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy descendants like the stars of the heavens, and like the gravel, or the sand, which is at the seashore; and thy descendants shall control the gates of their enemies;)
18 and all the folks of [the] earth shall be blessed in thy seed (and all the nations of the earth shall pray to be blessed as thy descendants be blessed/and through thy descendants I shall bless all the nations of the earth), for thou obeyedest to my voice.
19 Abraham turned again to his young men (And Abraham returned to his young men), and they went to Beersheba together, and he dwelled there.
20 And so when these things were done, it was told to Abraham that also Milcah had borne sons to Nahor his brother; (And after these things were done, it was told to Abraham that Milcah had borne sons to his brother Nahor;)
21 Huz the first begotten (Huz the first-born), and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel,
23 of whom Rebecca was born; Milcah childed these eight to Nahor, the brother of Abraham.
24 Forsooth his concubine, or secondary wife, Reumah by name, childed Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
19 Do not ye treasure to you treasures [here] in earth, where rust and moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve out and steal;
20 but gather to you treasures in heaven [but treasure to you treasures in heaven], where neither rust nor moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve not out, nor steal.
21 For where thy treasure is, there also thine heart is.
22 The lantern of thy body is thine eye; if thine eye be simple, all thy body shall be light-full;
23 but if thine eye be wayward, all thy body shall be dark[-full]. If then the light that is in thee be darknesses, how great shall those darknesses be? [but if thine eye be wayward, all thy body shall be dark-full. Therefore if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great shall those darknesses be?]
24 No man may serve two lords, for either he shall hate the one, and love the other; either he shall sustain the one [or he shall sustain the one], and despise the other. Ye be not able to serve God and riches.
25 Therefore I say to you, that ye be not busy to your life, what ye shall eat; nor to your body, with what ye shall be clothed [or to your body, with what ye shall be clad]. Whether [the] life is not more than meat, and the body more than the cloak [and the body more than cloth]?
26 Behold ye the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither reap, neither gather into barns [nor gather into barns]; and your Father of heaven feedeth them. Whether ye be not more worthy than they [Whether ye be not more worth than they]?
27 But who of you thinking may put to his stature one cubit? [Soothly who of you by thinking may add to his stature one cubit?]
28 And of clothing what be ye busy? Behold the lilies of the field, how they wax. They travail not, neither they spin;
29 and I say to you, that Solomon in all his glory was not covered as one of these.
30 And if God clotheth thus the hay of the field, that to day is, and to morrow is cast into an oven [and to morrow is sent into the furnace], how much more you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not ye be busy, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what thing shall we be covered [or, With what shall we be covered]?
32 For heathen men seek all these things; and your Father knoweth, that ye have need to all these things.
33 Therefore seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his rightwiseness, and all these things shall be cast to you.
34 Therefore do not ye be busy into the morrow, for the morrow shall be busy to itself; for it sufficeth to the day his own malice.
2001 by Terence P. Noble