Genesis 21
21
Isaac Is Born
1The Lord was gracious to Sarah, just as he had said he would be. The Lord did for Sarah what he had promised to do. 2Sarah became pregnant. She had a son by Abraham when he was old. The child was born at the exact time God had promised. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah had by him. 4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. He did it exactly as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6Sarah said, “God has given laughter to me. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would breast-feed children? But I’ve had a son by him when he is old.”
Abraham Sends Hagar and Ishmael Away
8Isaac grew. The time came for his mother to stop breast-feeding him. On that day Abraham prepared a big celebration. 9But Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of Isaac. Ishmael was the son Hagar had by Abraham. Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian slave. 10Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman! Get rid of her son! That woman’s son will never have a share of the family’s property. All of it belongs to my son Isaac.”
11What Sarah said upset Abraham very much. After all, Ishmael was his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be so upset about the boy and your slave Hagar. Listen to what Sarah tells you, because your family line will continue through Isaac. 13I will also make the son of your slave into a nation. I will do it because he is your child.”
14Early the next morning Abraham got some food and a bottle of water. The bottle was made out of animal skin. He gave the food and water to Hagar, placing them on her shoulders. Then he sent her away with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15When the water in the bottle was gone, she put the boy under a bush. 16Then she sat down about as far away as a person can shoot an arrow. She thought, “I can’t stand to watch the boy die.” As she sat there, she began to sob.
17God heard the boy crying. Then the angel of God called out to Hagar from heaven. He said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18Lift up the boy and take him by the hand. I will make him into a great nation.”
19Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and learned to shoot a bow and arrow. 21While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
The Agreement at Beersheba
22At that time Abimelek and his army commander, Phicol, spoke to Abraham. They said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23Now make a promise to me here while God is watching. Give me your word that you will treat me fairly. Promise that you will treat my children and their children the same way. I’ve been kind to you. Now you be kind to me and the country where you are living as an outsider.”
24Abraham said, “I give you my word that I’ll do it.”
25Then Abraham complained to Abimelek that his servants had taken over a well of water. 26But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You didn’t tell me. And today is the first time I heard about it.”
27So Abraham gave Abimelek sheep and cattle. The two men came to an agreement. 28Then Abraham picked out seven female lambs from his flock. 29Abimelek asked Abraham, “What’s the meaning of these seven female lambs? Why have you picked them out and set them apart?”
30Abraham replied, “Accept the seven lambs from me. They will be a witness that I dug this well.”
31So that place was named Beersheba. That’s because there the two men came to an agreement.
32After the agreement had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek went back to the land of the Philistines. His army commander, Phicol, went with him. 33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba. There he called on the name of the Lord, the God who lives forever. 34Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
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Genesis 21: NIrV
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Genesis 21
21
CHAPTER 21
1Forsooth God visited Sarah, as he promised, and [ful] filled those things, that he spake.
2And she conceived, and childed a son in her eld age, in the time wherein God before-said to her.
3And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah childed to him, Isaac.
4And Abraham circumcised him in the eighth day, as God commanded to him,
5when he was of an hundred years; for Isaac was born in this age of the father.
6And Sarah said, The Lord hath made laughing to me, and whoever shall hear shall laugh with me.
7And again she said, Who should hear, and believe to Abraham, that Sarah should give sucking to a son, whom she childed to him, when he is now an eld [or old] man?
8Therefore the child increased, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast in the day of his weaning.
9And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, playing, or doing idolatry, with Isaac her son,
10she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
11Abraham took this heavily for his son;
12and God said to him, Be it not seen sharp to thee on the child, and on thine handmaid; all things which Sarah saith to thee, hear thou her voice, for in Isaac seed shall be called to thee;
13but also I shall make the son of the handmaid into a great folk, for he is thy seed.
14And so Abraham rose early, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and put it on Hagar’s shoulder, and he betook to her the child#21:14 Ishmael would be about 15 years old at this time., and let go her; and when she had gone, she went out of the way in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15And when the water in the bottle was ended, she cast away the child under a tree that was there;
16and she went away, and she sat even against, as far as a bow may cast; for she said, I shall not see the child dying; and she sat against, and raised [up] her voice, and wept.
17Forsooth the Lord heard the voice of the child, and the angel of the Lord called Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou dread, for God hath heard the voice of the child, from the place wherein he is.
18Rise thou, and take the child, and hold his hand; for I shall make him into a great folk.
19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went, and filled the bottle, and she gave drink to the child;
20and God was with him, and he increased, and dwelled in wilderness, and he was made a young man an archer,
21and dwelled in the desert of Paran; and his mother took to him a wife of the land of Egypt.
22In the same time, Abimelech, and Phicol, prince of his host, said to Abraham, God is with thee in all things that thou doest;
23therefore swear thou by God that thou harm not me, and mine heirs, and my kindred; but by the mercy which I did to thee, do thou to me, and to the land in which thou livedest as a comeling.
24And Abraham said, I shall swear.
25And he blamed Abimelech for the well of water, which his servants took away by violence.
26And Abimelech answered, I wist not who did this thing, but also thou showedest not to me, and I heard not except today.
27And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave to Abimelech, and both smote together a bond of peace.
28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock asides half.
29And Abimelech said to him, What will these seven ewe lambs mean to themselves, which thou madest stand asides half?
30And he said, Thou shalt take of mine hand seven ewe lambs, that those [or they] be into witnessing to me, for I digged this well.
31Therefore that place was called Beersheba, that is, The Well of the Oath#21:31 Beersheba also means ‘the Well of the Seven’., for ever either swore there;
32and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines.
33Soothly Abraham planted a wood in Beersheba, and inwardly called there the name of [the] everlasting God;
34and he was an earth-tiller, or a comeling, of the land of Palestines in many days.
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