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
1And Jehovah hath looked after Sarah as He hath said, and Jehovah doth to Sarah as He hath spoken;
2and Sarah conceiveth, and beareth a son to Abraham, to his old age, at the appointed time that God hath spoken of with him;
3and Abraham calleth the name of his son who is born to him, whom Sarah hath born to him — Isaac;
4and Abraham circumciseth Isaac his son, [being] a son of eight days, as God hath commanded him.
5And Abraham [is] a son of a hundred years in Isaac his son being born to him,
6and Sarah saith, ‘God hath made laughter for me; every one who is hearing laugheth for me.’
7She saith also, ‘Who hath said to Abraham, Sarah hath suckled sons, that I have born a son for his old age?’
8And the lad groweth, and is weaned, and Abraham maketh a great banquet in the day of Isaac's being weaned;
9and Sarah seeth the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she hath borne to Abraham, mocking,
10and she saith to Abraham, ‘Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid hath no possession with my son — with Isaac.’
11And the thing is very wrong in the eyes of Abraham, for his son's sake;
12and God saith unto Abraham, ‘Let it not be wrong in thine eyes because of the youth, and because of thy handmaid: all that Sarah saith unto thee — hearken to her voice, for in Isaac is a seed called to thee.
13As to the son of the handmaid also, for a nation I set him, because he [is] thy seed.’
14And Abraham riseth early in the morning, and taketh bread, and a bottle of water, and giveth unto Hagar (placing [it] on her shoulder), also the lad, and sendeth her out; and she goeth on, and goeth astray in the wilderness of Beer-Sheba;
15and the water is consumed from the bottle, and she placeth the lad under one of the shrubs.
16And she goeth and sitteth by herself over-against, afar off, about a bow-shot, for she said, ‘Let me not look on the death of the lad;’ and she sitteth over-against, and lifteth up her voice, and weepeth.
17And God heareth the voice of the youth; and the messenger of God calleth unto Hagar from the heavens, and saith to her, ‘What to thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath hearkened unto the voice of the youth where he [is];
18rise, lift up the youth, and lay hold on him with thy hand, for for a great nation I set him.’
19And God openeth her eyes, and she seeth a well of water, and she goeth and filleth the bottle [with] water, and causeth the youth to drink;
20and God is with the youth, and he groweth, and dwelleth in the wilderness, and is an archer;
21and he dwelleth in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother taketh for him a wife from the land of Egypt.
22And it cometh to pass at that time that Abimelech speaketh — Phichol also, head of his host — unto Abraham, saying, ‘God [is] with thee in all that thou art doing;
23and now, swear to me by God here: thou dost not lie to me, or to my continuator, or to my successor; according to the kindness which I have done with thee thou dost with me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.’
24And Abraham saith, ‘I — I do swear.’
25And Abraham reasoned with Abimelech concerning the matter of a well of water which Abimelech's servants have taken violently away,
26and Abimelech saith, ‘I have not known who hath done this thing, and even thou didst not declare to me, and I also, I have not heard save to-day.’
27And Abraham taketh sheep and oxen, and giveth to Abimelech, and they make, both of them, a covenant;
28and Abraham setteth seven Lambs of the flock by themselves.
29And Abimelech saith unto Abraham, ‘What [are] they — these seven lambs which thou hast set by themselves?’
30And he saith, ‘For — the seven lambs thou dost accept from my hand, so that it becometh a witness for me that I have digged this well;’
31therefore hath he called that place ‘Beer-Sheba,’ for there have both of them sworn.
32And they make a covenant in Beer-Sheba, and Abimelech riseth — Phichol also, head of his host — and they turn back unto the land of the Philistines;
33and [Abraham] planteth a tamarisk in Beer-Sheba, and preacheth there in the name of Jehovah, God age-during;
34and Abraham sojourneth in the land of the Philistines many days.
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