Genesis 21
21
The Birth of Isaac
1The LORD blessed Sarah, as he had promised, 2#Heb 11.11and she became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham when he was old. The boy was born at the time God had said he would be born. 3Abraham named him Isaac, 4#Gen 17.12; Acts 7.8and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. 6Sarah said, “God has brought me joy and laughter.#21.6 laughter: The name Isaac in Hebrew means “he laughs” (see also 17.17–19). Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” 7Then she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8The child grew, and on the day that he was weaned, Abraham gave a great feast.
Hagar and Ishmael are Sent Away
9One day Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, was playing with#21.9 playing with; or making fun of. Sarah's son Isaac.#21.9 Some ancient translations with Sarah's son Isaac; Hebrew does not have these words. 10#Gal 4.29–30Sarah saw them and said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away. The son of this woman must not get any part of your wealth, which my son Isaac should inherit.” 11This troubled Abraham very much, because Ishmael was also his son. 12#Rom 9.7; Heb 11.18But God said to Abraham, “Don't be worried about the boy and your slave Hagar. Do whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I have promised. 13I will also give many children to the son of the slave woman, so that they will become a nation. He too is your son.”
14Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15When the water was all gone, she left the child under a bush 16and sat down about a hundred metres away. She said to herself, “I can't bear to see my child die.” While she was sitting there, she#21.16 she; one ancient translation the child. began to cry.
17God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, “What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. 18Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants.” 19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy. 20God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skilful hunter. 21His mother found an Egyptian wife for him.
The Agreement between Abraham and Abimelech
22 # Gen 26.26 At that time Abimelech went with Phicol, the commander of his army, and said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23So make a vow here in the presence of God that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so promise that you will also be loyal to me and to this country in which you are living.”
24Abraham said, “I promise.”
25Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which the servants of Abimelech had seized. 26Abimelech said, “I don't know who did this. You didn't tell me about it, and this is the first I have heard of it.” 27Then Abraham gave some sheep and cattle to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement. 28Abraham separated seven lambs from his flock, 29and Abimelech asked him, “Why did you do that?”
30Abraham answered, “Accept these seven lambs. By doing this, you admit that I am the one who dug this well.” 31And so the place was called Beersheba,#21.31 Beersheba: This name in Hebrew means “Well of the Vow” or “Well of Seven” (see also 26.33). because it was there that the two of them made a vow.
32After they had made this agreement at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol went back to Philistia. 33Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshipped the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34Abraham lived in Philistia for a long time.
Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Genesis 21
21
1 Then the Lord visited Sarah, just as he had promised; and he fulfilled what he had spoken.
2 And she conceived and gave birth to a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold to her.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah bore for him, Isaac.
4 And he circumcised him on the eighth day, just as God had instructed him,
5 when he was one hundred years old. Indeed, at this stage of his father's life, Isaac was born.
6 And Sarah said: "God has brought laughter to me. Whoever will hear of it will laugh with me."
7 And again, she said: "Hearing this, who would believe Abraham, that Sarah breast-fed a son, to whom she gave birth, despite being elderly?"
8 And the boy grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning.
9 And when Sarah had seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac, she said to Abraham:
10 "Cast out this woman servant and her son. For the son of a woman servant will not be heir with my son Isaac."
11 Abraham took this grievously, for the sake of his son.
12 And God said to him: "Let it not seem harsh to you concerning the boy and your woman servant. In all that Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac.
13 Yet I will also make the son of the woman servant into a great nation, for he is your offspring."
14 And so Abraham arose in the morning, and taking bread and a skin of water, he placed it upon her shoulder, and he handed over the boy, and he released her. And when she had departed, she wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 And when the water in the skin had been consumed, she set aside the boy, under one of the trees that were there.
16 And she moved away and sat in a distant area, as far as a bow can reach. For she said, "I shall not see the boy die." And so, sitting opposite her, he lifted up his voice and wept.
17 But God heard the voice of the boy. And an Angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying: "What are you doing, Hagar? Do not be afraid. For God has heeded the voice of the boy, from the place where he is.
18 Rise up. Take the boy and hold him by the hand. For I will make of him a great nation."
19 And God opened her eyes. And seeing a well of water, she went and filled the skin, and she gave the boy to drink.
20 And God was with him. And he grew, and he stayed in the wilderness, and he became a young man, an archer.
21 And he lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22 At the same time, Abimelech and Phicol, the leader of his army, said to Abraham: "God is with you in everything that you do.
23 Therefore, swear by God that you will do no harm to me, and to my posterity, and to my stock. But according to the mercy that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land, to which you have turned as a newcomer."
24 And Abraham said, "I will swear."
25 And he reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force.
26 And Abimelech responded, "I do not know who did this thing, but you also did not reveal it to me, nor have I heard of it, before today."
27 And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and he gave them to Abimelech. And both of them struck a pact.
28 And Abraham set aside seven female lambs from the flock.
29 Abimelech said to him, "What purpose have these seven female lambs, which you have caused to stand separately?"
30 But he said, "You will receive seven female lambs from my hand, so that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well."
31 For this reason, that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them did swear.
32 And they initiated a pact on behalf of the well of oath.
33 Then Abimelech and Phicol, the leader of his army, rose up, and they returned to the land of the Palestinians. In truth, Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord God Eternal.
34 And he was a settler in the land of the Palestinians for many days.