Genesis 15 - 25 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Cuts a Covenant with Abram

15After these things ^athe word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “^bDo not fear, Abram,I am ^ca shield to you;¹Your ^dreward shall be very great.”

²And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the ¹heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “¹Since You have given no seed to me, behold, ²one ^aborn in my house is my heir.” ⁴Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; ^abut one who will come forth from your own ¹body, he shall be your heir.” ⁵And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and ^anumber the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “^bSo shall your seed be.” ⁶^aThen he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness. ⁷And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of ^aUr of the Chaldeans, to ^bgive you this land to ¹possess it.” ⁸And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, ^ahow may I know that I will ¹possess it?” ⁹So He said to him, “¹Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Then he ¹brought all these to Him and ^asplit them into parts ²down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he ^bdid not split apart the birds. ¹¹Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹²Now it happened that when the sun was going down, ^aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, ¹terror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ^ayour seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, ¹and ^bthey will be enslaved and mistreated ^cfour hundred years. ¹⁴“But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out ^awith ¹many possessions. ¹⁵“As for you, ^ayou shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶“Then in ^athe fourth generation they will return here, for ^bthe iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

¹⁷Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which ^apassed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “^aTo your seed I have given this land,From ^bthe river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

¹⁹^athe Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite ²⁰and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim ²¹and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

Sarai and Hagar

16Now ^aSarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had ^ban Egyptian servant-woman whose name was Hagar. ²So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. ^aPlease go in to my servant-woman; perhaps I will ¹obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³And after Abram had ¹lived ^aten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant-woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. ⁴So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became ¹contemptible in her sight. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “^aMay the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant-woman into your ¹embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became ²contemptible in her ³sight. ^bMay Yahweh judge between ⁴you and me.” ⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant-woman is in your ¹hand; do to her what is good in your ²sight.” So Sarai afflicted her, and ^ashe fled from her presence.

⁷Now ^athe angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^bShur. ⁸And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant-woman, ^awhere have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” ⁹Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and ¹humble yourself under her hands.” ¹⁰Moreover, the ^aangel of Yahweh said to her, “^bI will greatly multiply your seed so that ¹they will be too many to be counted.” ¹¹And the angel of Yahweh said to her further, “Behold, you ¹are with child,And you will bear a son;And you shall call his name ²Ishmael,Because ^aYahweh has heard your affliction.

¹²“And he will be a ^awild donkey of a man,His hand will be against everyone,And everyone’s hand will be against him;And he will dwell ¹^,^bin the face of all his brothers.”

¹³Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “¹You are ²a God who sees”; for she said, “^aHave I even ³remained alive here after seeing Him?” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called ¹Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between ^aKadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶Now Abram was ^aeighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ¹him.

Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant

17Now it happened that when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^aYahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am ¹God ^bAlmighty;Walk before Me and be ²^,^cblameless,

²so that I may ¹confirm My ^acovenant between Me and you,And that I may ^bmultiply you exceedingly.”

³Then Abram ^afell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying,

⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,And you will be the father of a ^amultitude of nations.⁵“And no longer shall your name be called ¹Abram,But ^ayour name shall be ²Abraham;For ^bI have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶“And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^akings will go forth from you. ⁷“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an ^aeverlasting covenant, ^bto be God to you and ^cto your seed after you. ⁸“^aAnd I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and ^bI will be their God.”

⁹God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^ayou shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰“^aThis is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹“And ^ayou shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹²“And every male among you who is ^aeight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, one who is born in the house or one who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your seed. ¹³“A servant who is born in your house or ^awho is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴“But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^acut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Sarah Will Bear Isaac

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but ¹Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶“And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^aa son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^bkings of peoples will ¹come from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham ^afell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Will a son be born to a man one hundred years old? And ^bwill Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you ^aa son, and you shall call his name ¹Isaac; and ^bI will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ²⁰“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and ^awill make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. ^bHe shall ¹become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a ^cgreat nation. ²¹“But My covenant I will establish with ^aIsaac, whom ^bSarah will bear to you at this season next year.” ²²So He finished talking with him, and ^aGod went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were ^aborn in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, ^bas God had spoken with him. ²⁴Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^ahe was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And ^aIshmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. ²⁷Now all the men of his household, who were ^aborn in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Yahweh Appears to Abraham

18Then ^aYahweh appeared to him by the ¹^,^boaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ²And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three ^amen were standing nearby; he saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth, ³and he said, “¹My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ²pass Your servant by. ⁴“Please let a little water be brought and ^awash your feet, and ¹rest yourselves under the tree; ⁵and let me ¹^,^abring a piece of bread, that you may ²refresh your hearts; after that you may pass on, since in such a manner you have passed by your servant.” And they said, “So you shall do, as you have said.” ⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “¹Hurry, prepare ²three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” ⁷Abraham also ran to the herd and took a tender and ¹choice calf and gave it to his young man, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸Then he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁹Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰And He said, “^aI will surely return to you ¹at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him. ¹¹Now ^aAbraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^bpast ¹childbearing. ¹²And Sarah laughed ¹to herself, saying, “^aAfter I am worn out, shall I have pleasure, my ^blord being old also?” ¹³And Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed ¹bear a son, when I am so old?’ ¹⁴“^aIs anything too ¹difficult for Yahweh? At the ^bappointed time I will return to you, ²at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵Then Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Yahweh and Abraham Speak About Sodom

¹⁶Then ^athe men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ¹⁷^aNow Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham ^bwhat I am about to do, ¹⁸since Abraham will surely become a great and ¹mighty nation, and in him ^aall the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹“For I have ¹^,^aknown him, so that he may ^bcommand his children and his household after him, ^cthat they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham ^dwhat He has spoken about him.” ²⁰So Yahweh said, “^aThe outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹“I will ^ago down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²²Then ^athe men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^bYahweh. ²³Then Abraham came near and said, “^aWill You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴“Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ¹spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵“Far be it from You to do ¹such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^athe Judge of all the earth do justice?” ²⁶So Yahweh said, “^aIf I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ¹spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷And Abraham answered and said, “Now behold, I have ¹ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^adust and ashes. ²⁸“Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹Then he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹And he said, “Now behold, I have ¹ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³²Then he said, “^aOh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, ^aYahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

Yahweh Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

19Then the ^atwo angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. ^bLot saw them and rose to meet them and ¹bowed down with his ²face to the ground. ²And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³Yet he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^aand he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴Before they lay down, ^athe men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people ¹from every quarter; ⁵and they called to Lot and said to him, “^aWhere are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ¹know them.” ⁶But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him, ⁷and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸“Now behold, ^aI have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ¹shelter of my roof.” ⁹But they said, “Step aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came to sojourn, and already ^ahe is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.” So they pressed hard against ¹Lot and stepped up to break the door. ¹⁰But ^athe men reached out their ¹hands and brought Lot into the house ²with them and shut the door. ¹¹^aAnd they ¹struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³for we are about to destroy this place because ^atheir outcry has become great before Yahweh, so ^bYahweh has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ¹were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, ^aget out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” ^bBut he appeared to his sons-in-law ²to be jesting.

¹⁵Now at the ¹breaking of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the ²punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he hesitated. So the men ^aseized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ¹hands of his two daughters, for ^bthe compassion of Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷Now it happened, as they brought them outside, ¹one said, “^aEscape for your life! ^bDo not look behind you, and do not stay ²anywhere in the ^cvalley; escape to ^dthe ³mountains, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹“Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by preserving my life; but I cannot escape to the ¹mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die; ²⁰now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ¹that my life may be preserved.” ²¹And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ¹request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²“Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ¹^,^aZoar.

²³The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴And Yahweh ^arained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, ²⁵and ^aHe overthrew those cities, and all the ¹valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶Then his wife, from behind him, ^alooked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ^athe place where he had stood before Yahweh; ²⁸and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ¹valley, and he saw, and behold, ^athe smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a ²furnace.

²⁹Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the ¹valley, that ^aGod remembered Abraham and ^bsent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰And Lot went up from Zoar and ¹^,^astayed in the ²mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ³stay in Zoar; and he ⁴stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ¹on earth to ^acome in to us after the manner of the earth. ³²“Come, ^alet us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our seed through our father.” ³³So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴Now it happened on the following day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our seed through our father.” ³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷And the firstborn bore a son and called his name ^aMoab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸As for the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ¹sons of ^aAmmon to this day.

Abraham Lies to Abimelech

20And Abraham journeyed from ^athere toward the land of ^bthe ¹Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in ^cGerar. ²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “^aShe is my sister.” So ^bAbimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³^aBut God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, “Behold, ^byou are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ¹married.” ⁴(Now Abimelech had not come near her.) Then he said, “Lord, ^awill You kill a nation, even though righteous? ⁵“Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^aherself also said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^bthe integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ¹hands I have done this.” ⁶Then God said to him in the dream, “Indeed, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ¹^,^aheld you back from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷“So now, return the man’s wife, for ^ahe is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly afraid. ⁹^aThen Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ¹how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^ba great sin? You have done to me ²things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you seen, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹And Abraham said, “Because I said, surely there is no ^afear of God in this place, and ^bthey will kill me because of my wife. ¹²“Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; ¹³and it happened when ^aGod caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ¹the lovingkindness which you will show to me: ²everywhere we go, ^bsay of me, “He is my brother.”’” ¹⁴^aAbimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “^aBehold, my land is before you; ¹settle wherever it is good in your sight.” ¹⁶To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your ^abrother one thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is ¹your vindication before all who are with you, and before all you are ²cleared.” ¹⁷^aAnd Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they bore children. ¹⁸^aFor Yahweh had utterly shut all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born

21^aNow Yahweh visited Sarah as He had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah as He had ¹promised. ²^aSo Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^bthe appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, ^aIsaac. ⁴Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^aeight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵Now Abraham was ^aone hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶And Sarah said, “God has made ^alaughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ¹with me.” ⁷And she said, “^aWho would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Sarah Sends Hagar Away

⁸And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹And Sarah saw ^athe son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ¹^,^blaughing in jest. ¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, “^aDrive out this maidservant and her son! The son of this maidservant shall not be an heir with my son, with Isaac.” ¹¹^aAnd the matter ¹distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹²So God said to Abraham, “¹Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for ^athrough Isaac your seed shall be named. ¹³“And of ^athe son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed.” ¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a ¹skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. So she went and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was finished, she ¹put the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me ¹see when the child dies.” And she sat opposite him and ^alifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷Then God ^aheard the voice of the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^bDo not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸“Arise, lift up the boy, and hold him by ¹the hand, ^afor I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹Then God ^aopened her eyes, and she saw ^ba well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰^aAnd God was with the boy, and he grew; and he ¹lived in the wilderness and was an archer. ²¹^aAnd he ¹lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²²Now it happened at that time, that ^aAbimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^bGod is with you in all that you do; ²³so now, ^aswear 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 lovingkindness that I have shown you, you shall show me and the land in which you have sojourned.” ²⁴And Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵But Abraham reproved Abimelech about the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^ahad seized. ²⁶And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ¹until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^athe two of them cut a covenant. ²⁸Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^awitness to me, that I dug this well.” ³¹Therefore he called that place ^aBeersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. ³²So they cut a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^ahe called upon the name of Yahweh, the ^bEverlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham sojourned ^ain the land of the Philistines for many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22Now it happened after these things, that ^aGod tested Abraham and said to him, “^bAbraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ²Then He said, “Take now ^ayour son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and ^bgo forth to the land of ^cMoriah, and offer him there as a ^dburnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. ⁵And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there; and we will worship, and we will return to you.” ⁶Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^aput it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

⁷Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^alamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸And Abraham said, “God will ¹provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹Then they came to ^athe place of which God had told him; and Abraham built ^bthe altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and ^cput him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹But ^athe angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹²And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now ^aI know that you ¹fear God, since you have not withheld ^byour son, your only one, from Me.” ¹³Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place ¹Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh ^ait will ²be provided.”

¹⁵Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶and said, “^aBy Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, ¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly ^amultiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as ^bthe sand which is on the seashore; and ^cyour seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. ¹⁸“^aIn your ¹seed all the nations of the earth shall ²be blessed, because you have ^blistened to My voice.” ¹⁹^aSo Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and walked together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰Now it happened after these things, that it was told to Abraham, saying, “Behold, ^aMilcah ¹also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram ²²and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³And Bethuel ¹was the father of ^aRebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, ¹also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23And ¹Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ²Sarah died in ^aKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham ¹came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ³Then Abraham rose from before his dead and spoke to the ^asons of Heth, saying, ⁴“I am ^aa sojourner and a foreign resident among you; ^bgive me a ^cpossession for a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” ⁵And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶“Hear us, my lord, you are a ¹^,^amighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites; none of us will refuse you his burial sites for burying your dead.” ⁷So Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. ⁸And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your ¹desire for me to bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with ^aEphron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which belongs to him, which is at the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in ¹your presence as a possession for a burial site.” ¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, even ^aof all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, ¹¹“No, my lord, hear me; ^aI give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.” ¹²And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. ¹³And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will only please hear me; I will give the silver for the field, accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵“My lord, hear me; a piece of land worth ¹four hundred ^ashekels of silver, what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.” ¹⁶So Abraham heard Ephron; and Abraham ^aweighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the ¹hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, ²commercial standard.

¹⁷So ^aEphron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were ¹within all the confines of its border, ²were deeded over ¹⁸to Abraham as purchased ^ain the sight of the sons of Heth, before all who came in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and the cave that is in it ¹were ^adeeded over to Abraham for a possession for a burial site by the sons of Heth.

A Wife for Isaac

24Now ^aAbraham was old, advanced in age; and Yahweh had ^bblessed Abraham in every way. ²And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who ^aruled over all that he owned, “^bPlease place your hand under my thigh, ³and I will make you swear by Yahweh, ^athe God of heaven and the God of earth, that you ^bshall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of ^cthe Canaanites, among whom I live, ⁴but you will go to ^amy land and to my kin, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” ⁵And the servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I indeed take your son back to the land from where you came?” ⁶Then Abraham said to him, “^aBeware lest you take my son back there! ⁷“^aYahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kin, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘^bTo your seed I will give this land,’ He will send ^cHis angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. ⁸“But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will ^abe free from this oath of mine; ^bonly do not take my son back there.” ⁹So the servant ^aplaced his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and he went with all kinds of ^agood things of his master’s in his hand. So he arose and went to ¹Mesopotamia, to ^bthe city of Nahor. ¹¹And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^athe well of water at evening time, ^bthe time when the women go out to draw water. ¹²And he said, “^aO Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please ^bcause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. ¹³“Behold, ^aI am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will give water to your camels to drink also’—may she be the one whom You have decided for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

Rebekah Goes with Abraham’s Servant

¹⁵^aAnd before he had finished speaking, behold, ^bRebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of ^cMilcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, was coming out with her jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶Now the young woman was ^avery beautiful in appearance, a virgin, and no man had ¹known her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. ¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “^aPlease give me a little water to drink from your jar.” ¹⁸^aAnd she said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹Now when she had finished giving him a drink, ^ashe said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰So she hurried and emptied her jar into the watering channel and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ²¹^aMeanwhile, the man was gazing at her ¹in silence, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not.

²²Now it happened that when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a ^agold ring weighing a ¹half-shekel and two bracelets for her ²wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, ²³and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there a place for us to lodge in your father’s house?” ²⁴And she said to him, “^aI am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵And she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and a place to lodge in.” ²⁶Then the man ^abowed low and worshiped Yahweh. ²⁷And he said, “^aBlessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken ^bHis lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, ^cYahweh has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸Then ^athe young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was ^aLaban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. ³⁰Now it happened, when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s ¹wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “²This is what the man said to me,” he came out to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹And he said, “^aCome in, ^bblessed of Yahweh! Why do you stand outside since ^cI have prepared the house and a place for the camels?” ³²So the man came into the house. Then ¹^,^aLaban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have spoken my words.” And he said, “Speak!” ³⁴So he said, “I am ^aAbraham’s servant. ³⁵“And Yahweh has greatly ^ablessed my master, so he has become great; and He has given him ^bflocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶“Now ^aSarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master ¹in her old age, and ^bhe has given him all that he has. ³⁷“^aAnd my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I ¹live; ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹“^aThen I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ ⁴⁰“And he said to me, ‘^aYahweh, before whom I have ^bwalked, will send ^cHis angel with you and will make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. ⁴¹^aThen you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives. Now if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“So ^aI came today to the spring and said, ‘O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go ^bsuccessful; ⁴³behold, ^aI am standing by the spring of water, and may it be that the ¹maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, “^bPlease let me drink a little water from your jar”; ⁴⁴and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; she is the woman whom Yahweh has decided upon for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵“Before I had finished ^aspeaking in my heart, behold, ^bRebekah was coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew, and ^cI said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ ⁴⁶“Then she hurried and lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘^aDrink, and I will also give water to your camels to drink’; so I drank, and she also gave water to the camels to drink. ⁴⁷“^aThen I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ^bring on her nose and the bracelets on her ¹wrists. ⁴⁸“And I ^abowed low and worshiped Yahweh; and I blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, ^bwho had guided me in the true way to take the daughter of my master’s ¹relative for his son. ⁴⁹“So now if you are going to ^ashow lovingkindness and truth with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left.”

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “^aThe matter comes from Yahweh; ^bso we cannot speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹“Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as Yahweh has spoken.”

⁵²Now it happened that when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he ^abowed himself to the ground ¹before Yahweh. ⁵³The servant brought out ^aarticles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. And then they arose in the morning, and he said, “^aSend me away to my master.” ⁵⁵But her brother and her mother said, “^aLet the young woman stay with us a few days, or even ten; afterward she will go.” ⁵⁶And he said to them, “Do not delay me, since ^aYahweh has made my way successful. Send me away that I may go to my master.” ⁵⁷And they said, “We will call the young woman and ask about ¹her wishes.” ⁵⁸Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” ⁵⁹Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and ^aher nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister,^aBecome thousands of ten thousands,And may ^byour seed possessThe gate of those who hate him.”

⁶¹Then Rebekah arose with her young women, and they mounted the camels and went after the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went.

Rebekah Becomes Isaac’s Wife

⁶²Now Isaac had come from going to ^aBeer-lahai-roi, for he ¹was living in ^bthe land of the ²Negev. ⁶³And Isaac went out ^ato ¹muse in the field toward evening; and ^bhe lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. ⁶⁴And Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac and dismounted from the camel. ⁶⁵Then she said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her ¹veil and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant recounted to Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and ^ahe took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and ^bhe loved her. Thus, Isaac was comforted after ^chis mother’s death.

The Death of Abraham

25Now Abraham took another wife, ¹whose name was Keturah. ²^aAnd she bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. ³Now Jokshan ¹was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. ⁴And the sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. ⁵^aAnd Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; ⁶but to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and he ^asent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.

⁷These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, ^a175 years. ⁸And Abraham breathed his last and died ^ain a good old age, an old man and full of days; and he was ^bgathered to his people. ⁹Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in ^athe cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, ¹⁰^athe field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. ¹¹Now it happened after the death of Abraham, that ^aGod blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac ¹lived by ^bBeer-lahai-roi.

The Generations of Ishmael

¹²Now these are the generations of ^aIshmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant-woman, bore to Abraham; ¹³and these are the names of ^athe sons of Ishmael, by their names, ¹in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam ¹⁴and Mishma and Dumah and Massa, ¹⁵Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; ^atwelve princes according to their ¹tribes. ¹⁷These are the years of the life of Ishmael, ^a137 years; and he breathed his last and died and was ^bgathered to his people. ¹⁸And they dwelt from ^aHavilah to ^bShur which is ¹east of Egypt ²as one goes toward Assyria; ^che ³settled in the face of all his brothers.

The Generations of Isaac

¹⁹Now these are ^athe generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham ¹became the father of Isaac; ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he took ^aRebekah, the ^bdaughter of Bethuel the ¹Aramean of Paddan-aram, the ^csister of Laban the ²Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹And Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and ^aYahweh ¹was moved by his entreaty. So Rebekah his wife ^bconceived. ²²But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to ^ainquire of Yahweh. ²³And Yahweh said to her, “^aTwo nations are in your womb;^bAnd two peoples will be separated from your body;And one people shall be stronger than the other;And ^cthe older shall serve the younger.”

²⁴And her days to give birth were fulfilled, and behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵And the first came forth red, ^aall over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. ²⁶Afterward his brother came forth with ^ahis hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so ^bhis name was called ¹Jacob; and Isaac was ^csixty years old when she gave birth to them.

Esau Sells His Birthright

²⁷And the boys grew up; Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a ¹peaceful man, ²^,^aliving in tents. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau because ¹he had ^aan appetite for hunted game, ^bbut Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹And Jacob had cooked ^astew. And Esau came in from the field, and he was ¹famished. ³⁰Then Esau said to Jacob, “Please give me a swallow from the red stuff—¹this red stuff, for I am ²famished.” Therefore his name was called ³Edom. ³¹But Jacob said, “¹First sell me your ^abirthright.” ³²And Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” ³³And Jacob said, “¹First swear to me”; so he swore to him and ^asold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴So Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank and rose and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.