THE BIRTH OF ISAAC

21 The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.l 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.m 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac.n 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.o 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.p

6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”* q 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for himK in his old age.”

HAGAR AND ISHMAEL SENT AWAY

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son mocking—the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.a 10 So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”b

11 This was very distressing toA Abraham because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressedB about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,c 13 and I will also make a nation of the slave’s sond because he is your offspring.”

14 Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes 16 and went and sat at a distance, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die!” While she sat at a distance, sheC wept loudly.e

17 God heard the boy crying, and theD angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the boy crying from the place where he is. 18 Get up, help the boy up, and grasp his hand, for I will make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes,f and she saw a well. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

ABRAHAM’S COVENANT WITH ABIMELECH

22 At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army,g said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.h 23 Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien.”

24 And Abraham said, “I swear it.” 25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.i

26 Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”

27 Abraham took flocks and herds and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.j 28 Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs?”

30 He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from me so that this actE will serve as my witness that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beer-shebaF,k because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. 32 After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.l 34 And Abraham lived as an alien in the land of the Philistines for many days.

THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC

22 After these things God tested Abrahamm and said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love,n go to the land of Moriah,o and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

3 So Abraham got up early in the morning,p saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third dayq Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac.r In his hand he took the fire and the knife,s and the two of them walked on together.

7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provideG,t the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son IsaacA and placed him on the altara on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He replied, “Here I am.”

12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”b 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ramB caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide,C so today it is said, “It will be providedD on the Lord’s mountain.”

15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn,”c this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, 17 I will indeed bless youd and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the skye and the sand on the seashore.f Your offspring will possess the city gates of their* enemies.g 18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessedE by your offspringh because you have obeyed my command.”

19 Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

REBEKAH’S FAMILY

20 Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:i 21 Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 And Bethuel fathered Rebekah.j Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

SARAH’S BURIAL

23 Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life. 2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebronk) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

3 When Abraham got up from beside his dead wife, he spoke to the Hethites: 4 “I am an alien residing among you.l Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead.”F,m

5 The Hethites replied to Abraham,G 6 “Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of GodH among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place.I None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”

7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of the land. 8 He said to them, “If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 9 to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as burial property.”

10 Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing* of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city,n Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham: 11 “No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the sightK of my people. Bury your dead.”

12 Abraham bowed down to the people of the land 13 and said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “Listen to me, if you please. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

14 Ephron answered Abraham and said to him, 15 “My lord, listen to me. Land worth four hundred shekels of silvero—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the hearing of the Hethites: four hundred standard shekelsL of silver.p 17 So Ephron’s fieldq at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became 18 Abraham’s possession in the sight of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field with its cave passed from the Hethites to Abrahamr as burial property.