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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Genesis 21: HCSB
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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.
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