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.
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.