Genesis 21
21
1And the Lord visited Sara, as he had promised: and fulfilled what he had spoken.
2And she conceived and bore a son in her old age, at the time that God had foretold her.
3And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sara bore him, Isaac.
4And he circumcised him the eighth day, as God had commanded him.
5When he was a hundred years old: for at this age of his father was Isaac born.
6And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me. Whosoever shall hear of it will laugh with me.
7And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age?
8And the child grew and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning.
9And when Sara had seen the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham:
10Cast out this bondwoman, and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
11Abraham took this grievously for his son.
12And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman. In all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation: because he is thy seed.
14So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.
15And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there.
16And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry. For she said: I will not see the boy die. And sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.
17And God heard the voice of the boy. And an angel of God called to Agar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Agar? Fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.
18Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation.
19And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.
20And GOD was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.
21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan: and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22At the same time Abimelech, and Phicol, the general of his army, said to Abraham: God is with thee in all that thou dost.
23Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger.
24And Abraham said: I will swear.
25And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force.
26And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing; and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till to-day.
27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league.
28And Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock.
29And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set apart?
30But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewe lambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well.
31Therefore that place was called Bersabee: because there both of them did swear.
32And they made a league for the well of oath.
33And Abimelech, and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal.
34And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days.
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Genesis 21
21
The Birth of Isaac
1The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. # Gn 17:16; 18:10; Gl 4:23 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. # Gn 17:21; 18:10,14; Heb 11:11 3Abraham named his son who was born to him — the one Sarah bore to him — Isaac. # Gn 17:19 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. # Gn 17:10,12; Ac 7:8 5Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him. # Gn 17:1,17; Rm 4:19
6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” # Isaac = He laughs; Gn 17:19 # Gn 18:12-15 7She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him # Sam, Tg Jonathan; MT omits him in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son mocking # LXX, Vg add Isaac her son — the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. # Gn 16:1,15; Gl 4:29 10So 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! ” # Gl 4:30
11Now this was a very difficult thing for # Lit was very bad in the eyes of Abraham because of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be concerned # Lit Let it not be bad in your eyes about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac. # Rm 9:7; Heb 11:18 13But I will also make a nation of the slave’s son # Gn 16:10; 21:18; 25:12-18 because he is your offspring.”
14Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. # To “send away” a woman = divorce her; Dt 24:1. To “send away” a slave = free her; Dt 15:13. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die! ” So as she sat nearby, she # LXX reads the boy wept loudly. # Jr 6:26; Am 8:10
17God heard the voice of the boy, and the # Or an 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 voice of the boy from the place where he is. 18Get up, help the boy up, and support him, for I will make him a great nation.” 19Then God opened her eyes, # Nm 22:31; 2Kg 6:17-18,20; Lk 24:16,31 and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. 20God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. 21He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Abraham’s Covenant with Abimelech
22At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, # Gn 20:2; 26:1,26 said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. # Gn 26:28 23Swear 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 foreign resident.”
24And Abraham said, “I swear it.” 25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized. # Gn 26:15,18,20-22
26Abimelech 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.”
27Abraham took sheep and cattle # A covenant or treaty was regularly ratified by animal sacrifice (Gn 8:20–9:9; 15:9-17; Ex 24:8) and often involved an exchange of gifts (1Kg 15:19; Hs 12:1). The animals here could serve both purposes. and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. # Gn 26:31 28Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock. 29And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs? ”
30He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act # Lit that it will serve as my witness that I dug this well.” 31Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba # = Well of the Oath, or Seven Wells # Gn 26:33 because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. 32After 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.
33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. # Ps 45:6; 48:14; 90:2; 93:2; Is 40:28; Jr 10:10; Rm 16:26; Heb 13:8 34And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.
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