Genesis 21
21
Sarah has a son
1The LORD was good to Sarah and kept his promise. 2Although Abraham was very old, Sarah had a son exactly at the time God had said.#He 11.11. 3Abraham named his son Isaac, 4and when the boy was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, just as the LORD had commanded.#Gn 17.12; Ac 7.8.
5Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born, 6and Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.#21.6 God has made me laugh: In Hebrew “Isaac” sounds like “laugh”. Now everyone will laugh with me. 7Who would have dared to tell Abraham that some day I would have a child? But in his old age, I have given him a son.”
8The time came when Sarah no longer had to nurse Isaac,#21.8 no longer had to nurse Isaac: In ancient Israel mothers nursed their children until they were about three years old. Then there was a family celebration. and on that day Abraham gave a big feast.
Hagar and Ishmael are sent away
9-10One day, Sarah noticed Hagar's son Ishmael#21.9,10 Ishmael: The son of Abraham and Hagar, who was Sarah's slave woman (see 16.1-16). playing,#21.9,10 playing: Hebrew; one ancient translation “playing with her son Isaac”. and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that Egyptian slave woman and her son! I don't want him to inherit anything. It should all go to my son.”#21.9,10 Get rid…son: When Abraham accepted Ishmael as his son, it gave Ishmael the right to inherit part of what Abraham owned. But slaves who were given their freedom lost the right to inherit such property.#Ga 4.29,30.
11Abraham was worried about Ishmael. 12But God said, “Abraham, don't worry about your slave woman and the boy. Just do what Sarah tells you. Isaac will inherit your family name,#Ro 9.7; He 11.18. 13but the son of the slave woman is also your son, and I will make his descendants into a great nation.”
14Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar an animal skin full of water and some bread. Then he put the boy on her shoulder and sent them away.
They wandered around in the desert near Beersheba, 15and after they had run out of water, Hagar put her son under a bush. 16Then she sat down a long way off, because she could not bear to watch him die. And she cried bitterly.
17When God heard the boy crying, the angel of God called out to Hagar from heaven and said, “Hagar, why are you worried? Don't be afraid. I have heard your son crying. 18Help him up and hold his hand, because I will make him the father of a great nation.” 19Then God let her see a well. So she went to the well and filled the skin with water, then gave some to her son.
20-21God blessed Ishmael, and as the boy grew older, he became an expert with his bow and arrows. He lived in the Paran Desert, and his mother chose an Egyptian woman for him to marry.
A peace treaty
22About this time Abimelech and his army commander Phicol said to Abraham, “God blesses everything you do!#Gn 26.26. 23Now I want you to promise in the name of God that you will always be loyal to me and my descendants, just as I have always been loyal to you in this land where you have lived as a foreigner.” 24And so, Abraham promised.
25One day, Abraham told Abimelech, “Some of your servants have taken over one of my wells.”
26“This is the first I've heard about it,” Abimelech replied. “Why haven't you said something before? I don't have any idea who did it.” 27Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle, and then the two men made a peace treaty.
28Abraham separated seven female lambs from his flock of sheep, 29and Abimelech asked, “Why have you done this?”
30Abraham told him, “I want you to accept these seven lambs as proof that I dug this well.” 31So they called the place Beersheba,#21.31 Beersheba: Meaning “Well of Good Fortune” or “Peace Treaty Well”. because they made a treaty there.
32When the treaty was completed, Abimelech and his army commander Phicol went back to the land of the Philistines. 33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree#21.33 tamarisk tree: A tall shade tree that has deep roots and needs little water. in Beersheba and worshipped the eternal LORD God. 34Then Abraham lived a long time as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Genesis 21
21
1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had spoken. 2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.#21:3 Isaac means “He laughs”. 4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. 6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11 The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son. 12God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be named through Isaac. 13I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child.” 14Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15The water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs. 16She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, “Don’t let me see the death of the child.” She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17God heard the voice of the boy.
The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him with your hand. For I will make him a great nation.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22 At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do. 23Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”
24 Abraham said, “I will swear.” 25Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. 26Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this thing. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear of it until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. 28Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs, which you have set by themselves, mean?”
30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.” 31Therefore he called that place Beersheba,#21:31 Beersheba can mean “well of the oath” or “well of seven”. because they both swore an oath there. 32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.
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