Genesis 21
21
Isaac Is Born
1And the Lord #1 Sam. 2:21visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah #Gen. 17:16, 19, 21; 18:10, 14; (Gal. 4:23, 28)as He had spoken. 2For Sarah #Acts 7:8; Gal. 4:22; Heb. 11:11, 12conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, #Gen. 17:21; 18:10, 14; Gal. 4:4at the set 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—#Gen. 17:19, 21Isaac. 4Then Abraham #Acts 7:8circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, #Gen. 17:10, 12; Lev. 12:3as God had commanded him. 5Now #Gen. 17:1, 17Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, #Gen. 18:13; Ps. 126:2; Is. 54:1“God has made me laugh, and all who hear #Luke 1:58will laugh with me.” 7She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? #Gen. 18:11, 12For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Depart
8So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.
9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar #Gen. 16:1, 4, 15the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, #(Gal. 4:29)scoffing. 10Therefore she said to Abraham, #Gen. 25:6; 36:6, 7; Gal. 3:18; 4:30“Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” 11And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight #Gen. 17:18because of his son.
12But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for #Matt. 1:2; Luke 3:34; (Rom. 9:7, 8); Heb. 11:18in Isaac your seed shall be called. 13Yet I will also make #Gen. 16:10; 17:20; 21:18; 25:12–18a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
14So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and #John 8:35sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. 15And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
17And #Ex. 3:7; Deut. 26:7; Ps. 6:8God heard the voice of the lad. Then the #Gen. 22:11angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for #Gen. 16:10; 21:13; 25:12–16I will make him a great nation.”
19Then #Gen. 3:7; Num. 22:31; 2 Kin. 6:17; Luke 24:31God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. 20So God #Gen. 28:15; 39:2, 3, 21was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, #Gen. 16:12and became an archer. 21He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother #Gen. 24:4took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
A Covenant with Abimelech
22And it came to pass at that time that #Gen. 20:2, 14; 26:26Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, #Gen. 26:28; Is. 8:10“God is with you in all that you do. 23Now therefore, #Josh. 2:12; 1 Sam. 24:21swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”
24And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants #Gen. 26:15, 18, 20–22had seized. 26And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” 27So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them #Gen. 26:31; 31:44; 1 Sam. 18:3made a covenant. 28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29Then Abimelech asked Abraham, #Gen. 33:8“What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”
30And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that #Gen. 31:48, 52they may be my witness that I have dug this well.” 31Therefore he #Gen. 21:14; 26:33called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
32Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. 33Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and #Gen. 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 26:25there called on the name of the Lord, #Gen. 35:11; Ex. 15:18; Deut. 32:40; 33:27; Ps. 90:2; 93:2; Is. 40:28; Jer. 10:10; Hab. 1:12; Heb. 13:8the Everlasting God. 34And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 21
21
1-4 God visited Sarah exactly as he said he would; God did to Sarah what he promised: Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set. Abraham named him Isaac. When his son was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded.
5-6Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah said,
God has blessed me with laughter
and all who get the news will laugh with me!
7She also said,
Whoever would have suggested to Abraham
that Sarah would one day nurse a baby!
Yet here I am! I’ve given the old man a son!
8The baby grew and was weaned. Abraham threw a big party on the day Isaac was weaned.
9-10One day Sarah saw the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, poking fun at her son Isaac. She told Abraham, “Get rid of this slave woman and her son. No child of this slave is going to share inheritance with my son Isaac!”
11-13The matter gave great pain to Abraham—after all, Ishmael was his son. But God spoke to Abraham, “Don’t feel badly about the boy and your maid. Do whatever Sarah tells you. Your descendants will come through Isaac. Regarding your maid’s son, be assured that I’ll also develop a great nation from him—he’s your son, too.”
14-16Abraham got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for Hagar, put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert of Beersheba. When the water was gone, she left the child under a shrub and went off, fifty yards or so. She said, “I can’t watch my son die.” As she sat, she broke into sobs.
17-18Meanwhile, God heard the boy crying. The angel of God called from Heaven to Hagar, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the boy and knows the fix he’s in. Up now; go get the boy. Hold him tight. I’m going to make of him a great nation.”
19Just then God opened her eyes. She looked. She saw a well of water. She went to it and filled her canteen and gave the boy a long, cool drink.
20-21God was on the boy’s side as he grew up. He lived out in the desert and became a skilled archer. He lived in the Paran wilderness. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt.
22-23At about that same time, Abimelech and the captain of his troops, Phicol, spoke to Abraham: “No matter what you do, God is on your side. So swear to me that you won’t do anything underhanded to me or any of my family. For as long as you live here, swear that you’ll treat me and my land as well as I’ve treated you.”
24Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25-26At the same time, Abraham confronted Abimelech over the matter of a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had taken. Abimelech said, “I have no idea who did this; you never told me about it; this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
27-28So the two of them made a covenant. Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. Abraham set aside seven sheep from his flock.
29Abimelech said, “What does this mean? These seven sheep you’ve set aside.”
30Abraham said, “It means that when you accept these seven sheep, you take it as proof that I dug this well, that it’s my well.”
31-32That’s how the place got named Beersheba (the Oath-Well), because the two of them swore a covenant oath there. After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and his commander, Phicol, left and went back to Philistine territory.
33-34Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped God there, praying to the Eternal God. Abraham lived in Philistine country for a long time.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.